BREAKING OUT OF OUR MYOPIC UNDERSTANDING OF GOD

20150926 BREAKING OUT OF OUR MYOPIC UNDERSTANDING OF GOD

Readings at Mass

First reading

Zechariah 2:5-9,14-15 ©

Raising my eyes, I saw a vision. It was this: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked him, ‘Where are you going?’ He said, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to find out her breadth and her length.’ And then, while the angel who was talking to me stood still, another angel came forward to meet him. He said to him, ‘Run, and tell that young man this, “Jerusalem is to remain unwalled, because of the great number of men and cattle there will be in her. But I – it is the Lord who speaks – I will be a wall of fire for her all round her, and I will be her glory in the midst of her.”’

Sing, rejoice,

daughter of Zion;

for I am coming

to dwell in the middle of you

– it is the Lord who speaks.

Many nations will join the Lord,

on that day;

they will become his people.

Canticle

Jeremiah 31:10-12,13 ©

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

O nations, hear the word of the Lord,

  proclaim it to the far-off coasts.

Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,

  and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,

  has saved him from an overpowering hand.

They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,

  they will throng stream to the blessings of the Lord.

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Then the young girls will rejoice and will dance,

  the men, young and old, will be glad.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

  I will console them, give them gladness for grief.

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Ac16:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Open our heart, O Lord,

to accept the words of your Son.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.2Tim1:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death

and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 9:43-45 ©

At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.’ But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.

BREAKING OUT OF OUR MYOPIC UNDERSTANDING OF GOD

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ZECH 2:5-9. 14-15; LK 9:43-45

The Jews had just returned from exile in Babylon.  Both the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah were tasked to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem.  They were commanded by the Lord to stir up the enthusiasm and commitment of the Jews in the reconstruction of the Temple of the God. When asked to rebuild the Temple, it was only natural for them to consider the old Temple as the standard by which any other Temples were to be built, for that was the most glorious days of the Kingdom of Israel.  Indeed, like the Israelites, we all tend to live in nostalgic times.  We often reminisce the past, we want to take flight and return to the good old days, especially during trying times. Whilst we should be grateful for the past and all the wonderful times and achievements we have had, yet, looking to the past as the model for the future would only hamper our growth, for we would then just be reliving history.  The truth is that we are not called to relive history but to make, create and change history.  This calls for courage, foresight and the will to think out of the box.

That was what the prophet was challenged to do.  “Raising my eyes, I saw a vision.  It was this: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.  I asked him, ‘Where are you going?’ He said, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to find out her breadth and her length.’”  That was the conventional thing to do, as the New Temple was meant to be a mere replica of the old Temple.  However, we read, “And then, while the angel who was talking to me stood still, another angel came forward to meet him. He said to him, ‘Run, and tell that young man this, ‘Jerusalem is to remain unwalled, because of the great number of men and cattle there will be in her.  But I – it is the Lord who speaks – I will be a wall of fire for her all round her, and I will be her glory in the midst of her.’”   The truth is that God does not want a mere Temple as in the days of old.  The New Temple would not be simply a physical Temple but it would be a Temple that accommodates not just the Jews but all of humanity, without any exclusions. It would be accessible and open to all regardless of race, language or culture. Such a Temple envisaged would therefore permit no walls.  Since in the New Temple God will dwell within His People.

Similarly, we are reminded of the same kind of naivety of St Francis of Assisi when he too was instructed by the Lord to rebuild His Church.  Thinking that the church in his village was in ruins, he quickly went to rebuild the church, only to discover later that the Lord wanted him to rebuild the faith of the people.   The real Church is the People of God, not so much a physical structure or an edifice.  In the New Covenant, God lives in man, for by assuming humanity, Jesus had become the God-Man.  Jesus, who is the Immanuel, God in man, is the New Temple of God’s presence.  And He intended that we all, too, will become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  This is realized by His death and resurrection when He poured forth His Holy Spirit on the Church, the People of God.

Such a new perception of the Temple as the People of God requires us Christians to make a radical shift in the way we think and conceive of God’s Temple.  It calls for a change of paradigm and mindset, no longer thinking the way we think but the way God thinks.  As the prophet Isaiah says, ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.” (Isa 55:8) The inconceivable way the Lord works is manifested especially in Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.   This explains why the disciples could not accept Jesus’ prophecy regarding His death.  “At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.’”  We can be sure that the disciples were too shocked for words to respond to Jesus’ prophecy, for Jesus’ ministry was apparently so successful and He was drawing crowds by His charismatic teaching and healing.

The wisdom of God however is not the wisdom of man.  Success for God is not to be measured in human terms.  The death of Jesus might be a tragedy for the disciples but it was the way God would manifest His power.  The paradigm of God is that paradoxically, life comes through death, victory through failure, and the crown through the thorns.  What the world sees as foolish, God sees as wisdom.  The fact is that like the disciples we have been conditioned by society, whether we like it or not, by our own parents and the people around us to quantify success in terms of material achievements and the trophies we win.  Our lens is certainly conditioned by our culture and society.  So much so that we tend to consciously or unconsciously subscribe to the values offered to us by the world without investigating the truth of what is being offered. We presume that just because everyone accepts it, then it must be the way to find happiness.

Perhaps we are afraid to be penalized and so we follow blindly what has been passed down to us.  This is very true even of religious traditions and practices in our days.  How many of us truly understand the liturgy of the Church or the practices of the Catholic Faith and the doctrines?  Although many of us are great academicians and intellectuals, when it comes to understanding our faith, we fall into apathy!  No wonder many of our Catholics are lukewarm in their faith, since they have no real inner conviction or understanding of what they are doing or believing.  Fear for the truth is a real reason for not asking because it means change.  Sometimes, deep within, we might not really want to know the truth.  In fact that was what happened when the disciples, although puzzled by what Jesus said about His imminent death, were afraid to even clarify with Him.

If we want to find fullness in life, we must be courageous like Jesus to think out of the box and challenge the values of the world that have been passed on to us.  Jesus precisely challenged the status quo of the day, especially the way religion was practised by the religious leaders with so much hypocrisy and legalism.   As far as Jesus was concerned, when religion does not bear fruits of charity and compassion, such ritualistic worship is not acceptable to God.  Today, let us take courage and think more deeply about our faith and the values we hold in our lives.  We must not be afraid to ask.  We must not be afraid to see everything from the eyes of God.  We can learn from Zechariah to see life this way.  Instead of feeling disheartened by the devastation of the Temple, he saw beyond the broken and demolished walls of the temple of the city, a golden opportunity and a call to break down all barriers between all humanity.  They must learn to welcome foreigners so that one day, they too will come to worship the Lord.  Setting up walls was not the way to create peace.

This is what the responsorial psalm is assuring us.  He said, “The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock. The Lord shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror. Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings.”  Most of all, God will turn our mourning into joy, for He “will console and gladden them after their sorrows.”  This can happen only if we do not allow our current predicament to lead us to pessimism about life.  Rather, we should use every occasion, especially setbacks and failures to forge new grounds and new ways to grow and rebuild ourselves, breaking from the chains of the past.  All our sorrows can be transformed to joy and hope.  For Jesus too, it was out of the reality of death that hope for the resurrection became clearer and stronger.  So we need not be afraid to seek the wisdom of God, to think from His perspective instead of our narrow confines about life.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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