20160104 DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION
First
Reading John 3:22-4.:6
22 and
whatever we ask we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments and
do what is acceptable to him.
23 His
commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should
love one another as he commanded us.
24 Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God
in him. And this is the proof
that he remains in us: the Spirit
that he has given us.
1 My
dear friends, not every spirit
is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for
many false prophets are at large in the world.
2 This
is the proof
of the spirit
of God: any spirit
which acknowledges Jesus
Christ, come in human nature, is from God,
3 and
no spirit
which fails to acknowledge Jesus
is from God; it is the spirit
of Antichrist, whose coming you have heard of; he is already at large in the
world.
4
Children, you are from God
and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in
the world.
5 They
are from the world, and therefore the world inspires what they say, and listens
to them.
6 We are from God; whoever recognises God
listens to us; anyone who is not from God
refuses to listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit
of truth
from the spirit
of falsehood.
Gospel
Matthew 4:12-19; 23-25
12
Hearing that John
had been arrested he withdrew to Galilee,
13 and
leaving Nazara he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the
borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
14 This
was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet
Isaiah:
15 Land
of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea beyond Jordan. Galilee
of the nations!
16 The
people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a
country of shadow dark as death a light has dawned.
17 From
then onwards Jesus
began his proclamation with the message, 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven
is close at hand.'
18 As
he was walking by the Lake of Galilee
he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they
were making a cast into the lake with their net, for they were fishermen.
19 And he said to them, 'Come after me and I will
make you fishers of people.'
23 He
went round the whole of Galilee
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good
news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the
people.
24 His
fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and
painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the
paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.
25 Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the
Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordan.
DISCERNMENT
OF THE SPIRITS IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JOHN 3:22-4:6; MATTHEW 4:12-17; 23-25
There
are many people in the world who are living in darkness and in the shadow of
death. This darkness
is caused by sin due to ignorance, selfishness and the lack of
forgiveness. When we are under the bondage of our passion and the flesh,
we are blinded to the more important aspects of life, like love and
relationships. Greed often darkens our minds and makes us compete with
others for power, glory and wealth. Lust often tarnishes our love for the
other person and ends up in manipulation and possessiveness. As a
consequence, those who are discriminated, hurt and taken advantage of live in
darkness too because of injustice and cheating. Many are living in
unjust situations, in poverty and hunger because of unscrupulous politicians
and leaders or businessmen who often use the poor and the defenceless for their
selfish gains. They feel forlorn and forsaken. In such a situation,
what hope is there for them?
Why
are we in this state? Because there are so many falsehoods in the world! We are
flooded with all kinds of information in the digital world that we can no
longer distinguish right from wrong. There are so many scandals happening
in the world, even in the religious world, that we do not know who to trust
anymore. What is most deceptive is that often in the name of love,
falsehood is promoted. Love is reduced to love of self rather than love
of others. Love is defined in terms of others fulfilling our needs,
rather than in terms of sacrifice for others.
The
world wants to promote a love that is not based on truth but on lies.
Love is individualism.
It is all about me rather than those whom we claim to love. So in the
name of love, we advocate abortion, killing innocent babies because we want to
enjoy a promiscuous life without responsibility and commitment. For us,
the helpless baby is not entitled to live. In the name of mercy
killing, we advocate euthanasia for those who are elderly and non-productive in
society, including the terminally ill or children with special needs. The
mercy is not for them but for ourselves, because we do not wish to make time to
care for them. In other words, we have no mercy because we do not love
them as human beings. In the name of love, lovers cohabit because they
claim that they do not want to get into the hassle of legal marriages.
Yet, the truth is that they do not love each other enough to want to commit
their lives to each other.
No
true love can develop when there is no trust or confidence in each other or
when there is no commitment to love each other in good and bad times. If we love each other only
because the person is nice and good or beautiful, such love can never last
because no one is perfect and good all the time. We would always be
living under the threat of rejection because we might never be good enough for
the other person. Such an unhealthy relationship hinders a person from
growing and from being loved unconditionally. Imagine what kind of family
life we would have if our parents loved us only if we are perfect, always doing
what is right, otherwise they would be disowned us!
Consequently,
we need a greater discernment of the spirits as St John tells us. “It is not every spirit, my dear
people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God, there are
many false prophets, now, in the world.” Truly, the greatest false
prophet in modern times is relativism, for it claims that truth cannot be found
and that we can never know what is right or wrong. Just do what you feel
best, or rather, like best! What is right today will be wrong tomorrow
and what is wrong today will be right tomorrow! It is all a matter of
preference.
In
the context of this spectrum of choices, Jesus comes as the light and hope for
all nations. It
is significant to note that the gospel says, “Hearing that John had been
arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled
in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.” In
other words, the truth cannot be silenced by evil men even though they tried to
silence the voice of John the Baptist. God’s truth and love will prevail
over the darkness of falsehood. Jesus, the Word of God, continues this
mission of proclaiming the truth to the world.
The
gospel today takes its point of departure by having Jesus fulfil the prophecy
of the Old Testament. The gospel deliberately had Jesus moving from Nazareth to Capernaum
so that He moved nearer towards where the gentiles lived. “In this
way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun! Land of
Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations! The
people that lived on darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwell in
the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.”
In
celebrating the feast of the Epiphany too, we read that the infant King is
called to be the light and hope of the nations. This is symbolized by the visit of the
three Magi. He is the star that leads to fullness of life. He is
the light in darkness that continues to give direction to the world.
Light helps us find the truth and walk the truth. Light gives hope to
those in darkness and helps us get out of difficult situations.
How
did Jesus give hope to a broken and confused humanity that walked in darkness
and in the shadow of death? He announced the Good News that God is
here. “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” This is the centrality of the Good
News message. But the Good News is not mere words. The Good News is
an event, an experience, a personal encounter with the love and mercy of
God. How is God here? He demonstrated by His miracles of healing,
works of mercy and compassion. So we read how Jesus, “went round the
whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the
kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people. His
fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and
painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the
paralyzed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.”
In
the same vein, how can we get people to hear our message of hope today?
How do we get our young people who live in a world of individualism,
materialism and relativism to hear us? By first loving them! When we love them, they will then be
capable of listening; of being receptive. Very often, people cannot hear
us because they are hurt and wounded. The soil is not fertile for
hearing. There is so much distrust in the world today, even in
relationships. The increasing number of divorces, infidelities in
relationships and dysfunctional children reflect why people are so skeptical
about marriages and why they no longer feel it is meaningful to have
children. But when we love them first, then they begin to trust us.
They will then believe what we say to them. Trust must first be
established before they can believe what we say. When we love them, they
will listen to whatever we say to them.
The
love of Christ must come first before we can accept Jesus’ commandments and
have faith in His message. Faith in the message must be preceded by faith in the
person. This is what it means to believe in His name. “You
can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which
acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any
spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of
Antichrist, whose coming you are warned about. Well, now he is here, in
the world.” So how can we believe in His message unless we begin by
believing in His person, who Jesus is; truly God and truly man! Unless we
believe that Christ is the Son of God, we cannot believe in His message.
To
authenticate His message, He works miracles, which in itself is the message of
the Good News of God’s love and His reign on earth. Only then does He invite us to
accept Him. We too can only ask people to obey the commandments when we
no longer see them as obstacles to our happiness, but as the wisdom of God and
His rules for happiness in life. St John says, “His commandments are
these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one
another as he told us to. Whoever keeps his commandments lives in God and God
lives in him. We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us.”
Secondly,
all discernment of what is right or wrong must be done in the light of Christ
and His message. We
can no longer say that we do not know what is true or false. If Christ is
the Way, the Truth and the Life, no authentic Christian can accept the ideology
of relativism. This is what St John also warns us, “Children, you
have already overcome these false prophets, because you are from God and you
have in you one who is greater than anyone in this world; as for them, they are
of the world, and so they speak the language of the world and the world listens
to them. But we are children of God, and those who know God listen to us; those
who are not of God refuse to listen to us. This is how we can tell the spirit
of truth from the spirit of falsehood.” The criteria of discernment
cannot be based on the world’s values, but that of Christ’s.
Accordingly,
if we are to continue to be the light of Christ in the world, giving hope to
humanity, we too must manifest Christ in us in the way we live; an upright life
and a life of charity. The sign that we live in the truth is that we live in Christ,
loving our brothers and sisters. When we walk in truth and
love, then we can be confident that our prayers will always be answered because
it is always in accordance with the will of God. This is what St John
wrote, “Whatever we ask God, we shall receive, because we keep his commandments
and live the kind of life that he wants.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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