20150820 RIGHT DISPOSITION AND RIGHT PERCEPTION
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Judges 11:29-39 ©
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The spirit of the
Lord came on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through to
Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead made his way to the rear of the
Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites
into my hands, then the first person to meet me from the door of my house when
I return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord, and I
will offer him up as a holocaust. Jephthah marched against the Ammonites to
attack them, and the Lord delivered them into his power. He harassed them from
Aroer almost to Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-keramim. It was a very
severe defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled before the Israelites.
As
Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out from it to meet
him; she was dancing to the sound of timbrels. This was his only child; apart
from her he had neither son nor daughter. When he saw her, he tore his clothes
and exclaimed, ‘Oh my daughter, what sorrow you are bringing me! Must it be
you, the cause of my ill-fortune! I have given a promise to the Lord, and I
cannot unsay what I have said.’ She answered him, ‘My father, you have given a
promise to the Lord; treat me as the vow you took binds you to, since the Lord
has given you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.’ Then she said to her
father, ‘Grant me one request. Let me be free for two months. I shall go and
wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.’ He
answered, ‘Go’, and let her depart for two months. So she went away with her
companions and bewailed her virginity in the mountains. When the two months
were over, she returned to her father, and he treated her as the vow that he
had uttered bound him. She had never known a man.
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Psalm
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Psalm 39:5,7-10 ©
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Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
Happy the man who has
placed
his trust
in the Lord
and has not gone over
to the rebels
who
follow false gods.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
You do not ask for
sacrifice and offerings,
but an
open ear.
You do not ask for
holocaust and victim.
Instead,
here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
In the scroll of the
book it stands written
that I
should do your will.
My God, I delight in
your law
in the
depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
Your justice I have
proclaimed
in the
great assembly.
My lips I have not
sealed;
you know
it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:27
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Make me grasp the way
of your precepts,
and I will muse on
your wonders.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 22:1-14 ©
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Jesus
said to the chief priests and elders of the people, ‘The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding. He sent his
servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come. Next he
sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I
have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been
slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.” But they were not
interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the rest
seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them. The king was furious. He
despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town. Then he
said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved
to be unworthy, go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can
find to the wedding.” So these servants went out on to the roads and collected
together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was
filled with guests. When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one
man who was not wearing a wedding garment, and said to him, “How did you get in
here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent. Then the
king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the
dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.” For many are called,
but few are chosen.’
RIGHT
DISPOSITION AND RIGHT PERCEPTION
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JDG 11:29-39;
MT 22:1-14
In the
gospel, we have the story of the Wedding banquet. The banquet is one of
the most appropriate symbols of the kingdom of God, for it expresses joy,
happiness, fellowship and fullness of life. The parable tells us that all
are invited into His kingdom. It is not restricted to the Jews but
Gentiles are invited as well. This is truly Good News because this invitation
is for everyone, including the good and bad: “So the servants went out into the
streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad”.
Furthermore, the Kingdom is offered to us as a free gift. It is pure
grace. We cannot earn the Kingdom by paying a price. But what is
required is that we be receptive to the invitation. Entry to the Kingdom is
therefore determined by cultivating the right disposition and acquiring the
right perception. Both are necessary. Goodwill is not good enough. We must also
do the right thing. But doing the right thing does not qualify us for the
Kingdom unless our hearts are rightly disposed. Today’s scripture readings
present to us the different levels of perception and disposition when the
Kingdom was offered to the people.
In the
first place, we have the story of Jephthah, one of the judges of Israel.
He had the right disposition but the wrong perception of the will of God.
In the thick of the battle, when he was facing tremendous danger from his
enemies, he rashly “made a vow to the Lord, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into
my hands, then the first person to meet me from the door of my house when I
return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to the Lord, and I
will offer him up as a holocaust.’” That turned out to be the biggest and most
tragic mistake of his life, for upon his return home from battle, the first
person to meet him was his only child and daughter, “dancing to the sound of
timbrels.”
We may
be appalled to think that Jephthah could sacrifice his only child to the Lord.
To appreciate why he had to carry out this vow, we must understand the
background of the culture at that time. Among the primitive people, it
was normal to sacrifice animals and even children to appease the gods. So in
Jephthah we have a case of an imperfect faith. He perceived the will of
God wrongly and did not know Him as a God of love and mercy. Whilst we
must praise him for his integrity and fidelity to his promise to the Lord, yet
he must be faulted for two reasons.
Firstly,
he made a rash vow at the height of the battle. That is what we do as
well, especially when we are desperate like him. In our desperation to have our
prayers answered, many of us would make promises to God as a kind of bargaining
power. Some would promise to serve Him for the rest of their life if they
are cured of an ailment; others may promise to give their wealth away if their
petition is answered. Some of us even make vows in the heat of an
argument, such as: “I will divorce you. I wish you were dead!” or, to our
children, “I wish you were never born!”, “I will disown you from now on”,
etc. The lesson we can learn is that in times of anger and excitement, we
should not make any rash promises to anyone because we would regret, knowing
that we cannot fulfill them. At any rate, God will never recognize vows
that are made in moments of confusion or constraints. God is a merciful
and loving God. Any vow taken must be done with full consciousness,
deliberation and freedom.
