20170707
REACHING OUT TO THE MARGINALIZED
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Genesis 23:1-4,19,24:1-8,62-67 ©
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The length of Sarah’s life was a hundred and twenty-seven years.
She died at Kiriath-arba, or Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in
to mourn and grieve for her.
Then leaving
his dead, Abraham spoke to the sons of Heth: ‘I am a stranger and a settler
among you,’ he said. ‘Let me own a burial-plot among you, so that I may take my
dead wife and bury her.’
After this,
Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah opposite
Mamre, in the country of Canaan.
By now
Abraham was an old man well on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every
way. Abraham said to the eldest servant of his household, the steward of all
his property, ‘Place your hand under my thigh, I would have you swear by the
Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not choose a wife for my
son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live. Instead, go to my
own land and my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for my son Isaac.’ The servant
asked him, ‘What if the woman does not want to come with me to this country?
Must I take your son back to the country from which you came?’ Abraham
answered, ‘On no account take my son back there. The Lord, God of heaven and
God of earth, took me from my father’s home, and from the land of my kinsfolk,
and he swore to me that he would give this country to my descendants. He will
now send his angel ahead of you, so that you may choose a wife for my son
there. And if the woman does not want to come with you, you will be free from
this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.’
Isaac, who
lived in the Negeb, had meanwhile come into the wilderness of the well of Lahai
Roi. Now Isaac went walking in the fields as evening fell, and looking up saw
camels approaching. And Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She jumped down from
her camel, and asked the servant, ‘Who is that man walking through the fields
to meet us?’ The servant replied, ‘That is my master’; then she took her veil and
hid her face. The servant told Isaac the whole story, and Isaac led Rebekah
into his tent and made her his wife; and he loved her. And so Isaac was
consoled for the loss of his mother.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 105(106):1-5 ©
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O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.
Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds?
Who can recount all his praise?
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
They are happy who do what is right,
who at all times do what is just.
O Lord, remember me
out of the love you have for your people.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
Come to me, Lord, with your help
that I may see the joy of your chosen ones
and may rejoice in the gladness of your nation
and share the glory of your people.
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps24:4,5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt11:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 9:9-13 ©
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As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the
customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was
at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners
came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw
this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors
and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need
the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is
mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but
sinners.’
REACHING OUT TO THE MARGINALIZED
Tax
collectors were the most hated and despised of all peoples during the time of the
Jews. They were considered as traitors and outcasts of
society. They were worse than prostitutes because they not only
cheated their own people in taxes but worked for their enemies. So they
were marginalized. Any Jew involved in this trade was ostracized.
Nobody wanted to have anything to do with them.
But this is
the same attitude we have towards sinners and broken people. We are told to
have nothing to do with them. We are often told not to mix with bad
company, and those who have no morals. If it is because we know we are
weak and are susceptible to their influence, it is understandable that we
should avoid the occasion of sin. So this in itself is not wrong.
It is a sign of humility to know that we might fall into temptations if we
associate with them. But it is a different matter when we stay away from
these people because we think that we are superior to them. When we have
a disdain for them and are too proud to be among them, that is the sin of
pride.
In the first reading,
we can appreciate Abraham and those who were chosen to be people of the
Covenant. In the Old Testament, it was necessary to protect the
Israelites who were living among the Canaanites, considered to be worse
than pagans. So when Abraham settled in Canaan, he gave specific
instructions to his steward to find a wife for his son, Isaac, from among his
kinsfolk. “Abraham said to the eldest servant of his household, the
steward of all his property, ‘Place your hand under my thigh, I would have you
swear by the Lord God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not choose a
wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live.
Instead, go to my own land and my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for my son
Isaac.'” This is to ensure that the purity of the faith, the culture and the
peoples would be preserved. As Israel was still a small nation, it was
always in danger of being contaminated by the pagan cultures surrounding
them. This was the reason for the insistence of keeping Israel apart from
the rest of the peoples; not out of pride but out of fear.
Unfortunately,
during the time of Jesus, the motive became one of superiority rather than
self-protection. The Pharisees considered themselves as the “Separated Ones”,
that is, set apart for holiness. They would not do anything that could
make them unclean or unfit for rituals. They were obsessed with ritual
purity. But they became presumptuous. They began to look down
on those who could not keep meticulously all the laws of Moses and the detailed
elaboration of these laws in practical terms. This explains why when
Jesus “was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors
and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When
the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat
with tax collectors and sinners?'”
