20160108 FAITH IN THE INCARNATION CELEBRATED IN BAPTISM AND THE
EUCHARIST AS THE BASIS FOR OUR MISSION
1John
5:5-13
5 Who
can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 He it
is who came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ, not with water alone but with water and blood, and it is the Spirit
that bears witness, for the Spirit
is Truth.
7 So
there are three witnesses,
8 the
Spirit, water and blood; and the three of them coincide.
9 If we
accept the testimony of human witnesses, God's testimony is greater, for this
is God's testimony which he gave about his Son.
10
Whoever believes in the Son of God
has this testimony within him, and whoever does not believe is making God a
liar, because he has not believed the testimony God
has given about his Son.
12
Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever has not the Son of God
has not life.
13 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son
of God
so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Psalms
147:12-15; 19-20
12
Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God.
14 he
maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat.
15 He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly,
19 He
reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel.
20 For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his
judgements.
Gospel
Luke 5:12-16
12 Now
it happened that Jesus
was in one of the towns when suddenly a man
appeared, covered with a skin-disease. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face
and implored him saying, 'Sir, if you are willing you can cleanse me.'
13 He
stretched out his hand, and touched him saying, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' At
once the skin-disease left him.
14 He
ordered him to tell no one, 'But go and show yourself to the priest
and make the offering for your cleansing just as Moses
prescribed, as evidence to them.'
15 But
the news of him kept spreading, and large crowds would gather to hear him and
to have their illnesses cured,
16 but he would go off to some deserted place and pray.
FAITH
IN THE INCARNATION CELEBRATED IN BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST AS THE BASIS FOR OUR
MISSION
“Who
can overcome the world?” In other words, who can save humanity from its
woes and sins? The answer given by St John is this: “only the man who
believes that Jesus is Son of God: Jesus Christ who came by water and
blood.” Indeed, it is faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the Word made
flesh, that can save us. This is because St John tells us that “God
has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son; anyone who has the Son
has life, anyone who does not have the Son does not have life.” Faith in
the Incarnation requires that we believe that in the person and humanity of
Jesus, we see God. The man Jesus who was baptized at the river Jordan and
who was crucified at Calvary reveals to us the nature of God’s love for
us. Indeed, during the season of Epiphany, we celebrate the love of God
manifested to us in Jesus.
But how
can we arrive at this faith in the Incarnation? St John tells us that
this is possible only in the Spirit. Hence, he speaks of the Spirit as
the witness of the truth. It is the Spirit that reveals to us in the
depth of our hearts the real person of Jesus. Faith in the incarnation
cannot be simply an intellectual conviction but truly a personal enlightenment
in our hearts. Hence, St John speaks of the importance not simply of
human but divine testimony when he said, “we accept the testimony of human
witnesses, but God’s testimony is much greater, and this is God’s testimony,
given as evidence for his Son.”
Today,
we are truly privileged because as Christians we celebrate and renew our
faith in the incarnation at our baptism and at the celebration of the
Eucharist. At baptism, we receive the Spirit of our adopted
sonship because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Faith in the
resurrection is really but an extension of the incarnation. Hence, in the
Eucharist, we celebrate the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, an event
that is not only thought of but lived.
How
then can we arrive at this experience of faith in Jesus as the Son of
God? Like Jesus,
we need to pray. The gospel tells us that “his reputation continued to
grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness
cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and
pray.” It is in prayer like Jesus that we will discover our sonship and
share in His Spirit. Only with such an encounter, can we at the same time
be truly evangelical in our faith.
Like
the leper today, we need to ask the Lord to remove the blindness of our sins
that prevent us from seeing the selfishness and pride in us. Leprosy as a
symbol of alienation should invite us to cleanse ourselves and come to the Lord
in prayer so that we can experience His love and mercy. Like the leper we
must be desperate in seeking for a deeper union with God. Without this
desire, we can never truly find Jesus in our lives.
But when
we do, then like Jesus, we will be able to manifest God’s life in us as well.
For when we discover the heart of the Father, we too would surely want to
extend His love to others. For this reason when the leper asked Jesus,
‘”If you want to, you can cure me.” Jesus stretched out His hand and, touching
him and said, “Of course I want to! Be cured!”’ Indeed, Jesus surely
wants to heal us, for this is the desire of God. There is no doubt that
if we want to be healed, God would not delay in healing us. When we
encounter God like Jesus, we can be certain that God wants to heal through us
as well. It is this confidence in God’s love that empowered Jesus to
heal, for we are told that “the leprosy left him at once.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment