20170622
THE JEALOUSY OF GOD
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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2 Corinthians 11:1-11 ©
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I only wish you were able to tolerate a little foolishness from
me. But of course: you are tolerant towards me. You see, the jealousy that I
feel for you is God’s own jealousy: I arranged for you to marry Christ so that
I might give you away as a chaste virgin to this one husband. But the serpent,
with his cunning, seduced Eve, and I am afraid that in the same way your ideas
may get corrupted and turned away from simple devotion to Christ. Because any
new-comer has only to proclaim a new Jesus, different from the one that we
preached, or you have only to receive a new spirit, different from the one you
have already received, or a new gospel, different from the one you have already
accepted – and you welcome it with open arms. As far as I can tell, these
arch-apostles have nothing more than I have. I may not be a polished
speechmaker, but as for knowledge, that is a different matter; surely we have
made this plain, speaking on every subject in front of all of you.
Or was I
wrong, lowering myself so as to lift you high, by preaching the gospel of God
to you and taking no fee for it? I was robbing other churches, living on them
so that I could serve you. When I was with you and ran out of money, I was no
burden to anyone; the brothers who came from Macedonia provided me with
everything I wanted. I was very careful, and I always shall be, not to be a
burden to you in any way, and by Christ’s truth in me, this cause of boasting
will never be taken from me in the regions of Achaia. Would I do that if I did
not love you? God knows I do.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 110(111):1-4,7-8 ©
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Your works, Lord, are justice and truth.
or
Alleluia!
I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord,
to be pondered by all who love them.
Your works, Lord, are justice and truth.
or
Alleluia!
Majestic and glorious his work,
his justice stands firm for ever.
He makes us remember his wonders.
The Lord is compassion and love.
Your works, Lord, are justice and truth.
or
Alleluia!
His works are justice and truth,
his precepts are all of them sure,
standing firm for ever and ever;
they are made in uprightness and truth.
Your works, Lord, are justice and truth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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1S3:9,Jn6:68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Rm8:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The spirit you received is the spirit of sons,
and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 6:7-15 ©
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the
pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves
heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
So you should pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in
debt to us.
And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the evil one.
‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father
will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not
forgive your failings either.’
THE JEALOUSY OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 Cor 11:1-11; Ps 110:1-4,7-8; Mt 6:7-15 ]
“You see, the
jealousy that I feel for you is God’s own jealousy.” What does St
Paul mean when he expressed his devotion to the Corinthians as “God’s own
jealousy”? The word, “jealousy” denotes the desire to possess, especially
a person. We can also be jealous of someone’s success but it is always
related to the person. For the desire to possess things that others have,
more often we use the word, “envy”. Whenever there is jealousy,
there is the desire to possess.
By applying
this word, “jealousy” to God, are we not depreciating His divine attributes as
perfect, self-sufficient, free in love, unconditional and pure giving? Indeed, how can God be
perceived as jealous, as if He is insecure, incomplete, narcissistic and
selfish? Yet the bible, especially in the Old Testament, always portrays God as
a jealous God. God said, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” (Ex 20:5)
So what does
the bible mean when it says God is jealous? This is what we call
anthropomorphism, which is, using human analogy from experience and human words
to help us express an aspect of God which we share, even if it is not exactly
the same but an approximation. So when we say that God is a jealous God,
it is derived from the human experience of the desire to possess. Lovers
want to possess each other. Husbands and wives are exclusive in their
love because they want to possess each other completely. Parents tend to possess
their children, especially mothers. Those of us who are protective of
anything seek to possess. In most cases, the desire to possess is based
on the incompleteness of the person. We seek to possess someone or
something because we feel that we cannot do without the person or
something. Life is incomplete. We think that by possessing him or
her, we will find security and fulfillment.
So most of
the time, we seek to possess more for our sake than the sake of the one who is
possessed by us. This explains why we are possessed by what we desire to
possess. Suppose a person wants to possess more money. The money in turn
will possess him day and night. He will always be thinking about how to
make more money. If someone possesses us, we will be thinking of how to
be with that person day and night. Understanding the psychological
dimension of possession is necessary for us to understand the jealousy of God.
When we speak
of God’s jealousy, He does not possess us for His sake but purely for
ours! God is self-sufficient. He is love and pure giving. He
does not need us. He created us out of the abundance of His love.
He did not create us for His sake but for ours. We cannot add to the
happiness of God as if God is incomplete. But we add joy to God’s happiness
when He sees us happy. Even that happiness is not directed at Himself but
at us. He is happy for us, not so much for Himself. It is like a
teacher who, when he sees his students doing well in life, or a prison
superintendent who sees his prisoner turning over a new leaf, they are happy
for them. So that joy and happiness is pure and not inward looking.
