20160127 THE TEMPTATION TO SUBSTITUTE THE REAL WITH SECONDARY
THINGS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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2 Samuel 7:4-17 ©
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The word of the Lord
came to Nathan:
‘Go and
tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a
house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the
Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a
tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any
one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my
people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” This is what you must say to
my servant David, “the Lord of Hosts says this: I took you from the pasture,
from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with
you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will
give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a
place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in
that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to
oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people
Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you
great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are
laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body
after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house
for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a
father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the
rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not
withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House
and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be
established for ever.”’
Nathan
related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
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Psalm
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Psalm
88:4-5,27-30 ©
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I will keep my
love for him always.
I have made a
covenant with my chosen one,
I have
sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your
dynasty for ever
and set
up your throne through all ages.
I will keep my
love for him always.
He will say to me:
You are my father,
my God,
the rock who saves me.
And I will make him
my first-born,
the
highest of the kings of the earth.
I will keep my
love for him always.
I will keep my love
for him always;
with him
my covenant shall last.
I will establish his
dynasty for ever,
make his
throne endure as the heavens.
I will keep my
love for him always.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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1S3:9,Jn6:68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your
servant is listening:
you have the message
of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word
of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this
seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 4:1-20 ©
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Jesus began to teach
by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a
boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the
water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his
teaching he said to them, ‘Listen!, Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it
happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and
the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found
little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth;
and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered
away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it
produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and
strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’ And he
said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
When he
was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked
what the parables meant. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is
given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so
that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but
not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.’
He said
to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any
of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the
path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan
comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who
receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the
word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not
last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they
fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These
have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all
the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And
there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and
accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
THE
TEMPTATION TO SUBSTITUTE THE REAL WITH SECONDARY THINGS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 2 sm 7:4-17; mk 4:1-20
There
is a tendency for us to avoid confronting the realities of life. But the tragedy of it all is
that we can even protect ourselves from facing the fact that we are not ready
to look at the truths about ourselves and the world we are in. How do
we do this? Simply by substituting other things for what we truly
lack. For example, parents who have no time for their children will
substitute personal love and attention with expensive gifts and money. It
is also true for us as religious. Not willing to confront our lack of
love for prayer, we replace prayer life with activities; not willing to confront
our pastoral inadequacy, we substitute it with intellectual excellence.
Now,
when we behave in such a guise, then today’s scripture readings are directed at
us. This was how King David acted in today’s first reading. Having
subjugated his enemies and united the kingdom, David was feeling guilty that
he was living in a grand palace whereas the Ark of the Covenant was still
residing in the tent. In order to alleviate his guilt, he revealed to
Nathan his intention to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant. Of
course Nathan, unaware of David’s real motivation, agreed without
hesitation. However, the Lord knew David through and through. So He
appeared to Nathan and helped him to discern the situation objectively.
The
issue was not about building a temple for the Lord. The real issue was
whether David and his people were temples for the Lord. What God
wanted from David was not a temple for Himself. What He wanted was to
reside in the hearts of His people. Indeed, He declared Himself to be a
trek God, and not a domesticated God. All through the history of Israel,
God had always refused to be tied down to places. The God of Israel was
one who lived and moved with His people. He was involved in the life of
His people. That was the reason why He made a covenant with them.
“I shall be your God and you will be my people.”
If
Yaweh were against David building the temple, it was because of the danger that
He might be taken out from the life of His people and become domesticated in a little
corner, no doubt a prominent corner of a building. When that happens, God
would become compartmentalized in the lives of people and relegated to one
dimension of human life. Consequently, Yahweh would become even more
distant from His people. Indeed, later on in the history of Israel,
ethics became divorced from faith; rituals from relationship with
God. In other words, God does not want a house. He wants a
home.
Now what
was true for the Israelites is also true for us. Isn’t it true that
we have also in certain ways replaced faith with religion; ethics and Christian
living with orthodoxy in doctrines; personal relationship with Jesus and other
fellow human beings with programmes and talks and studies; dynamism in
community living with order, discipline and structure? When this happens
in our lives, we have indeed replaced the essentials with the accidentals in
life. Then our thinking is not much different from that of King
David’s. We will also be just like what Jesus described in today’s
gospel regarding the seeds. Those seeds which fell by the pathway, or on
the rocky ground or among the thorns are simply those people who have allowed
secondary issues and things of life to stifle the essentials.
And what
are these essentials? Simply, to make ourselves the home of God!
In gospel terminology, it is to let the Word of God take root in us. In
Christological terms, it is to let the Word of God, namely Jesus, to incarnate
in us. When this happens, then indeed God begins to live in us and act in
us, bearing fruit in plenty, as the gospel assures us. And when all of us
become the home of God, then the prophecy of Nathan will come true, namely,
that God will build us a house instead, that is, the dynasty, the community and
family of love and fellowship. Such a community, or such a house where
God lives in, will surely last forever.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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