PERFECTING THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

20160608 PERFECTING THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

1 Kings 18:20-39 ©

Ahab called all Israel together and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah stepped out in front of all the people. ‘How long’ he said ‘do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.’ But the people never said a word. Elijah then said to them, ‘I, I alone, am left as a prophet of the Lord, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty. Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one for themselves, dismember it and lay it on the wood, but not set fire to it. I in my turn will prepare the other bull, but not set fire to it. You must call on the name of your god, and I shall call on the name of mine; the god who answers with fire, is God indeed.’ The people all answered, ‘Agreed!’ Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one bull and begin, for there are more of you. Call on the name of your god but light no fire.’ They took the bull and prepared it, and from morning to midday they called on the name of Baal. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they cried, but there was no voice, no answer, as they performed their hobbling dance round the altar they had made. Midday came, and Elijah mocked them. ‘Call louder,’ he said ‘for he is a god: he is preoccupied or he is busy, or he has gone on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and will wake up.’ So they shouted louder and gashed themselves, as their custom was, with swords and spears until the blood flowed down them. Midday passed, and they ranted on until the time the offering is presented; but there was no voice, no answer, no attention given to them.

  Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come closer to me’, and all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of the Lord which had been broken down. Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, ‘Israel shall be your name’, and built an altar in the name of the Lord. Round the altar he dug a trench of a size to hold two measures of seed. He then arranged the wood, dismembered the bull, and laid it on the wood. Then he said, ‘Fill four jars with water and pour it on the holocaust and on the wood’; this they did. He said, ‘Do it a second time’; they did it a second time. He said, ‘Do it a third time’; they did it a third time. The water flowed round the altar and the trench itself was full of water. At the time when the offering is presented, Elijah the prophet stepped forward. ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,’ he said ‘let them know today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, the Lord, are God and are winning back their hearts.’

  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust and wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces. ‘The Lord is God,’ they cried, ‘the Lord is God.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 15:1-2,4-5,8,11 ©

Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.

  I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’

Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

Those who choose other gods increase their sorrows.

  Never will I offer their offerings of blood.

  Never will I take their name upon my lips.

Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;

  it is you yourself who are my prize.

I keep the Lord ever in my sight:

  since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

You will show me the path of life,

  the fullness of joy in your presence,

  at your right hand happiness for ever.

Save me, Lord, I take refuge in you.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps118:27

Alleluia, alleluia!

Make me grasp the way of your precepts,

and I will muse on your wonders.

Alleluia!

Or

Ps24:4,5

Alleluia, alleluia!

Teach me your paths, my God,

make me walk in your truth.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 5:17-19 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’

PERFECTING THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 KINGS 18:20-39; PS 15:1-2, 4-5, 8, 11; MT 5:17-19  ]

Jesus was an unconventional rabbi.  In fact, He never even attended a rabbinic school for formal theological studies.   He was an itinerant preacher and the people popularly acclaimed Him with the title of Rabbi, teacher and master. His down to earth and simple teaching attracts the common people.  The use of parables taken from daily life appealed to the ordinary people.  They could identify with Him and relate with His message.  He lived in their midst and walked among them.  He was certainly loved by the people.  However, He was seen by the establishment as a rebel, revolutionary, heretic and a potential cause of social disorder.  They could not quite place Him as He was simply unique and in a class of His own.  Regardless, He was a threat to the institutions and the status quo. He was perceived as a real danger to Judaism, the aristocrats and its priestly class.

In truth, He was not seeking to destroy Judaism.  He came to bring Judaism to its fulfillment.  He did not see Himself as bringing about a new religion.  What He was teaching was what true Judaism should be.  He stood in continuity with Judaism and the Old Testament Law and the Prophets.  He came to purify the Jewish faith and bring it to fulfillment.  Hence, in the gospel, He made it clear, “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved.” Indeed, Jesus saw Himself as the Last and the Eschatological Prophet because in Him, the Word of God has taken flesh.  He did not simply speak the Word of God like the prophets; He is the Word of God in person.  Most of all, in the Transfiguration event, the appearance of Moses and Elijah confirmed that He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  (Cf Mk 9:2-8)

This was also the mission of Elijah in the first reading.  Among all the prophets, Elijah was considered the Old Testament prophet, comparable to none because of His zeal and passion for the purity of the faith of Israel.  He was the true prophet for he said, “I, I alone, am left as a prophet of the Lord, while the prophets of Baal are four hundred and fifty.” With courage, he sought to purify Israel’s faith from being contaminated by the pagan religions around them.  When they entered the Promised Land, the pristine faith of Israel was greatly compromised through inter-cultural and inter-religious contacts.  As a result, the leaders and the people were corrupt and not faithful to the Covenant and the Law of Moses.  Instead of living a covenanted life of love and charity, they were compromising their faith in Yahweh and practicing social injustice at the expense of the poor, the orphans, the widows and the weak.

How, then, did Elijah and the Lord purify the faith of Israel?  Firstly, they sought to bring the people into an uncompromising faith in the Lord.  Elijah asked the people, “How long, do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other? If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”   Indeed, confession of faith in the One God must be made without compromise if we are to find our focus in life.   Once we forget that there is only one Lord and God, we end up worshipping many others gods and fall into idolatry.  This was what happened to the people.  They were uncertain about who was the Lord and thus they worshipped Baal the god of fertility instead of trusting in Yahweh whom they only knew as the Trek God.  But there is only one God, the creator of heaven and earth.  For this reason, the Creed begins with “I believe in one God!”

