WORKING FOR GOD

20160411 WORKING FOR GOD

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Red.

First reading

Acts 6:8-15 ©

Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 118:23-24,26-27,29-30 ©

They are happy whose life is blameless.

or

Alleluia!

Though princes sit plotting against me

  I ponder on your statutes.

Your will is my delight;

  your statutes are my counsellors.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

or

Alleluia!

I declared my ways and you answered;

  teach me your statutes.

Make me grasp the way of your precepts

  and I will muse on your wonders.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

or

Alleluia!

Keep me from the way of error

  and teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of truth

  with your decrees before me.

They are happy whose life is blameless.

or

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Jn20:29

Alleluia, alleluia!

‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Alleluia!

Or

Mt4:4

Alleluia, alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 6:22-29 ©

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, his disciples saw him walking on the water. Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’

  Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs

but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

Do not work for food that cannot last,

but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,

for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’

WORKING FOR GOD

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 6:8-15; JOHn 6:22-29   ]

What are you working for in life?  Of course, it is more than just working for a living.  In other words, what are your goals in life?  What are you living for?  These questions concern meaning, purpose and goal.  Jesus told those people who were apparently seeking for Him.  But He saw through their shortsighted intentions.   He exposed their shallow motive in looking for Him and said, “’I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last.”  Indeed, many are coming to Christ for the wrong reasons too.  Whether we like it or not, many Catholics come to the Lord for worldly and mundane matters.  Food, money, riches and good health are the things that most preoccupy our minds.  We are creatures that seek for our own good and satisfy first and foremost our bodily needs.  We are afraid of pain and death.  This is understandable.  But if we remain on this level, we will never find real happiness in life.

The sad truth also is that for temporal food and worldly pursuits, we will do anything to attain what we want.  We will sacrifice our time and even our health to pursue these goals in life.  Some even sacrifice time with their spouse and children so that they can achieve their ambition.  Others would even use unethical means in business and work to get what they want.  But for spiritual food, most people say that they have no time.  They are too busy, too tired, too many other things to attend do.  All these are lame excuses because they have time for leisure, pleasure and even engaging in unhealthy pleasures like watching pornography and gambling.

Such people, like the Jews who caught up with Him, are short-sighted.  No amount of food, pleasure and achievements in life can make us truly happy or fulfilled.  Many who have gone on mercy trips, especially to the poorer countries, will tell us how contented and happy these poor people are.  In spite of being deprived of luxuries, they seem to be very contented and happy with whatever little they have to survive on.  They might not have computers and all the modern gadgets, but they have nature to wonder at and play with.  They might not have good food but they have good friends.  They might not have power and glory, but they have freedom and joy.  Most of all, they have God as the center of their lives!

So if we want to find life then, as the Lord said, we must work for God.  Jesus said, “Work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.” What is this food that He was referring to if not the Eucharist, the Bread of life that He comes to offer to us?  This He would elaborate later.  Jesus worked for God by giving His life for us for our salvation.  He emptied Himself by doing His will, first of His divinity and then of His humanity on the cross.  This, for Jesus, is working for God; giving up His life for His service in obedience to His will.   He came not to do His own will but His Father’s will. He said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.” (Jn 4:34)

But to do the work of God we must first believe in Him.  We must never confuse ourselves into thinking that working for God is the same as doing the work of God!  Working for God is doing things our own way and according to what we want and feel is good.  Working for God rests on human power and strength, as if the success of our work is the work of human hands.  When we work for God, we make God our debtor, as if He is dependent on us.  Working for God makes us proud, ambitious and demanding.  This is what we see often among priests, religious and our laity who are very much involved in Church but they are full of egotism and arrogance, demanding their rights.

Thus, when they ask the Lord, “What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?”, the response of Jesus was not what we expected.  He said, “This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”  To work for God demands that we have the right foundation and point of departure.  If the work for God does not spring from faith in Jesus, then we will get our priorities all wrong.  We do good works not as a means to gain merit from God but always as a response to His love and mercy for us in Christ Jesus.  In order that we are rightly motivated in serving God, we must take Jesus as our model in service and love of God.  Jesus must be believed as the Lord and Saviour.   This is the foundation.  He is the principle of life, the Way, the Truth and the life.

This was what motivated St Stephen and the early Christians in the first reading.  First and foremost, he had faith in the Lord. The work that Stephen did was simply to witness to the Crucified and Risen Lord and to bear testimony to His name.  He was ready to face sufferings and opposition, just like his master did. In almost perfect imitation of our Lord, St Stephen too responded with confidence when he was framed with false charges against him.  But in the same fashion as our Lord, he stood his ground courageously even to the extent of being stoned to death.   And in the same manner, he stood there forgiving his enemies as Jesus did.

How do we know that we are truly doing the works of God and not working for God?  If we are truly doing the works of God, then why are we so divided?  If we are doing the works of God, why are we so bitter, disappointed and angry when we face opposition and failure? In truth, if we examine ourselves deeply, it is because we are working for God for all the wrong reasons and from the wrong inspiration of human ego based on the principles of this world.  The apostles before the death and resurrection of our Lord were also following Him for ulterior and selfish motives of security, wealth and power.

If we truly are doing the works of God, then the fundamental criterion is to allow God to work in and through us.  This was the case of St Stephen.  We read that he was able to “work miracles and great signs among the people” because he was “filled with grace and power” bestowed upon him by the Holy Spirit.  And when challenged by his detractors and opponents, he was able to defeat their arguments “because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said.”  St Stephen could do much for the Lord not because he was wise and intelligent or eloquent, but because of his faith in the Lord; and his obedience to the will of God, that the Holy Spirit filled him with grace, power and wisdom.  In other words, it was not so much that he was working for God, but God was at work in his life and ministry.

This is the most important pre-requisite of a Church leader, ministry member and worker. They must not rely too much on themselves, thinking how great and intelligent and gifted they are.  Rather, in humility, they must seek the Lord and turn to Him if God were to work in and through their lives.  We must not reduce the Church’s mission into another ideology or human movement that seeks to change the world.  We are not here to propagate an ideology or make ourselves into another world power that has control over the world.  No!  We are here to set people free through humble service and love and in truth.  Catholic theology is not an ideology, but it springs from the grace of God at work in our lives.  It is God that we are proclaiming, not ourselves.  The Church is only an instrument to lead people to Him.  We are here to proclaim Christ as the Son of God, the Bread of life!

Consequently, let us not be discouraged or be ambitious like the world.  Let us not react like the world to those who oppose us.  Rather, like St Stephen, we remain angelic and Christ-like in dealing with those who oppose us, betray us, slander us and misjudge us.  Like the psalmist, we seek to live a blameless life which itself is the best testimony to our faith in Christ. “They are happy whose life is blameless. Though the princes sit plotting against me I ponder on your statutes. Your will is my delight; your statutes are my counsellors.”

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