COURTING DEATH

20170502 COURTING DEATH

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 7:51-8:1 ©

Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.’

  They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him.

  But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and with these words he fell asleep. Saul entirely approved of the killing.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 30(31):3-4,6,8,17,21 ©

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

or

Alleluia!

Be a rock of refuge for me,

  a mighty stronghold to save me,

for you are my rock, my stronghold.

  For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

or

Alleluia!

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

  It is you who will redeem me, Lord.

As for me, I trust in the Lord:

  let me be glad and rejoice in your love.

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

or

Alleluia!

Let your face shine on your servant.

  Save me in your love.

You hide them in the shelter of your presence

  from the plotting of men.

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

or

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Jn10:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;

I know my own sheep and my own know me.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn6:35

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the bread of life, says the Lord.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 6:30-35 ©

The people said to Jesus, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

  Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,

it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,

the true bread;

for the bread of God

is that which comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.’

COURTING DEATH

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 7:51 – 8:1; PS 30:3-4,6,8,17,21; JN 6:30-35 ]

Stephen all the while was patient with the Sanhedrin and the Jewish leaders, explaining to them why Jesus was the Anointed One of God.  But it came to a point when he realized that nothing was getting through to them.  So he came straight to the point and told them exactly how he felt.  He said, “You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears.  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.  Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted?  In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers.  You who had the Law brought to you by angels are the very ones who have not kept it.”

By not being politically correct, he incensed the elders, the scribes and the Jews.  He was courting death!  “They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him.”  As if that was not audacious enough, he broke the last straw by repeating something that Jesus said at His trial. (cf Lk 22:69) Stephen “filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand.  ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”  Naturally, the reaction of the Sanhedrin council was swift.  Under direct attack, “all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him.”

The question that perhaps should trouble us is: Was it the best way for Stephen to proclaim the Good News? Should he have been more tactful?  Will we do the same thing today when we speak to those who do not share our faith or even with our fellow Catholics who are complacent and uncommitted in their faith?  Would we also deal the same way with our loved ones, children or staff or Church members when they fail in their responsibilities? Or would we use the gentle approach of persuasion, dialogue and encouragement?   But if none of these soft approaches get us anywhere with them and we are exasperated, should we resort to the tactic of Stephen and confront our enemies and opponents head on?  Indeed, when we see our spouse or our staff not doing what they have to do, we begin by telling them nicely and give hints.  But after some time, when they do not take the hints, we are won’t to hit out in frustration, with words that are harsh, hurting and direct.

To challenge our adversaries or our loved ones would often mean to court death.  If you know that there is a scandal in the office and it involves the head of the department or the company, to raise the matter means that we must be ready to be removed or face the wrath of our superiors.  Our life might no longer be peaceful or comfortable anymore, as those whom we expose will hate us and bear a grudge against us.  Or if you knew that your spouse is having an affair, and you expose him or her, you can expect that they will retaliate, deny and go on the offensive by destroying you instead.  But sometimes it is necessary because dialogue has failed to achieve anything but only made matters worse.  There will come a time when we need to put our head on the chopping board and become a martyr for a greater cause.  This was the case of all the prophets in the Old Testament, as Stephen pointed out.  One after another, they were killed.

When that time comes, it means that all the soft options have failed.  This was true for Jesus as well. He too started by using the gentle approach of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.  He performed miracles and cared for the sick, the poor and the marginalized.  But in His last year of His ministry, He came to the realization that His proclamation was not having its full effects.  It was after the confession of faith by Peter at Caesarea Philippi that He began to speak of His imminent death at the hands of the temple priests.  From then on, He resolutely took the road to Jerusalem, according to the synoptic gospels.  In His last days, He was very critical and reserved all the harsh words for the Jewish leaders in His indictment against them.  (cf Mt 23:1-36)

Even in today’s gospel, we see the beginning of Jesus’ soft sell on the Eucharist as the Bread of Life, which is ultimately not just the words of God but His own body and blood.  He began by helping them to understand that the manna given by Moses was given by God Himself.  He who came from God was more than the manna but the Manna Himself.  He was the Word of God in person and therefore the bread of life.  “He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.”  But later on when He identified this bread of life as His own body and blood, His sacrificial death on the cross, He was rejected.  Jesus would ask the Twelve later when many could not accept His teaching.  He said, “Do you also wish to go away?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  (Jn 6:67f)

Indeed, at the end of the day, the truth must be told.  The gospel is a gospel of mercy and truth.  God continues to extend to us that mercy but this is not indefinite, as the gospel warns us.  Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  This is the first principle of salvation.  But there are also the inevitable consequences of failing to respond to His love. “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  (Jn 3:18)  This truth is well illustrated in the parables of the gospel, whether it is the parable of the darnel, the harvest, wedding banquet or the last Judgement.  Mercy is proclaimed but the failure to respond to the mercy given itself is already a judgment on our part and we suffer the consequences accordingly by living in the dark.

However, whilst it true that sometimes the inevitable decision to take the hard option to push people to act must be made, as did Stephen and Jesus, it must be done not out of anger but out of love. Even for Jesus, when He reprimanded the Jewish leaders without mincing His words, He did it purely out of love for them.  St Matthew at the end of the denunciations concluded with the story of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  See, your house is left to you, desolate.”  (Mt 23:37f)  Both Jesus and Stephen forgave and prayed for their enemies before they died.  ”Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’  Then he knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’; and with these words he fell asleep.”   So the hard option must be taken not out of vindictiveness or anger but out of deep love and compassion for those people whom we wish to wake from their slumber.

But is it the best way?  Should we ever employ such drastic action at all? And when do we use such measures?  The truth is that at the end of the day, whether it is the right thing to do or not will be measured by history, not in terms of 50 years but hundreds and thousands of years. In the case of Stephen, in courting death, his blood, as St Augustine puts it aptly, was the seed of the Church.  Through the way he lived and died, Saul, who was a witness to the death of Stephen, changed radically as he continued to reflect on the image of Stephen’s death. We read, “The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul.” That prepared the way for his conversion when the Lord appeared to him in Damascus.  So, too, the death of Jesus was an apparent failure.  But for God it was the way in which His claims would be vindicated.  By His death and resurrection, the world was converted.  Only God knows best, but we know only by hindsight, not by foresight.

So to ensure that we are acting wisely, we must never act without the Lord in our heart.  That is why we must come to the Bread of Life daily to listen to Jesus; and to seek His advice and the promptings of the Holy Spirit on how we should undertake to proclaim the Good News of justice and truth. With the psalmist, we can only pray, “Be a rock of refuge for me, a mighty stronghold to save me, for you are my rock, my stronghold. For your name’s sake, lead me and guide me. Into your hands I commend my spirit. It is you who will redeem me, Lord. As for me, I trust in the Lord: let me be glad and rejoice in your love.”

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