20150308 A TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD AS THE TRUE WORSHIP OF LOVE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Exodus 20:1-17 ©
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God spoke all these
words. He said, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
‘You
shall have no gods except me.
‘You
shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or
on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to
them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God and I punish the
father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who
hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
‘You
shall not utter the name of the Lord your God to misuse it, for the Lord will
not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.
‘Remember
the sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your
work, but the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God. You shall do no
work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants,
men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six
days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these
hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why the Lord has blessed the
sabbath day and made it sacred.
‘Honour
your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that
the Lord your God has given to you.
‘You
shall not kill.
‘You
shall not commit adultery.
‘You
shall not steal.
‘You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
‘You
shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s
wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that
is his.’
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Psalm
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Psalm 18:8-11 ©
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You have the
message of eternal life, O Lord.
The law of the Lord
is perfect,
it
revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord
is to be trusted,
it gives
wisdom to the simple.
You have the
message of eternal life, O Lord.
The precepts of the
Lord are right,
they
gladden the heart.
The command of the
Lord is clear,
it gives
light to the eyes.
You have the
message of eternal life, O Lord.
The fear of the Lord
is holy,
abiding
for ever.
The decrees of the
Lord are truth
and all
of them just.
You have the message
of eternal life, O Lord.
They are more to be
desired than gold,
than the
purest of gold
and sweeter are they
than honey,
than
honey from the comb.
You have the
message of eternal life, O Lord.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians
1:22-25 ©
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While the Jews demand
miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified
Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans
madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a
Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser
than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn11:25, 26
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
I am the resurrection
and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in
me will never die.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or
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Jn3:16
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
God loved the world
so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes
in him has eternal life.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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John 2:13-25 ©
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Just before the
Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people
selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their
counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the
Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked
their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here
and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples
remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews
intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’
Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’
The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are
you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary
that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered
that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had
said.
During
his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw
the signs that he gave, but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to
them; he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in
him.
A
TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD AS THE TRUE WORSHIP OF LOVE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EX 20:1-17; 1 COR 1:22-25; JN 2:13-25
One of
the dominant themes in the Old Testament is that our God is a jealous
God. This is clearly presented in today’s first reading where we read
that God told the Israelites that He is a jealous God; and thus they can
have no other gods except Him. Yes, this God who freed the Israelites
from the slavery of the Egyptians now demands absolute fidelity from
them. But such a command seems odd and even contradictory.
Why?
Because, it appears that the Israelites had chosen a bad deal. They were
freed from the slavery of the Egyptians in order to be the slaves of
Yahweh. Such liberation seems to be no real liberation at all. If
that were the case, it might have been better for the Israelites to remain as
they were because the Ten Commandments of God seem to be more exacting than
their former masters. Furthermore, to claim that our God is a
jealous God, it would seem that this God whom we worship is egoism
personified. Not only that, He further threatens punishment for those
who do not love Him.
If we
have these ideas in our minds, then we have grossly misinterpreted the
real meaning of today’s scripture readings. If God asks us for our
total devotion, it is not because God needs our love or our worship.
Nay, how could He? God is all complete, all sufficient and all
love. Rather, we must understand that because we come from God, we
cannot be complete without Him. The invitation to love God and to give
ourselves wholeheartedly to Him is nothing else but the call to be true to our
identity, to our origin. The truth is that we are all called to
participate and share in the very being and life of God. Hence, not to
love like God would be to betray our very being and our calling in life.
Thus,
in the first three commandments of the Decalogue, we are called to worship God,
not so much for God’s sake but for our sake. If we do not worship God,
we might forget our origin, our calling and our identity. In fact,
this is what is happening to many people today. Some only remember God on
Sundays. Others only when they are about to die. Some do not even
know Him at all. The consequence of those who fail to devote themselves
to God result is that they become slaves to the world, to the pursuits of
power, wealth and glory; and they live in deep insecurity and fear. When
people live for this earthly life only, they have everything to fear because
they know that death and sickness will overtake them one day, even if their
enemies and competitors do not. So, we can see that people who live their
lives without God can hardly live. It is this awareness that
inspires Jesus’ zeal for God’s house. Jesus understands that His life cannot be
lived totally unless He lived for God.
