20141120 SACRIFICIAL LOVE AS THE ULTIMATE WAY TO OVERCOME THE
BLINDNESS OF OUR EYES
First
reading
Apocalypse
5:1-10 ©
I,
John, saw that in the right hand of the One sitting on the throne there was a
scroll that had writing on back and front and was sealed with seven seals. Then
I saw a powerful angel who called with a loud voice, ‘Is there anyone worthy to
open the scroll and break the seals of it?’ But there was no one, in heaven or
on the earth or under the earth, who was able to open the scroll and read it. I
wept bitterly because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it, but
one of the elders said to me, ‘There is no need to cry: the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, and he will open the scroll and the
seven seals of it.’
Then I saw, standing between the throne with
its four animals and the circle of the elders, a Lamb that seemed to have been
sacrificed; it had seven horns, and it had seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits God has sent out all over the world. The Lamb came forward to take the
scroll from the right hand of the One sitting on the throne, and when he took
it, the four animals prostrated themselves before him and with them the
twenty-four elders; each one of them was holding a harp and had a golden bowl
full of incense made of the prayers of the saints. They sang a new hymn:
‘You
are worthy to take the scroll
and
break the seals of it,
because
you were sacrificed, and with your blood
you
bought men for God
of
every race, language, people and nation
and
made them a line of kings and priests,
to
serve our God and to rule the world.’
Psalm Psalm 149:1-6,9 ©
You
made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.
or
Alleluia!
Sing
a new song to the Lord,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let
Israel rejoice in its Maker,
let Zion’s sons exult in their king.
You
made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.
or
Alleluia!
Let
them praise his name with dancing
and make music with timbrel and harp.
For
the Lord takes delight in his people.
He crowns the poor with salvation.
You
made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.
or
Alleluia!
Let
the faithful rejoice in their glory,
shout for joy and take their rest.
Let
the praise of God be on their lips:
this honour is for all his faithful.
You
made us a line of kings and priests to serve our God.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel
Acclamation Ps118:135
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Let
your face shine on your servant,
and
teach me your decrees.
Alleluia!
Or Ps94:8
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Harden
not your hearts today,
but
listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 19:41-44 ©
As
Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it
and said, ‘If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of
peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your
enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you
and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your
walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within
you – and all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered
it!’
SACRIFICIAL
LOVE AS THE ULTIMATE WAY TO OVERCOME THE BLINDNESS OF OUR EYES
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: : REV 5:1-10; LK 19:41-44
In
these last few days, the gospel has been speaking about blindness and the
urgency of conversion. On Monday, we had the theme of the blind man
who asked that he might see. On Tuesday, we had the conversion of
Zacchaeus who saw the Lord. Yesterday we were reminded of our
responsibility towards the grace of the Kingdom that is offered to us and the
consequences of those Jews who rejected Jesus as their King, for by doing so,
they excluded themselves from the kingdom. These themes are once again
highlighted in today’s gospel. Indeed, it is good to take note that three
times in today’s text, the theme of sight is underscored. We are told
that Jesus came within sight of the city of Jerusalem whereas the people of
Jerusalem completely lost it from view and they failed to recognize that Jesus
is indeed the final visitation of God.
Truly,
the main cause of our downfall in life is due to blindness more than
anything else. It is the blindness of the Jews that led to their eventual
destruction in AD 70. It was their blindness that prevented them from
recognizing Christ as the prophet of God and the coming of God’s love. It
is our blindness too that will bring destruction to our own lives. It is
for this reason that Jesus wept for them. Jesus could see clearly the
consequences of their destruction because of their blindness. This is in
contrast to the enemies of Jesus. As the first reading prophesied Jesus
who is Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes is able to see through the future
catastrophes of their rejection of His message of repentance. But it was
also precisely because of their blindness that Jesus did not condemn
them. He was not even angry with them, nor was He
revengeful. Instead Jesus felt sorry for them because He really
loved them and came for them. For Jesus knows too well that love cannot
be forced on others. Love can only be offered; it cannot be
imposed. Love can only be accepted in freedom.
Does it mean, then, that we have to resign to the
fact that we should allow the people whom we love to destroy themselves?
