DUMBNESS DUE TO PRIDE AS THE OBSTACLE TO CONVERSION AND LIFE

20160303 DUMBNESS DUE TO PRIDE AS THE OBSTACLE TO CONVERSION AND LIFE

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Violet.

First reading

Jeremiah 7:23-28 ©

These were my orders: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets.

  But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer. So tell them this, “Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 94:1-2,6-9 ©

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;

  hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him, giving thanks,

  with songs let us hail the Lord.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

  let us kneel before the God who made us:

for he is our God and we

  the people who belong to his pasture,

  the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

O that today you would listen to his voice!

  ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

  as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

  when they tried me, though they saw my work.’

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Gospel Acclamation

Ezk18:31

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks –

and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Or	Joel2:12-13

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –

come back to me with all your heart,

for I am all tenderness and compassion.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Gospel

Luke 11:14-23 ©

Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – Since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.

  ‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.’

DUMBNESS DUE TO PRIDE AS THE OBSTACLE TO CONVERSION AND LIFE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Jer 7:23-28; Ps 94:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Lk 11:14-23

We are in the mid-point of Lent.  Three weeks ago we celebrated Ash Wednesday, and three weeks from now we will be celebrating Holy Thursday.  The theme of Lent is of course conversion and new life.  Hence, at mid-Lent, the Church feels the urgency to invite us all to conversion again, lest we have not taken the message seriously; lest, like the Israelites, we have not paid attention to her call.  The question is, why is it that some of us have not even begun the path of conversion?  The cause, according to today’s liturgy, is because we are dumb!  What do we mean by this?  The gospel story of the healing of the dumb man is a reflection of some of us.  The dumb man symbolizes the early Christians during the time of the evangelist.  Perhaps, it is for this reason that St Luke tells us the story of the exorcism of the dumb man possessed by a dumb spirit.  What are the implications of being dumb?

Firstly, to be dumb implies that one cannot hear.  This explains why a person who is deaf at birth is normally dumb as well.  For if one can hear, then normally the person is not dumb.  The inability to speak is often due to the inability to hear, because impairment of one’s hearing will affect one’s ability to imitate sounds.  So by extension, all those who cannot praise God nor obey His commandments, must be said to be dumb.  Indeed, the Israelites in the first reading were dumb because they did not hear the word of God spoken to them by the prophets and therefore were disobedient.  They only listened to their evil hearts and to themselves.  Hence, they could not praise God and could not obey.  Conversely, obedience is always the result of real hearing.  To hear is to obey because true hearing will always lead to obedience, since real hearing implies understanding and conviction.  So to obey is simply to be faithful to one’s convictions and one’s self.

Secondly, to be dumb in a figurative sense is to be stupid.  It is the inability to understand or see something that is so clear.  Thus, in colloquial terms, we would label someone as “dumb” if he is slow in understanding.  He is regarded as a fool.  In the bible, a fool is not so much an intellectual fool but a moral and religious fool.  “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’  Their deeds are corrupt, not one does what is right.”  (Ps 14:1)  So, to be dumb, which is to be a fool, is to be deliberately dumb out of pride and self-will.   Well, who could be as dumb as the contemporaries of Jesus!  They saw the miracle of the dumb man, yet they refused to believe, or to see, because of sheer pride and fear of losing their status and privileges.  Instead of perceiving the power of God at work in Jesus, they rationalized and came to the conclusion that Jesus must have performed the exorcism with the help of the prince of the devils, Beelzebub.  Furthermore, they even asked for a sign from heaven, as if the healing of the dumb man was not in itself already a sign.

The words of the prophet surely apply to them when he said, “But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors.  You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer.  So tell them this, ‘Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction.  Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.’”

Of course, Jesus showed how dumb they were by demolishing their illogical arguments.  In the first place, by accusing Jesus of exorcising with the help of Satan, they also accused themselves, since the people in those days were also exercising exorcism.  But most of all, Jesus told them that on the logical level, such a refutation cannot hold water since a kingdom at war against itself could only lead to self-destruction.  So there was no reason for the Jews to deny the reality of Jesus’ power to exorcise, both on the personal and intellectual level.  Indeed, they were truly the dumb ones because they could not see the truth or rather, they refused to see the truth and the work of God in Jesus.

Yes, the gospel wants to remind us that Jesus is the strong man, the one who can heal us of our dumbness.  What is needed is that act of faith and humility.  We are called to be open to Jesus so that we can share in His life.  In healing the dumb man, Jesus showed Himself to be the Messiah, the one who has come to establish God’s dominion on earth.  He invites us to have faith in Him.  If we surrender in faith, He will work miracles in our lives.  But what will be our response?

We must be careful not to fall into the situation of those who complain that they cannot see because their eyesight is fading, yet refuse to wear glasses; or those who complain that they are being kept out of conversations because they cannot hear, but yet refuse to wear hearing aids.   Nay, today, we are invited to open our hearts, minds and ears, for God is always speaking to us.  We need to be sincere, as the first reading tells us, if we truly want to hear the voice of God.  If not, by remaining stubborn, we will behave worse than our ancestors and bring about our own destruction.

Consequently, Jesus warned them that by rejecting Him, the Kingdom of God would overtake them.  By rejecting Jesus, by refusing to hear the Word of God or to see the power of God at work in Jesus, they would miss out on the kingdom that God was inviting them to.  What is said of the Israelites and of the Jews is also applicable to us.  The warning extends to us as well.  If we do not surrender ourselves to Jesus or to the Word, but instead choose to remain dumb, then we have only ourselves to blame.  When Easter comes, there will still be no life in us because we cannot praise God nor see His power at work in us.

Hence, the responsorial psalm urges us, “O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts.”   Repent!  Turn back to the Lord!  This is the resounding invitation during the season of Lent.  If we do not harden our hearts, that is, if only we humble ourselves before the Lord, we will find liberation from our sins and ignorance.  Then we will be able to sing praises to the Lord with the Psalmist with all our hearts, “Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him.”

The choice is ours.  But this choice must be decisive, for Jesus would not tolerate neutrality.  Either you make up your mind for Him or you stand on the side of Satan.  To be wavering in our commitment to the Lord means to allow Satan to have access into our lives and allow him to have a foothold in our hearts.  Thus, we must take heed of Jesus’ challenge, “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.”  Our house cannot stand so long as it is divided.  We cannot live a life of peace and joy so long as we are torn between doing what is right and what is evil.  Choose God and we will choose good.  Otherwise, by compromising our decision for the Lord, we will eventually collapse under the power of sin.

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