STANDING UP FOR JESUS

20160602 STANDING UP FOR JESUS

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

2 Timothy 2:8-15 ©

Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal – but they cannot chain up God’s news. So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.

  Here is a saying that you can rely on:

If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.

If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.

If we disown him, then he will disown us.

We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful,

for he cannot disown his own self.

Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening. Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 24:4-5,8-10,14 ©

Lord, make me know your ways.

Lord, make me know your ways.

  Lord, teach me your paths.

Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:

  for you are God my saviour.

Lord, make me know your ways.

In you I hope all day long

The Lord is good and upright.

  He shows the path to those who stray,

He guides the humble in the right path,

  He teaches his way to the poor.

Lord, make me know your ways.

His ways are faithfulness and love

  for those who keep his covenant and law.

The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him;

  to them he reveals his covenant.

Lord, make me know your ways.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Jn6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.2Tim1:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Our Saviour Jesus Christ abolished death

and he has proclaimed life through the Good News.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 12:28-34 ©

One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him, ‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to question him any more.

STANDING UP FOR JESUS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Ps 24:4-5,8-10,14; Mark 12:28-34  ]

In our secular world today, it is increasingly difficult to stand up for Jesus and our faith.  We can expect opposition from without and even from within.  The bishop is not spared when he seeks to defend the Church’s position on the moral values of the gospel.  He is attacked not just by secularists but also by Catholics for not subscribing to the current trends of the world.  So, too, is our laity.  Many of us fear to evangelize our faith, much less to stand up for our beliefs as individuals or as members of Catholic organizations.   We are cowed into silence for fear of being criticized, labelled as conservative, out of touch or have our reputation destroyed.   Most of us try to speak in politically correct language so that no one can disagree with us.  The irony is that today we have a silent majority which holds traditional values and a vocal minority that seeks to impose their values on the majority of the peoples.

St Paul reminds us that only “If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.  If we disown him, then he will disown us.”  Indeed, we are obliged as disciples of the Lord to be firm in what we believe.  By denying our beliefs, we end up disowning ourselves because we lose our identity, focus and meaning in life.  We are what we are because of our beliefs and values.   By not standing up to our faith, we will lose everything that we stand for and the future generations especially will suffer the loss of truth and values.

How do we stand firm in our faith?  How can we find the courage to defend our faith?  St Paul is our example of someone who would stand by his faith in Christ, through thick and thin, even unto death.  Indeed, we read in the first reading that he was in chains when he wrote to Timothy, “Remember the Good news that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David; it is on account of this that I have my own hardships to bear, even to being chained like a criminal.”   How inspiring are his words and conviction when he said, “But they cannot chain up God’s news!”  Regardless of his limitations, he refused to allow time and situations to imprison the Good News of Jesus Christ that he has been called to share.  We too must also find new ways to proclaim the gospel.

Where did his strength to share the Good News come from?  Principally, it was because of his personal encounter with the Risen Lord at Damascus.  Indeed, it was this Good News of encountering the Risen Lord that he was ready to do anything for the Lord, including being chained up as a criminal.  Without a personal encounter with the Risen Lord, we would not be able to be as passionate as St Paul was.  So the fundamental pre-requisite for witnessing presumes that we have witnessed to the resurrection of our Lord.  If we have not yet encountered the power of the Risen Lord in our lives, then it would be very difficult to witness to Him.  Evangelization is the transmission and sharing of a person, not some ideology or doctrines.

Secondly, arising from this experience, St Paul felt the personal love of Jesus for him in allowing him to encounter Him.  When he thought of what the Lord had done for him, he could not but be filled with gratitude.  He wrote, “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.  And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Cor 5:13-15)   Indeed, when we truly reflect on His passion and death for us on the cross, then we too will come to appreciate His love and sacrifices for us.  Only when we know His love for us, will we be ready to die for Him because we die for those who love us.

What was more was that the Lord not only revealed Himself to the undeserving Saul but chose him to be his apostles.  He wrote “You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles.“ (Gal 1:13,15,16)  Likewise, are we grateful that we have been given the gift of faith and the ministry?  Precisely, it is because we take our faith for granted and our ministry and vocation as if it is a career we chose on our own, that we lack gratitude for God’s blessings.  Instead of seeing it as a great privilege, we view it as a duty and a chore!

Indeed, this is a command of our Lord, that we love our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength; and to love our neighbour as ourselves.  Such a command appears to be unreasonable and even impossible, humanly speaking.  But this is not the case because it presupposes that we, like the Israelites, have encountered the power and mercy of the Living God.  We need to have our own Exodus Experience which, for us Christians, is the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord.  Without first experiencing the power of His resurrection and the love and mercy from His passion, it would not be Good News for us but simply a message, inspiring as it is, but not something we could relate to.

So what are the pre-requisites if we were to stand up for Jesus?  Firstly, we must cultivate the right attitudes of faith flowing from His love and mercy.  St Paul strived to be as generous as the Lord was to him.  He expressed his grateful love by extending the Good News he had been given to others.  In other words, he obeyed the commandment of the Lord to love his neighbours by sharing with them the Good News.  He wrote, “So I bear it all for the sake of those who are chosen, so that in the end they may have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and the eternal glory that comes with it.”

Secondly, we must cling on to God’s fidelity to us.  St Paul assures us in our struggles that He will be with us, “If we have died with him, then we shall live with him.  If we hold firm, then we shall reign with him.  If we disown him, then he will disown us. We may be unfaithful, but he is always faithful, for he cannot disown his own self.”  In our times of trial, we might feel like giving up.  But thinking of how the Lord was faithful to the end, should give us strength and courage.  The letter to the Hebrews said that Jesus, “who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Heb 12:2b-4)  The psalmist affirms His faithfulness when he prayed, “His ways are faithfulness and love for those who keep his covenant and law. The Lord’s friendship is for those who revere him; to them he reveals his covenant.”

Thirdly, we must not compromise when it comes to the truth to be spoken and proclaimed. St Paul said, “Remind them of this; and tell them in the name of God that there is to be no wrangling about words: all that this ever achieves is the destruction of those who are listening.” We should not engage in useless arguments or try to twist the Word of God to suit us, like the Devil who tempted Jesus.   Rather, we need to be true to the Word of God and the Good News we have received.  Let us not contaminate the purity of our faith.

Fourthly, we need to constantly find strength and direction from the Lord in a world of relativism, with so many voices clamoring to be heard.   We need to be discerning and watchful of the current trends and values that are being promoted in the world and unconsciously adopted by our fellow Catholics because they are in the world.  More often than not, we subscribe to the values of the world simply because we are influenced by the mass media, movies and their secular friends.  That is why like the psalmist, we need to turn to the Lord for direction with the help of the authoritative teachers of the faith.  He prayed, “Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth, and teach me: for you are God my saviour.  In you I hope all day long. The Lord is good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray. He guides the humble in the right path. He teaches his way to the poor.”

Finally, let us persevere by keeping our conscience pure and focused on our Lord.  St Paul urges us, “Do all you can to present yourself in front of God as a man who has come through his trials, and a man who has no cause to be ashamed of his life’s work and has kept a straight course with the message of the truth.”  Indeed, in the final analysis, we must keep our focus on Christ alone.  Jesus warns us, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³ but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” (Mt 10:32f)   Let us keep our eyes on the Good News, that is, the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord so that we keep remembering His love for us and how through His resurrection, hatred is overcome by love and death by new life.

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