However,
today many people have also misunderstood the meaning of a true
worship of God and zeal for Him. For many, devotion to God has become
a way to escape from commitment to life, to their families and their
work. Yet others think that to worship God is simply to attend Mass or
join in some prayer sessions.
But this
is precisely what Jesus has come to warn us about. In chasing out the
vendors, it was not so much because it was illegitimate to buy and sell animals
at the temple precincts, which after all would be used in the temple
sacrifice. No! The real objection of Jesus was that both buyers and
sellers had forgotten the main purpose of the whole transaction.
For the merchants, it was simply to make money and for the people, it was
simply an empty ritual which they had to fulfill. The action of Jesus in the
temple was to remind the Jews that animal sacrifice can never put a man right
with God. What God wants from us is not animal sacrifices but our love
– our love not simply for Him but for our fellow human beings. True
worship of God is therefore not simply to perform some rituals.. No!
True worship of God is not worship unless they are done out of love.
Beautiful statues and rituals cannot take the place of our true devotion to
God.
Real worship must
therefore be an expression of our life of love for others. This is the way in which we
truly share in the life of God. To share in God’s life is nothing else
but to share in His love. For God, there is no better way to define God
than to call Him ‘Love’. Indeed, this is what the other seven commandments of
the Decalogue instruct us to do. The only way in which we know that we
are loving God and worshipping Him rightly is when we are also loving towards
our neighbours.
Indeed, the temple worship
in those days did not manifest such a kind of love. The truth is that the
temple worship during the time of Jesus had spawned a ritualistic religion that
did not respect the dignity of all men and women. The people were
segregated into different categories in the temple, from the outer to the inner
courts; the most outer court being the Court of the Gentiles, followed by the
Court of the Women, the Israelites and then the Priests. And it was the
Court of the Gentiles that the Jewish traders had turned into a market place,
rendering it impossible for them to pray.
In the same way too, if
religion makes us snobbish and separates us from others, that too cannot lead
us to life nor a true worship of God. Indeed, sometimes among Church
goers, there is a tendency towards cliques and exclusivity. This is
particularly true among Church groups and neighbourhood groups, where newcomers
are often made to feel unwanted and left out. This has led to many of
losing interest in Church involvement. Even if we are not unwelcoming of
new parishioners, some of us can be rather intolerant of those of those who do
not share the same perspective of the faith with us. To despise others simply
because they are of a different race or religion is surely contrary to God’s
love for all human beings.
Today, Jesus demonstrates
to us what true worship of God really is. True worship of God is to
stand up for the rights of our fellow human beings. This was what
Jesus did. He came to the rescue of the outcasts and the alienated.
He came to give them their rightful place in God’s kingdom. Of course,
such an act cost Him His life. But Jesus was like God. He loved
God’s people unto death. For this reason, He could say to His enemies,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” In other
words, Jesus worshipped God unto death by dying for the cause of God and the
cause of His fellow human beings. His death is His total dedication to
His love for God and for us.
At mass we offer the
perfect sacrifice of Jesus in the Eucharist. But it is not this
ritualistic sacrifice that will really liberate us for life. Simply
attending Mass and receiving communion will not get us any closer to the
reality of life, unless the reception of the Eucharist is also our symbolic
expression of our desire to join Jesus in this self-offering of love for
humankind and to God. Indeed, the real altar of sacrifice is not
in Church but where people are, especially those who are in need and those whom
we are called to serve; our family, our neighbourhood and our
country. This is the perfect worship Jesus is speaking about.
Yes, in Jesus, we see how
He consecrated His life totally to the Father. His life and death becomes
for us a clear manifestation of the power and depth of God’s love for us.
That is why St Paul sees Jesus, the crucified Christ, as the answer to what the
Jews and the Greeks were looking for in life. Because in Jesus, the
Crucified and Resurrected One, we see the greatest miracle in history – the
miracle of God’s faithful love and foolish love that knows no limits.
Yes, in allowing Jesus to die and then raising Him up, God testifies to us
His unconditional love and His fidelity to those who love Him.
And so on this third Sunday
of Lent, the Church is inviting us to have a true relationship with God so that
we can have a true relationship with others. True worship will lead us to
have a true love for others. False worship of God will not lead us
to fellowship. Hence, we ask ourselves today, do we really love God
and have we really worshipped Him? Because if we claim that we do,
then we must verify it in our lives, especially in our relationships with
others.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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