So why do we
say that God is a jealous God if He is not jealous like us? His jealousy, unlike ours,
is not out of human weakness and fear. God is jealous for us and wants to
possess us lest in our foolishness, as St Paul says, we go after false gods and
be deceived by them. “I arranged for you to marry Christ so that I might
give you away as a chaste virgin to this one husband. But the serpent, with
his cunning, seduced Eve, and I am afraid that in the same way your ideas may
get corrupted and turned away from simple devotion to Christ.” So if God
is jealous over us, it is for our sake, so that we might not harm ourselves by
betraying our love for Him and turning to things that do not last or cannot
bring real happiness. In other words, God is jealous not because we
worship other gods and idols but because by so doing, we hurt ourselves.
So it is like that of parents when they fear that their daughter is going out
with a boy of doubtful character; or their son mixing with the wrong
company. This kind of possessive love is to protect the person from
injury; not so much for one’s own sake. Hence, the only way to stay
focussed is to love God with all our heart, soul and strength. It is to
allow God to possess us. When we are possessed by God, we possess Him in
return. In this way, we belong to God and He will protect and look after
us.
This is what
St Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, defending his disinterested
love for them. He made it clear that his love for them was pure and
unconditional. Paul loved them for their sake, not for his. He was
simply acting like a good friend of the bridegroom, ensuring that the bride
remains chaste. Paul sought to protect the interests of Jesus, which is
what the friend of the bridegroom is charged to do. To demonstrate his
sincerity in love, he refused to take offerings from them. “Or was I
wrong, lowering myself so as to lift you high, by preaching the gospel of God
to you and taking no fee for it? I was robbing other churches, living on them
so that I could serve you. When I was with you and ran out of money, I
was no burden to anyone; the brothers who came from Macedonia provided me with
everything I wanted.”
Why did he
refuse to take money from them unlike all the other teachers? It was because he did
not want to be a burden to them in any way. But most of all, he wanted
his love for them to be seen as pure. He only accepted money from other
churches for his ministry but not from where he was serving because he did not
want to be obliged to anyone. The truth is that people who give us money
and gifts often unconsciously or deliberately make us feel obliged to them so
that it would make it difficult for us to speak out against them. Isn’t this
what bribery and cronyism is all about? When we are under the control of
others, we are no longer free to do or say what we know to be right and
true. That is how many religious and political leaders are bought over by
the rich and the powerful. When we do not receive money, privileges and
gifts for our services, that service is pure and unconditional, without
personal interests. In our service to God and humanity, we must search
our motives, whether we love others for our sake or primarily for theirs.
Otherwise, we are making use of them to fulfill our needs and emptiness.
This notion
of the jealousy of God is beautifully captured in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus taught us, “In
your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many
words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father
knows what you need before you ask him.” We do not have to manipulate God
because God as Father is pure love. He loves us as our Father and He
knows what we need and He will give to us even before we ask from Him.
When God is acknowledged as Our Father, we can be certain that God will care
for us without condition and His love is free because He does not seek to
possess us for Himself but for ourselves. So when we pray, “Our Father in
heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on
earth as in heaven”, we are saying that we want to be like God who is
holy. This happens only when we allow God’s kingdom, that is, His rule,
in our lives. When He possesses us by having power over our hearts and
minds, then we can always act like Him. Doing God’s will is to share in
the mind and heart of God just as Jesus did the Father’s will because He and
the Father are one. (cf Jn 5:19,30; 6:38; 8:28)
So in the first part of the Lord’s Prayer, we are in truth acknowledging that
we belong to God alone. He is our shepherd and we are the sheep of His
flock. (cf Ps 100:3)
In the second
part of the Lord’s Prayer, we are saying that now secured in His love, we can
expect the Father to provide us our daily needs. We should not be
afraid that we will ever go without the basic necessities of life. God
did not promise us a life of luxury but our needs will be sufficient to see us
through each day. Happiness does not lie in how much we possess but how
much we love. True happiness is when we spend our lives in love and
service. At the same time, since the Father rules our lives, we also can
be certain that He will protect us from all harm and evil. So we say, “Do
do not put us to the test, but save us from the evil one.” God, the Lord
of Hosts, will defend us in the day of battle with the Evil One and all
temptations.
Finally,
because God is our Father who is love, we can also be confident of His
understanding, patience and forgiveness. Whilst we want to be faithful as a
chaste spouse of our Lord, yet we know we are weak and at times we might
fail. Hence, immediately, we pray for forgiveness of our sins as we
forgive those who have failed us. “Forgive us our debts, as we have
forgiven those who are in debt to us.” This God is so jealous in loving
us that He also warned us to forgive others lest we do not receive the
forgiveness that He desires to give us. “Yes, if you forgive others their
failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not
forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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