20141216 CONVERSION OF THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Zephaniah
3:1-2,9-13 ©
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Trouble is coming to
the rebellious, the defiled,
the tyrannical city!
She would never
listen to the call,
would never learn the
lesson;
she has never trusted
in the Lord,
never drawn near to
her God.
Yes, I will then give
the peoples lips that are clean,
so that all may
invoke the name of the Lord
and serve him under
the same yoke.
From beyond the banks
of the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants
will bring me
offerings.
When that day comes
you need feel no
shame for all the misdeeds
you have committed
against me,
for I will remove
your proud boasters
from your midst;
and you will cease to
strut
on my holy mountain.
In your midst I will
leave
a humble and lowly
people,
and those who are
left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.
They will do no
wrong,
will tell no lies;
and the perjured
tongue will no longer
be found in their
mouths.
But they will be able
to graze and rest
with no one to
disturb them.
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Psalm
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Psalm
33:2-3,6-7,16,18-19,23 ©
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This poor man
called; the Lord heard him.
I will bless the Lord
at all times,
his
praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul
shall make its boast.
The
humble shall hear and be glad.
This poor man
called; the Lord heard him.
Look towards him and
be radiant;
let your
faces not be abashed.
This poor man called,
the Lord heard him
and
rescued him from all his distress.
This poor man
called; the Lord heard him.
The Lord turns his
face against the wicked
to
destroy their remembrance from the earth.
They call and the
Lord hears
and
rescues them in all their distress.
This poor man
called; the Lord heard him.
The Lord is close to
the broken-hearted;
those
whose spirit is crushed he will save.
The Lord ransoms the
souls of his servants.
Those who
hide in him shall not be condemned.
This poor man
called; the Lord heard him.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Look, the Lord will
come to save his people.
Blessed those who are
ready to meet him.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Come, Lord! Do not
delay.
Forgive the sins of
your people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 21:28-32
©
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Jesus
said to the chief priests and elders of the people, ‘What is your opinion? A
man had two sons. He went and said to the first, “My boy, you go and work in
the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not go,” but afterwards thought
better of it and went. The man then went and said the same thing to the second
who answered, “Certainly, sir,” but did not go. Which of the two did the
father’s will?’ ‘The first’ they said. Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you
solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom
of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern of true righteousness, but
you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even
after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.’
CONVERSION
OF THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ZEP 3:1-2.9-13; MT 21:28-32
As
Christmas approaches, the call to repentance becomes even more urgent.
Whilst being caught up with all the merry-making and celebrations, we must not
forget that for us Christians, the cause of merry-making is not simply
because Christ was born two thousand years ago but rather because He is still
being born in our hearts. So Christmas will never be complete and any
social celebration would be totally meaningless if Christ is taken out of our
festivities. This is what the world is doing, turning Christmas into a
merry-making activity without bringing Christ into their celebration.
But Christ
cannot be born in us unless we have made room for Him in our hearts.
This means that we must in the first place remove all sins from our
lives. So long as sin remains in our hearts, we will not be able to
feel the peace, the love and the joy that Christ wants to bring to us. We
can be sure that if our happiness this Christmas is derived from some external
cause, like receiving presents or having a good meal,, that happiness cannot
last. The real joy of Christmas goes beyond material things. It comes
from the joy of living an integrated life, knowing that one is at peace with
God and one’s fellowmen, and being reconciled within oneself, with God and with
the rest of creation.
Hence this call to
repentance is being addressed to sinners. Those who are sinners and know themselves as such,
just like the tax-collectors and the prostitutes, often stand a better chance
of being converted. For deep in their hearts, they know that they are
living a sinful life. Deep within them, they know that they are not
happy and that they are living under the bondage of sin. They want to
change, but are too weak to live a righteous life. They are like the first
son in today’s parable, saying “no” to God, but when given the grace of
repentance, they will repent and turn to Him for forgiveness. Hence Jesus
remarked, “I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their
way into the kingdom of God before you.”
When given the grace of
repentance, their repentance is often radical. Many are wounded, deeply
caught in the web of sin and unforgiveness, confused and have lost all meaning
and purpose of living. But once they hear the Word of God calling them to
repentance, they believe, like the tax collectors and prostitutes did when they
heard the preaching of John the Baptist. As a consequence, they are given
a true experience of having Christ born in their hearts again, because of their
humility to repent. As Zephaniah prophesied, “In your midst I will leave
a humble and lowly people, and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in
the name of the Lord. They will do no wrong, will tell no lies; and the
perjured tongue will no longer be found in their mouths. But they will be able
to graze and rest with no one to disturb them.” Such is the joy of
repentance for them. Yes, as the psalmist says, “The Lord hears the cry of the
poor.”
