THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

20161004 THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Galatians 1:13-24 ©

You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.

  Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord, and I swear before God that what I have just written is the literal truth. After that I went to Syria and Cilicia, and was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judaea, who had heard nothing except that their one-time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy; and they gave glory to God for me.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 138:1-3,13-15 ©

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

O Lord, you search me and you know me,

  you know my resting and my rising,

  you discern my purpose from afar.

You mark when I walk or lie down,

  all my ways lie open to you.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

For it was you who created my being,

  knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I thank you for the wonder of my being,

  for the wonders of all your creation.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Already you knew my soul,

  my body held no secret from you

when I was being fashioned in secret

  and moulded in the depths of the earth.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn15:15

Alleluia, alleluia!

I call you friends, says the Lord,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

Alleluia!

Or

Lk11:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Happy are those

who hear the word of God

and keep it.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 10:38-42 ©

Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered: ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.’

THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [  GAL 1:13-24; PS 138:1-3, 13-15; LK 10:38-42  ]

It is significant that St Paul could preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ without speaking or mentioning about His life and ministry.  When we read his letters, very little is mentioned of the life and ministry of Jesus.   It means that the gospel of our Lord could be proclaimed without knowledge of the historical life of Jesus.  The whole gospel for St Paul is centered on the kerygma, which is the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord.  He went straight to the heart of the Good News which is in a nutshell, called the kerygma,  delineating the fact that Jesus was put to death by His enemies; and that the Father raised Him from the dead and therefore proclaimed Him as Lord of the universe.  In all his preaching, it was limited to the fact that the dead man, Jesus, was raised from the dead, and therefore we are called to have faith in Him who is the mercy and compassion of the Father.  Through the shedding of His blood for us all, He brought about the forgiveness of our sins; removed the enmity between God and us; and thus reconciled us in Him.  As a consequence, we are made adopted children of God, sharing in Christ’s sonship through the reception of the Spirit of Jesus.  In Christ, we are made a new creation.

How could St Paul proclaim the gospel without speaking about the life and ministry of Jesus, His miracles; and even the resurrection stories?  It seems therefore even if a person does not know the life of Jesus, he or she could still encounter the Risen Lord.  This is true even today.  Quite often, non-Christians attend our worship services or healing rallies.  Even though their knowledge of Jesus is so little, many of them in faith gave themselves to the Lord, and found healing and salvation.   Only subsequently, did they begin to search and study more about the life of Christ.  This means “didache”, that is, instruction, follows from the kerygma.  The encounter with the power of the Risen Christ and His healing love precedes catechesis.

Thus, the central doctrine of the Church is that justification is through faith in Christ who justifies us by His grace given to us at His passion, death and resurrection.  Anyone who has faith in Christ as his or her Saviour and that He is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose for us in the power of the Spirit will be saved.  He only has to entrust himself or herself to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Salvation is therefore not through good works or merits but solely by the grace and mercy of our Lord.  Faith is the way to receive this grace of justification.

This is precisely what St Paul is telling us in the first reading.  “You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors. Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans.”   The preaching of the gospel for St Paul centered on the fact that Christ the Lord appeared to Him and convicted him of his sin of pride and ignorance.  Having been converted and enlightened, the Lord also chose him; unworthy he was, to be His apostle to the gentiles.   St Paul did not need any historical proof about the details of the life of Jesus to announce the gospel.  All he did was to announce the kerygma wherever he went.  “After that I went to Syria and Cilicia, and was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judaea, who had heard nothing except that their one-time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy; and they gave glory to God for me.”  His preaching was basically the testimony of his conversion and with such a convincing testimony, it was difficult for people to reject even if they disagree with his theological arguments.

This too was the mistake of Martha in the gospel.  She thought that one could earn the mercy of God.  The Lord told said, “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.”  Martha got her priorities wrong, just like many of us.  We think the best way to please God or to find salvation is to do good works to earn the love and mercy of our Lord.  Martha thought by caring for Jesus’ needs, she would please Him and gain favours and appreciation from our Lord.  She wanted to do things for Jesus to seek His attention and win His love.  Hers was salvation through good works.

Mary also found the heart of the gospel through attentive love to our Lord.  She was basking herself in Christ’s love with full devotion of mind, heart and soul.  There lies her strength, her consolation and her motivation to do good.  She was not seeking to earn Christ’s love because she knew she has already been loved.  She understood that what the Lord was seeking was not food but intimacy.   The Lord wanted to share His life with them and wanted to allow them to experience His love.   He did not want to be distracted by all the unimportant things of life.  What matters most is love and intimacy.  Hence, the Lord commended her for having chosen the better part or rather what is most important.

This is not to say that Martha was not doing the right thing but her priority was wrong.  She is typical of many of our Church workers and volunteers.  Most of us are concerned about service, activities, programs and achievements before intimacy with the Lord in prayer and contemplation.  Like Martha, they have good will.  They want to serve God and His people.  They want to help the Church grow and spread the gospel.  But unfortunately, they lack the foundation and the energy to sustain their activities.  Many get hurt in the ministry and stopped serving the Church.  Many suffer burn out as well.  So one wonders whether they are serving the Lord or serving themselves.  Do we serve the Lord only when things are well and comfortable, and because we enjoy it, or because it is what the Lord is asking of us?  Most of us seem to be serving more for our sakes rather than for the sake of God.  If we are truly serving God, then we will serve Him in poverty and riches, in joys and sorrows, in success and failures, in good and bad times.  Should priests who face difficulties in the ministry, persecution and opposition also resign too?  If that were the case, the gospel would not have gone further than Palestine and would have ceased soon after the death of Jesus.  But the apostles, so filled with the love of Christ, were ever ready to die for the Lord regardless of the sufferings and trials they had to suffer.  Without intimacy with the Lord, we will end up like Martha, complaining, lamenting, arguing and becoming disillusioned.

However, if we bask ourselves in His love, we will find the strength and the courage to persevere, not for our sakes but for the love of Christ.  If parents can make sacrifices for the love of their children, we can make sacrifices for Christ, if we love Him.  Good works must spring from encountering His love and as the expression of our love for Him, never as a means to gain attention or claim merits for our salvation.  This has always been the foundation for all the saints in the Church.   When we study the lives of saints, all their works came from their deep love for Christ even when they do social work.  One thing is clear: today, some of our so-called organizations doing charity work, spring more out of humanitarian reasons than born from the love of Christ and the desire to bring His love to all.

So too, the historical study of the life of Jesus, beginning from His birth, infancy and His earthly ministry in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, both in words and in deeds, is necessary.  We cannot dispense with the earthly life of Jesus eventually, after the proclamation of the kerygma.  If Christian life is an imitation of our Lord, then it requires the Christian to contemplate on His entire life, His works and deeds and not just the kerygma which is simply the starting point of faith.  When we fall in love with someone or when someone is seen as important to us, then we would want to understand the background and the life of this person and see what we can learn from him, what motivates him and how he overcomes life struggles.

And though St Paul did not speak about the earthly life of Jesus, he did eventually in his letters end with a section that dealt with Christian praxis, that is, the implications that flowed from his theological doctrine of justification by faith.  This we see clearly in his letters to the Romans and Galatians.  So, let us once again fall in love with the Lord and put Him first in our spiritual life.  Let us not be too concerned with what we do so long as they spring from our love for God and not from human motives of wanting to feel needed, honoured and loved.  If we get our priorities right, we will always find joy in the ministry and accept whatever comes our way, because we are motivated by pure love for Christ and a disinterested love in service of our fellowmen.

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