And what did they do to demonstrate the power of the living God?  For Elijah, besides his candid and fiery preaching, he performed miracles in the name of the Lord.  Jesus too performed many miracles, the most important of which was His passion, death and resurrection.  Through His deeds and the Paschal Mystery, Jesus showed forth the power and the glory of God.  Faith is born through the faith of others, in this case, of Elijah and of our Lord.  And we read, “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the holocaust and wood and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces. ‘The Lord is God,’ they cried, ‘the Lord is God.’”

Secondly, God is found not just in might and wonders, He is found when we practise social justice and compassion for the poor and the suffering.  Again, in the case of Elijah, we read how he performed a miracle for the poor widow and her son in a time of famine.  He healed Naaman who suffered from leprosy.  Jesus too cared for the sick, the suffering, the poor and the marginalized.  He stood up for them when they were used by the institutions for their own ends.  He fought for the poor who were being manipulated and cheated at the Temple when they were charged exorbitantly for the animals for sacrifices and the coins for the use of the Temple.  Indeed, it was against the oppression of the poor, the corruption and the injustices of their time that the prophets, particularly Amos, spoke strongly against. Consequently, we can appreciate why the prophets and our Lord were very hard with the political and religious leaders of the day, because instead of using their authority and influence to champion the cause of the poor and the weak, and to promote unity and justice, they used them for their selfish interests, for monetary gains, power and prestige.

Thirdly, they sought to purify the faith of Israel from legalism.  Whilst the Law of Moses was necessary for the preservation of the faith of Israel and the unity of the community, unfortunately, they were followed meticulously and slavishly out of fear and not according to the Spirit of the laws.  At times, such observances of the laws were over exaggerated to the extent that it became a burden. It led to external formalism, legalism, pride and judgmentalism.  Jesus came to purify the Law of Moses by restoring the true spirit of the laws, which was the practice of social justice, compassion for the poor and the weak and most of all, total devotion to the Lord.  In the final analysis, there is only one Law, as St Paul says, namely, the Law of love.  (cf Rom 13:8)

Fourthly, Jesus came to purify the worship of God.  Like their forefathers, the Jews were more concerned with the rituals than relationship with God.  They squabbled over the rituals and the practices, particularly, the rubrics and the customary practices of ritual purity.  As Jesus said, true worship of God is not on this mountain or in Jerusalem but the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth.  Without the heart, all sacrifices are useless for God, because He does not want our holocaust but hearts that are pure and loving. (cf Isa 1:11)  Paying lip service will not move the heart of God.  (cf Isa 29:13; Hos 6:6)   So, true worship of God is to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Rom 12:1)

Fifthly, Jesus came to perfect the Law and the Prophets by proclaiming salvation over judgment, mercy over punishment.  In the Old Testament, the prophets would always proclaim the imminent judgement of God, known as the Day of the Lord.  In the face of His imminent judgement, the prophets called the people to repentance.  However, often, the conversion was more out of fear of punishment rather than love. Jesus, however, underscored the primacy of salvation and mercy over judgment and punishment.  In the light of God’s love and mercy, the people were invited to repent from their selfishness and evil deeds.  God does not threaten us with judgment and punishment but He wants to win us over by His love.  God wants us to love Him as His children, not as slaves.  (cf Gal 3:26; Jn 3:10).

From this perspective, the gospel is more than just a mere continuity of the Old Testament; there is also a radical newness as well.  Continuity calls for growth and development.  In this case, Jesus brought newness and freshness to the faith, hence the Good News, as Jesus calls it, because it is about God’s mercy and our salvation.  Most of all, the newness is that He is the Word of God in person, the Son of the Father who calls us all to share in His sonship and daughtership by giving us His Holy Spirit.  Above all, in Jesus, we know that we are called to share in the divine nature of God and eternal life with Him.  Such is the great hope of the Christian.  This is the Good News.

However, there is always the danger that Christianity, as a 2,000-year old institution, can go back to the laws, as St Paul remarked.   We can fall back into the same trap of legalism, especially in the celebration of the liturgy, morality, Church discipline and ecclesiastical laws.  This is what Pope Francis seeks to eliminate.  The Church must once again come close to the ordinary people.  Ritualism in the Church without real participation of mind and spirit must be replaced with true worship of the heart.   Legalism over relationship in laws and rubrics must be simplified whilst retaining the dignity of the celebration. There should not be too much extravagance and pomp, for our God is the God of simplicity.  Against a growing individualism and elitism among the People of God, Pope Francis urges respect for the laity and their role in the Church.  We must overcome clericalism and the domination of the clergy over Church affairs and give our laity a greater role in the governance and the mission of the Church.  Most of all, the Church must once again be the Church of the poor for the poor, as Pope Francis asked of us.  In spite of it being a great institution, the Church must remain humble as a servant of the People of God and humanity. Without compromising our gospel values, we must remain firm in our faith even as we reach out to the world.  Yet, we do all these without condemnation of others, but only compassion, understanding, patience and respect for those who disagree with us.

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