20150926
BREAKING OUT OF OUR MYOPIC UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Zechariah
2:5-9,14-15 ©
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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.
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Canticle
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Jeremiah
31:10-12,13 ©
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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.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O
Lord,
to accept the words
of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Or
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cf.2Tim1:10
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Our Saviour Jesus Christ
abolished death
and he has proclaimed
life through the Good News.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 9:43-45 ©
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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.
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BREAKING
OUT OF OUR MYOPIC UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
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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
© All Rights Reserved
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