20160503 FIDELITY TO THE GOSPEL NECESSITATES THAT WE BE FAITHFUL
TO THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
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First reading
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1 Corinthians
15:1-8 ©
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Brothers, I want to
remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in
which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you
keep believing exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else
will not lead to anything.
Well
then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely
that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was
buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the
scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next
he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and
then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as
though I was born when no one expected it.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 18:2-5 ©
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Their word goes
forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
The heavens proclaim
the glory of God,
and the
firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up
the story
and night
unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes
forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
No speech, no word,
no voice is heard
yet their
span extends through all the earth,
their
words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes
forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn14:6,9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, says the Lord.
Philip, to have seen
me is to have seen the Father.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 14:6-14 ©
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Jesus said to Thomas:
‘I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life.
No one can come to
the Father except through me.
If you know me, you
know my Father too.
From this moment you
know him and have seen him.’
Philip said, ‘Lord,
let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’
‘Have I
been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him ‘and you still do not
know me?
‘To have seen me is
to have seen the Father,
so how can you say,
“Let us see the Father”?
Do you not believe
that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me?
The words I say to
you I do not speak as from myself:
it is the Father,
living in me, who is doing this work.
You must believe me
when I say
that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me;
believe it on the
evidence of this work, if for no other reason.
I tell you most
solemnly,
whoever believes in
me
will perform the same
works as I do myself,
he will perform even
greater works,
because I am going to
the Father.
Whatever you ask for
in my name I will do,
so that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask for
anything in my name,
I will do it.’
FIDELITY
TO THE GOSPEL NECESSITATES THAT WE BE FAITHFUL TO THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ 1 COR 15:1-8;
JN 14: 6-14 ]
Today the
Church celebrates the feast of Saints Philip and James. Not
much is known about them. Still, from the scanty texts of scriptures, much can
be derived from them. In today’s gospel, St Philip was the one who asked
Jesus the ultimate question, namely, the source of origin of all life and
love and our existence. He said to Jesus, “Lord, let us see the Father
and then we shall be satisfied.” Indeed, to know the Father is the quest
of every person. Without knowing our origin and destiny, our hopes are
mere human aspirations, and we can only say, “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow
we die.” (1 Cor 15:32)
How pitiful, as St Paul remarked (cf 1Cor15:19).
For
this purpose, our Lord has come into the world. His mission is to show
us the Face of His Heavenly Father. As we know, the Father is pure
Spirit and He has no face to show to us. How can we then behold His
countenance if not through Jesus, the incarnated Son of God? As Jesus told
Philip: “To have seen me is to have seen the Father …The words I say to you I
do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this
work.” In these words, we see that Jesus’ one desire is to lead us, not
so much to Himself per se, but to His Father. This explains why earlier
on, He told St Thomas, “I am the Way, the truth and the Life. No one can come
to the Father except through me. If you know me, you know my Father
too.” To see Jesus is to see the Father.
Why is Jesus the Way,
the Truth and the Life to the Father? This is because He shares the Father’s glory. In the
priestly prayer, He affirmed His true identity when He prayed, “Father, glorify
me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world
existed.” (Jn 17:5)
And further on, He said, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me
from the world. They were yours and you gave them to me.” (Jn 17:6) So Jesus
can reveal the Father’s love to us simply because He has always been One with
the Father and He is identified with the Father in every way.
This claim of Jesus’
divine identity with the Father is established in the resurrection. That is why we cannot limit faith in
the resurrection of Jesus to simply proof that Jesus is still alive, or that
because He lives, we can hope in our own resurrection. We have to go
beyond, and draw out the full implications of His resurrection in light of what
it means for us, for Jesus Himself and His relationship with His Father.