It seems to be that way. That was why John in the first reading also wept
because he too thought that there was no one to open the scroll with the seven
seals. In other words, no one was able to reveal the Word of Life to
them. We can also easily identify ourselves with Jesus and John. There
are many people that we truly love and care for. And there are times when we
feel that something is amiss somewhere and we want to help, but like Jesus, we
feel sad and helpless; and we weep for them because we are unable to show them
the light or reach out to them. At the same time, we are afraid that they
will get hurt. And of course, we do not want to see our loved ones get
hurt. And yet true love demands that we cannot use force. To this extent,
we can identify ourselves with Jesus; but only to this extent.
However, things are not
altogether hopeless. For praise be to God, there was one who
was able to break the seals and that was the Lamb. However, the Lamb was worthy
to break the seal only because firstly, He sacrificed His life for others in
love. He was willing to be slaughtered for others. Secondly, the
Lamb could offer Himself as a sacrifice only because He had seven horns
symbolizing strength and seven eyes symbolizing clarity of mind and
knowledge. Jesus knew that everything was in the hands of His
Father. He was confident that eventually His rejection by His
people would bring about redemption for the whole world. For by His
death, St John said, “You are worthy to take the scroll and break the seals of
it, because you were sacrificed, and with your blood you bought men for God of
every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and
priests to serve our God and to rule the world.” Consequently, it was His
death that purchased for God, men of every race and tongue to serve Him.
What about us? For Jesus, He rightly could
weep for the people that He loved because He saw them and the situation
clearly. But for us, there is a danger that the people whom we are
weeping for could very well also be weeping for us because they think that we
are misled ourselves.
This is because in the
first place, while Jesus had seven eyes symbolizing His total clarity of mind,
most of us have only two eyes, and often shortsighted as well. It is true
that some might have even more, perhaps a third eye or even a fourth eye.
But still, we might be seeing the wrong things all the time and misjudge the
situation because we do not have full knowledge of the situation. Thus, the
possibility of being prejudiced is so real. Or we fail to see the entire
situation objectively and in perspective due to the lack of
information. Furthermore, we do not have seven horns, at most two,
a symbol not of power however, unlike the Lamb, but the evil in us that makes
us live in deep fear of others. Fear makes us prejudicial of
others and the tendency to defend our own interests, often under the pretext of
helping others. That is why, when our love is rejected, we can become
confused and troubled. We can become sad and dismayed. At times, we
are even angry and bitter that others do not even see our point of view.
Does it mean therefore
that we should let things be; that there is nothing we can do to help those that we
love? Does it mean that we must be simply resigned to watch in tears our
loved ones going astray and be totally helpless? No, there is one thing
left to do. We can at least be like Jesus who was willing to offer
Himself as the sacrificial lamb for those that He loved. To be the
sacrificial lamb implies that we are truly sincere and honest about ourselves
and that what we do and intend to do is not for our selfish gains but really
for the good of all. We need to purify our love for them and truly
love them for their sakes and not for ours. This means that we will do
everything for the person’s good and happiness rather than for our personal
comfort. Indeed, this is the ultimate test of love. Unless,
we are ready to die for those that we love; unless we are willing to use our
blood to purchase the kingdom for God, we do not truly love them.
Yes, in the final analysis,
the only way to help our loved ones and to help ourselves is to pray that we
might have the same love, courage and wisdom of Jesus so that we can love unto
death. For it is love unto death that can ultimately overcome evil
with good. For it is love unto death that can open the blindness of our
eyes to see the truth before us. Unless, we are ready to love unto death,
we might find ourselves crying for the wrong people. Instead, we should
be crying for ourselves because we ourselves are misled.
However there is also a
warning to those who refuse to repent or to amend their ways in spite of the
sacrifices their loved ones have made for them. They will live to regret.
By then, as Jesus said, they would have missed the opportunity to see the
visitation of God. This is particularly true when their indifference
causes the death of their loved ones directly or indirectly, whether because of
their drinking, gambling, womanizing or cheating; they would never be able to
forgive themselves for betraying those who have loved them so much. They
would then have created hell for themselves. For such people, God and all
good Christians would weep for them!
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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