But the real addressees
of today’s scripture readings are not just sinners but the hardened sinners and
the self-righteous sinners. These are the people who are too proud to
listen to the message of repentance. They are like the Israelites,
especially the political and religious leaders in the Old Testament and the
scribes and Pharisees in the gospel. In the former, the leaders
were not living a just life. They contaminated Israel’s faith by aligning
themselves with pagan nations and adopting their customs and
beliefs. Instead of relying on God as their king, they relied on
foreign powers. And the warning of the prophet is clear, for God said,
“Trouble is coming to the rebellious, the defiled, the tyrannical city! She
would never listen to the call, would never learn the lesson; she has never
trusted in the Lord, never drawn near to her God.”
For failing to listen to
God’s Word, Israel would be punished by their arrogance and foolishness. Indeed, because of their failure
to be faithful to God, they lost their kingdom to foreign powers and were
banished to exile and slavery in Babylon. We too, if we remain hardened in our
hearts and reject the call to conversion, preferring to wallow in our sins, we
will also have to face the consequences of our stubborn uncircumcised
heart. So long as we continue in our sins, especially the sins of infidelity,
adultery, sexual promiscuity, abortion; and putting ourselves under the
addiction of drugs, pornography, drinking and gambling; cheating and lying, we
will see the full impact and consequences of our actions. By the time we
realize our folly, it might too be too late for regret, as we would have caused
untold misery for ourselves and for our loved ones. Truly, the psalmist tells
us, “The Lord confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the
earth.”
However, the category of
sinners that most need to repent, but are most resistant to repentance, are
the so called holy ones of God, the self-righteous ones. Such were the scribes
and the Pharisees of Jesus’ days. Hence, the parable of the gospel was
targeted at the arrogant and self-righteous attitudes of the religious leaders
of His day. They are the second son in today’s parable who said “yes” to
God but never lived accordingly. Although they were religious leaders who
preached and taught the Word of God and imposed the laws on the people, yet in
their own lives, they failed to live up to their teachings. Instead of
complying with the laws of God, they adopted a double standard, one for
themselves and another for the common people. They were judgmental,
critical and lacked compassion for those who broke the laws, even though they
themselves could not observe the laws.
And when challenged to
repentance, they rationalized and sought all ways to reject the message. Hence “Jesus said to them, ‘I
tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the
kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, a pattern of true
righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and
prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it
and believe in him.’” Rather than recognizing the work of God through
John the Baptist and the sincerity of the conversion of the sinners, they
refused to see the truth of what was right before their very eyes.
We are not far from
them, especially those of us who think we are the holy ones, priests,
religious, active church workers, volunteers and ministry members. Just because we are so involved
in the preaching of the gospel, in doing Church work and ministering to fellow
Catholics, how often have we failed to realize that we ourselves are so far
from God! Whilst exhorting others to change their lives, to be honest, to
live a life of integrity, to be forgiving, not to hold resentment in their
hearts, to give up sin and addictions, dishonesty and greed, we never take what
we preach to others seriously in our own lives.
On the contrary, we are
too proud to listen to those who preach conversion to us. The call to
conversion is never for us, but only for others, those who are not active in
Church. But the truth is that some of the most hardened sinners are the
active ones and those who regard themselves as “holy and the devout of
God.” For such people, the prophet Zephaniah has these words for them, “I
will remove your proud boasters from your midst; and you will cease to strut on
my holy mountain.” Yes, Christmas will come and we are very much involved
in all the religious and liturgical preparations for the event, but spiritually
our hearts remain hardened, our lips tainted with lies; serving false gods of
money, power and popularity because we think so highly of ourselves. We can be
sure that Christmas will not bring us any real joy and peace since our hearts
are far from Him!
And to our regret and
envy, we will see that those sinners whom we condemn are the ones who will be
truly celebrating Christmas with joy. As Zephaniah prophesied, God “will then give the peoples
lips that are clean, so that all may invoke the name of the Lord and serve him
under the same yoke.” And the psalmist says, “When the poor one called
out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. The Lord is
close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. The
Lord redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in
him.” As Jesus puts it so succinctly, “tax collectors and prostitutes are
making their way into the kingdom of God before you.” Are we ready
to live with this in our own lives?
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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