The scriptures proclaim Jesus’ resurrection by speaking about the Father
raising Jesus from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit, rather than about
Jesus rising from the dead. This is to illustrate the point that the Father, by
raising Jesus from the dead, is actually endorsing the truth of all that Jesus
taught and did when He was on earth. The resurrection can thus be
considered as the Father’s declaration of the authenticity of Jesus’ claim that
He is one with Him. So the resurrection confirms what Jesus said in the
gospel, “You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father
is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.”
Hence,
St Augustine remarked that it is nothing great for Christians to believe that
Jesus died. Even the pagans and the unbelievers believe that Jesus
died. But what makes us truly Christian is that we believe that this
criminal, Jesus of Nazareth, has been raised by the Father and that He is
alive in our midst here and now. By His resurrection, Jesus regained the
glory that was always His, the glory that He freely stripped Himself of when He
emptied Himself to become a man, a slave even unto death. (Cf Phil 2:6-8) He is
truly therefore the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.
Yes, the Father has “highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above
every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11)
So, if
we have any doubts about Jesus’ assertion that He is “the Way, the Truth and
Life” and that no one can come to the Father except through Him alone, then looking
at the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can no longer doubt
that He is our Lord and Saviour. This is the kergyma which St
Paul in the second reading was insisting about: “…that Christ died for our
sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was
raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he
appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more
than five thousand of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the
apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born
when no one expected it.”
It is necessary
therefore, that we hold to this gospel and only this gospel, which is central
to our faith. As
St Paul reminds us. “…the gospel will save you only if you keep believing
exactly what I preached to you – believing anything else will not lead to
anything.” This is a timely reminder, especially for those of us who have
difficulty believing the objectivity of Jesus’ resurrection. Indeed, some
Christians, under the bent of empirical sciences, have reduced the truth of the
resurrection to that of a myth; believing that the resurrection is nothing more
than that His cause lives on in us who believe in His message of love.
This is not wrong, but it would be reductionism. If His cause lives on in
us, it is because He is raised and lives in us in the Holy Spirit.
Otherwise only His cause or philosophy lives in us, just as great men leave
behind their legacy when they die.
Hence
it is not only His cause that continues in our lives, but as Jesus assures us,
“I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same
works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am
going to the Father.” The corollary to believing that Jesus is from the
Father is the works He did. We know that Jesus lives because in and
through Him, we can do what He did and even more! Isn’t this another way
of saying that His name is above every name? This is accentuated when
Jesus urged us to trust in Him. He said, “Whatever you ask for in my name
I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask for
anything in my name, I will do it.”
But why
is it so necessary that Jesus reveals the Father to us? It is so that
we can be in communion with Him and experience His love and mercy! The
priestly prayer of Jesus ended with these words, “Righteous Father, the world
does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.
I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with
which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn 17:25)
By
implication, we who want to be sure of our Faith must also return to the
Apostolic testimony which is passed on to us through the Tradition of the
Church as it was in the case of St Paul and now preserved by the chosen
successors of the Apostles in our bishops. So being in communion with the
Church is the way in which we remain faithful to the teaching of Christ and the
foundation of our faith. Through our communion with His Church, we remain
faithful to Christ and one with the Father.
As the
living witnesses of Christ, it is incumbent on us to be the messengers of
the Gospel to all of humanity. Like the whole of creation, we, too,
must ensure that the Gospel be spread to all the earth.
How can this be
done? What must we do in order that the Gospel is proclaimed to
everyone? We
must proclaim that Jesus’ death shows us His Father’s love and that His
resurrection establishes Him as Lord and Saviour. That this claim is true
is verified by Christ’s working through His Spirit, the miracles we work,
ordinary or extraordinary, by appealing in faith to Jesus’ name in fervent and
expectant prayer. And finally, we become real witnesses of Christ not
simply by preaching and working miracles but, most of all, by living a
resurrected life of charity, forgiveness and communion. Yes, we live a
transcendent life with our eyes fixed on heaven, even though our feet are
firmly on the ground, carrying the cross of purification and self-emptying love
in humble service.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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