Secondly,
this story also shows the superstitious practices of the Israelites.
Although many of them have professed their faith in Yahweh as the Lord of Hosts,
yet many subscribed to pagan practices. Many of them were serving other
gods besides Yahweh. The offering of a child sacrifice was a practice
prevalent among the pagans at that time. But Jephthah had yet to learn
that Yahweh is a loving and compassionate God. He would not want any
human sacrifice.
Truly
what the Lord wants of us is not a holocaust and He definitely rejects any
human sacrifice. What He asks is that we do His will. As Christians, we
might not be offering any human sacrifices to God but we do make all kinds of
promises, ranging from giving up something to doing some penance as a way to
make God answer our prayers. Some have become so superstitious in our Catholic
practices, such as saying a number of prayers to have our petition answered,
attending a number of novenas before Our Lady will intercede for us; and even
sending chain letters for fear of being punished by God or forfeiting the
windfall promised to us. When we engage in superstitious devotions, we are no
better than Jephthah. Like him, our faith needs purification through study of
the Word of God and a personal knowledge of Him.
In
contrast, the gospel presents us another group of people who have the right
perception but the wrong disposition. This group refers to those on the
byroads who were invited to the wedding feast. We read that both the good and
bad were invited to the feast. However there was this man who was not
properly attired. The master was furious and instructed his servants to “Bind
him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping
and grinding of teeth.” One might wonder why wearing the wedding garment
was so important. In the old days, it was normal for the host to provide
the wedding garment for the guests. Most probably, this guest was too busy to
put it on. Hence, the punishment was severe. Although the kingdom of God
is offered free to all, yet we must have the right disposition to receive the
kingdom. Attending an important function like a wedding without the
proper attire shows that we have no respect for our hosts.
Again,
this is true for us as baptized Christians. We all have been baptized in Christ
and our sins have been forgiven by the blood of Christ. Yet after
baptism, many of us who have been given the Wedding Garment are not putting it
on. We do not live the life of Christ through a life of prayer and virtuous
living. We are careless in our spiritual life, neglecting the sacraments,
especially of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, praying of the Word of God and
fervent prayer. Many have tainted their wedding garment by their sins and
have not turned to the Lord to have it washed clean. In other words,
these people have transformed the costly grace of Christ’s redemption on the
cross for us into cheap grace. We must respond to the grace of God by
living a life of holiness. St Paul tells us to put on Christ and “be
clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and
patience” (Col 3:12)
Finally,
we have the third category of people who lack both the disposition and the
perception. They were the Jews in Jesus’ time. They were the first
to be invited to the feast but they were all not interested and gave all kinds
of excuses. Others even had the King’s servants and messengers put to
death. They were too proud, impatient and most of all, made use of
religion to acquire wealth and status. They were not able to perceive
that the Kingdom had come in Christ. Instead they had Jesus put to death
for offering the Kingdom to them.
Aren’t
we like that, especially those of us who are cradle Catholics? Like the Jews,
we have received the gift of faith from our parents. But we do not bother
to interiorize the faith that is imparted to us through the Church. We
take our faith for granted, thinking that just because we are baptized, we are
guaranteed a place in heaven. On the contrary, we have to work harder because
of the grace we have received. Faith is not given as a ‘once for all’
reality. Faith must grow in depth each day. This requires us to
make time for the Lord. To put our human affairs and worldly pursuits
before God is to worship idols. When we fail to make time for God, very soon,
we would also be deaf to the call of God to conversion and fullness of life.
Nominal Christians are the most difficult people to evangelize because they
think they know Christ but in truth they don’t, as seen in the way they
practise the faith and the way they live.
Indeed
this was the mistake that the first group of people who were invited.
They were not doing anything that was bad or immoral. They were simply deaf to
the invitation of Christ because they were busy with their businesses, their
estate and personal matters. We, too, can be so consumed with the things
of this world that we forget about God. Many are so engaged in their work
that they do not even have time to come to church on Sundays, or too tired to
pray during the week. But the tragedy is that when we allow the mundane matters
of the world to control us, then we shut out the truly important matters of
life. We can be so busy making a living that we forget how to live.
So how,
then, must we live our faith? We must acquire a deeper perception of
Christ and the gospel and the knowledge of our faith. We must also put
our faith into action through a life of charity and compassion. There is no
dichotomy between grace and good works. Both are complementary, even if
grace has primacy. Grace requires the right disposition to receive it, and
knowledge of the truth. Grace comes with responsibility. Hence, we
must turn to God who provides us the grace to know Him more and more so that
knowing Him, we can love Him and loving Him we love others. In this way,
we already live the kingdom life here on earth.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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