But this was
not the attitude of Christ towards those who were sinners. He replied, “It is not
the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning
of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not
come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” Jesus came to show the
mercy of God. He came for sinners. He came for those who are
struggling in their sins. He knows we are weak. He sees how much we
are struggling. He knows that we are born sinners with a wounded
nature. We are grasping for more because of the desire to preserve
ourselves. He also knows how we are entrapped by the culture around
us, especially the secular, promiscuous, individualistic and consumerist
environment. It is not easy to transcend the culture we are in.
Above all,
Jesus sees the saint in every sinner. He has tremendous hope in
man. He knows that even though man is weak, he has great potential to be
like Christ in love and in service. When we fall, He raises us up because
He knows that if we keep believing in ourselves, we will eventually become the
person we are called to be. That is why He does not condemn
sinners. He knows that we are sinners called to be saints in Him.
For this reason, when “he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house,
and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.”
He saw the great potential in Matthew even though the people would have written
him off. Yet, Jesus chose from among the most hated and despised lost
souls, one to be His apostles. Jesus believed that such people were not
condemned. This is the great faith Jesus has in us human beings, sinners
that we are.
He saw
sinners, broken people and those without faith and morals as sick people. He said, “It is not
the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.” What is our attitude
towards the sick? Do we condemn them? No! We show mercy to the sick
and the suffering. Those who live in sin are also sick in their mind and
in their heart. They too need our mercy and compassion, not our judgment and
condemnation. They are wounded and injured because of their past, the
sins of society and their own fears and anger that caused them to sin further.
So to sick people, we are called to be compassionate, understanding and
forgiving. This was the case of Jesus when He saw the tax-collectors and
sinners. He had nothing but sorrow and compassion for them.
To such
wounded and sick people, we are called to reach out to them. That is why
Jesus ate and drank with them. The only way to heal them is to begin, not
by moralizing or condemning them, or worse still to exclude them, but by loving
them. He gave Matthew his dignity as a son of God. He affirmed the
goodness in Matthew. Jesus brought out the inherent goodness and virtues
in Matthew. This was what He did with all sinners. By
accepting them for what they are, He showed them His genuine love and
friendship for them. He did not tell them to change their lives.
But He first demonstrated to them that they are loved by God by eating and
drinking with them. He offered them His friendship without conditions and
reservations. In other words, Jesus was telling them that regardless of what we
do, we are the children of God. He loves us for who we are; not for what we
are. Only when we are loved for who we are, and recognize the
dignity of our sonship and daughtership in Christ, can we then begin to live
like Christ. Jesus did not come as judge but to offer us the
unconditional love and mercy of God.
Unconditional
love and acceptance is the first stage to the healing process. Unless we are loved
unconditionally, we will not be able to accept ourselves and our
weaknesses. The more wrongs we do, the more we hate
ourselves. And if we hate ourselves, we cannot love others as
well. We also become judgmental and presumptuous. Those of us who
do not live the life we are called to, do so because we do not believe that we
are loved for who we are. The more we try to prove ourselves, the more we
fail. But if we discover that we are loved as children of God, this
realization will enable the doing to flow from our being. Mattthew was
accepted and loved. Hence, he was transformed in love.
We too have
been given the grace at baptism and anointed like Christ to bring God’s love
and mercy to the poor, the sick, the wounded and all sinners. Like Abraham who claimed his
possession of Canaan by buying the burial plot for his wife, we too must claim
our baptismal rights of being the anointed one of Christ. We are called
to be like the Messiah to bear the good news of salvation to all. Abraham
was convicted of God’s promise for him when he instructed his servant to bring
the wife of Isaac back to Canaan. “The Lord, God of heaven and God of
earth, took me from the land of my kinsfolk, and he swore to me that he would
give this country to my descendants. He will now send his angel ahead of
you, so that you may choose a wife for my son there.”
How can we
exercise this mission of mercy and inclusivity? We must recognize our own
humanity and sinfulness. But equally, we must accept first and foremost
the love of God for us. Hence, Jesus took upon our humanity to identify
with us in our sinful humanity. St Paul wrote, “For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God.” (2 Cor 5:21).
He became man to assume our humanity. He was baptised for our sake.
He carried our infirmities in His body. “This was to fulfill what had
been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our
diseases.'” (Mt 8:17) Jesus was identified with us in every way
except sin. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we
are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with
boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of
need.” (Heb 4:15f). We too when we can identify ourselves
as one like Matthew, a tax-collector and an outcast, but now loved and accepted
by God in Christ, we too will be able to reach out to other tax-collectors as
Matthew did by inviting them to meet Jesus, the love of God in person.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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