THE MISSION TO REVEAL GOD PRESUPPOSES OUR SONSHIP IN CHRIST THROUGH THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

20160110 THE MISSION TO REVEAL GOD PRESUPPOSES OUR SONSHIP IN CHRIST THROUGH THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

First reading

Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7 ©

Thus says the Lord:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom my soul delights.

I have endowed him with my spirit

that he may bring true justice to the nations.

He does not cry out or shout aloud,

or make his voice heard in the streets.

He does not break the crushed reed,

nor quench the wavering flame.

Faithfully he brings true justice;

he will neither waver, nor be crushed

until true justice is established on earth,

for the islands are awaiting his law.

I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;

I have taken you by the hand and formed you;

I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,

to open the eyes of the blind,

to free captives from prison,

and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.

Psalm

Psalm 28:1-4,9-10 ©

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

O give the Lord, you sons of God,

  give the Lord glory and power;

give the Lord the glory of his name.

  Adore the Lord in his holy court.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

The Lord’s voice resounding on the waters,

  the Lord on the immensity of waters;

the voice of the Lord, full of power,

  the voice of the Lord, full of splendour.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

The God of glory thunders.

  In his temple they all cry: ‘Glory!’

The Lord sat enthroned over the flood;

  the Lord sits as king for ever.

The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Second reading

Acts 10:34-38 ©

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.

  ‘It is true, God sent his word to the people of Israel, and it was to them that the good news of peace was brought by Jesus Christ – but Jesus Christ is Lord of all men. You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.’

THE MISSION TO REVEAL GOD PRESUPPOSES OUR SONSHIP IN CHRIST THROUGH THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 42:1-4, 6-7; ACTS 10:34-38; LK 13:15-16, 21-22

The world, in spite of its technological progress, is still empty and life seems to be meaningless.  Like the Israelites in the first reading who were in exile, we too seek for justice in the face of sufferings and evil, for light in our dungeon of meaningless living; and for liberation from our own sinfulness.  Like the Jews during the time of Jesus, we too have this “feeling of expectancy” that the Messiah or the Saviour would come to lead us out of our captivity.  We are looking for light, for hope.

But why is it that man finds life empty and meaningless?  The scripture readings tell us it is because we have “fallen into the power of the devil.”  We have lost our relationship with God and lost our self-identity as well.  This was the situation of the Israelites in the first reading.  They forgot about God and who they were and thus, they were exiled.  They forgot that God is their Father and that they are the sons and daughters of God.  Indeed, St Paul tells us in the second reading “God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  Yes, all of us are called to be His sons.  But we have forgotten our sonship because we have forgotten about God due to our sins which have brought about this alienation and self-forgetfulness.

Today at His baptism, we see Jesus as one who was very much in contact with God.  We are told He was at prayer after His baptism.  Through His openness to God in prayer, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him and a voice came from heaven revealed to Jesus who He was.  “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.”  Jesus was conscious that God was His Father and He was the Beloved Son of the Father.  It was His Abba experience that was the reason for His wanting to proclaim His Father’s unconditional love to all.

The corollary of His Sonship was to reveal God through His life and being.  We are told that “Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.”  Through His life, words and especially in His good works, Jesus revealed God in His life as love and compassion.  Yes, if Jesus were truly the Son of God that is the expression of who God is, necessarily, this reality must be manifested in His life.  So in all that He said and did, Jesus manifested the presence of God.  This explains why on hindsight the gospels could write about Jesus as the incarnation of God.  Hence, His work manifested His sonship as much as His sonship is the reason for His reason for doing good, since only God is good.

But not only did Jesus reveal God as His Father through His Sonship, He also revealed the Holy Spirit as well.  This was because without the Holy Spirit, He would not have been able to do His work and mission.  Hence, we are also told explicitly that “God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power.”  It was at His baptism that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus.  Throughout His life and work, the Holy Spirit was visibly at work in Him.  People could see that His work was the work of God; not the work of man nor even the work for God.

If this was the baptism of Jesus, which was God revealing Himself in the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit, then in the same way by virtue of our baptism, God also wants to reveal His presence in us.  This is our mission as well.  Just as Christ revealed God through His humanity, we too are called to reveal God by our humanity.  People will not be able to see God unless they see God in us.

We can reveal God’s presence by living out the Sonship of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We too are called to do the same so that God’s love is real in this world.  We are called upon to live a life of justice.  We are called to live enlightened and liberated lives.  We are called to be the hope of the people and the light of nations.  For unless they see God, they will not know who they are to God, His children.

What must we do for the presence of God to be in us so that we will be endowed with the Spirit of God?

Firstly, we are called to be baptized with water.  Water is a symbol of purification.  Water is a symbol of dying to our sinfulness and our lack of fidelity to our real calling.  To be baptized with the water of John the Baptist, is to be baptized with repentance.  We must turn away from the kind of life we are living.

Secondly, we must be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  John’s baptism of water is not sufficient.  That is why we must be baptized with the Holy and with fire, which is the Christian sacrament of baptism and confirmation.  In other words, we must be purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit which is the love of God.  This we receive at baptism and at confirmation.  Through the love of God, we become sanctified in Him.  Only when we experience the love of the Holy Spirit, the fire of God, can we find the empowerment to live out the life of Christ.  Through the fire of love, we too find the zeal to spread His kingdom in the world.

But most of all, we need always to renew this Spirit in us through prayer.  We are told specifically in the gospel that after His baptism, Jesus was at prayer.  Only then did the revelation take place.  We must spend our time in prayer so that we come to know God more personally and ourselves more and more.  Only through prayer, which is our union with God in the Spirit, can we be empowered to live out the sonship of God.  Without prayer, our mission would be defective and powerless.  Yes, the mission of every Christian must be like that of Jesus, immersed in the love of the Father and empowered by the love and zeal of the Holy Spirit.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved