20170718
THE TRAGEDY OF INDIFFERENCE AND INGRATITUDE
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Exodus 2:1-15 ©
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There was a man of the tribe of Levi who had taken a woman of Levi
as his wife. She conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing what a fine
child he was, she kept him hidden for three months. When she could hide him no
longer, she got a papyrus basket for him; coating it with bitumen and pitch,
she put the child inside and laid it among the reeds at the river’s edge. His
sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.
Now
Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her
were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket,
and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby
boy, crying; and she was sorry for him. ‘This is a child of one of the Hebrews’
she said. Then the child’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and
find you a nurse among the Hebrew women to suckle the child for you?’ ‘Yes, go’
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her; and the girl went off to find the baby’s own
mother. To her the daughter of Pharaoh said, ‘Take this child away and suckle
it for me. I will see you are paid.’ So the woman took the child and suckled
it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter who treated
him like a son; she named him Moses because, she said, ‘I drew him out of the
water.’
Moses, a man
by now, set out at this time to visit his countrymen, and he saw what a hard
life they were having; and he saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his
countrymen. Looking round he could see no one in sight, so he killed the
Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the following day he came back, and there
were two Hebrews, fighting. He said to the man who was in the wrong, ‘What do
you mean by hitting your fellow countryman?’ ‘And who appointed you’ the man
retorted, ‘to be prince over us, and judge? Do you intend to kill me as you
killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was frightened. ‘Clearly that business has come to
light’ he thought. When Pharaoh heard of the matter he would have killed Moses,
but Moses fled from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 68(69):3,14,30-31,33-34 ©
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Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts
will revive.
I have sunk into the mud of the deep
and there is no foothold.
I have entered the waters of the deep
and the waves overwhelm me.
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts
will revive.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails.
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts
will revive.
As for me in my poverty and pain
let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts
will revive.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts
will revive.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:24
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Train me, Lord, to observe your law,
to keep it with my heart.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 11:20-24 ©
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Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles
had been worked, because they refused to repent.
‘Alas for
you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had
been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with
Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be
exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles
done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still,
I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day
as with you.’
THE TRAGEDY OF INDIFFERENCE AND INGRATITUDE
God is our
deliverer and He is our savior. Indeed, it is God’s desire to save us. He has always
wanted to save His people. It is significant that God saves us so that we
can save others. God saved Moses so that he could save His
people. The name given to Moses means “I draw you out of the waters.”
In the responsorial psalm, the psalmist also prayed, “I have sunk into the mud
of the deep and there is no foothold. I have entered the waters of the
deep and the waves overwhelm me. This is my prayer to you, my prayer for your
favour. In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never
fails.” We too were in our sins and sunk deep in the mess of
life. But Christ saved us through the waters of baptism when we died to
our sins. Through the passion and death of Christ, we are raised with Him
in the resurrected life.
But we are
not saved for our sake. We are always saved for others. When God delivers us, He has
in mind for us to deliver others as well. That was the case of Moses when
he was saved from the waters so that he could lead the people across the waters
from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. This was true
of Peter and Paul as well. They were saved by the Lord, forgiven and set
free. In turn they became great evangelizers. This is something we
must never forget. God does not bless us just for our sake but for the
sake of others. Moses likewise responded by protecting his countryman
from being bullied by an Egyptian. He saw one of them being ill-treated
and his natural instinct was to fight for his rights. Having been rescued
himself, he did the same for others.
Only those
who have suffered much can empathize much. We tend to champion the
underdogs only because we were once underdogs ourselves. Those who have gone through
difficult times can better identify with those who are suffering. That
was why Jesus became man. He assumed our humanity, born into the poverty
of His people and shared in the humanity of His people. For this reason,
Jesus was a compassionate high priest. He understands our pains and our
struggles. He feels with us in our sickness, alienation and
rejection. We too, especially when we become better off and or have
recovered from our struggles or illnesses, should learn to be more
compassionate with those who are suffering. The call to mission always
springs from a desire to save and heal those who have suffered much like us.
But seeking
to save others does not mean that we should right a wrong with another wrong. Quite often in the
world, we see much violence in the name of justice. So called ‘religious
people’ kill in the name of God. Those who champion justice would kill
others to fight for their rights. We must be careful
that we do not fall into extremes in the desire to help those who are in the
same situation as were in. That would be only a reaction, not an action
on our part, in the face of suffering. In the case of Moses, instead of
helping the situation, he made it worse by killing the Egyptian. In his
disgust, he allowed his anger against injustice done to his countryman to be
expressed in violence. He took things into his own hands. He did
not follow the right way in his desire for justice. To take a life was
not in accordance with the plan of God. This was not the way to right a
wrong. We cannot overcome evil with evil. “Do not repay anyone evil
for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.” (Rom 12:17)
St Paul made it clear. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room
for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says
the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are
thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning
coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.” (Rom 12:19-21)
As a result
he had to flee “from Pharaoh and made for the land of Midian.” Perhaps, God needed
to teach Moses the right way to deliver others from their misery. He had
to understand the ways of God. He had to be healed of his old wounds
first before he could heal others. Otherwise, when we act out of our raw
wounds, we tend to be excessive and reactive towards the oppressors or in
undertaking certain actions. St Paul preached at Damascus soon after his
conversion and almost got himself murdered as well. (cf Acts 9:23-25)
He too went away to Arabia to reflect on his conversion experience and grow in
his relationship with the Lord. “Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were
already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards
I returned to Damascus.” (Gal 1:17)
It is always dangerous when one acts from one’s wounds as many do in their
attempts to fight for the marginalized. It is said that oppressors were
once a victim. So much so that in helping those who are suffering, we act
from the raw wounds that are still hurting us.
On the other
hand, there are those who, although have been helped and delivered, remain
inward-looking. They take their privileges for granted, like the townsfolks
from Chorazin and Bethsaida. “Jesus began to reproach the towns in which
most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent. For if
the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it
will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you.” In spite
of the miracles that Jesus performed for them, they were not responsive to the
Good News. Their lives were not changed or transformed. Perhaps
Jesus’ remark in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not give what is holy to dogs;
and do not throw your pearls before swine’s, or they will trample them under
foot and turn and maul you” (Mt 7:6), came from such encounters.
There are
many who have taken for granted the blessings they received in life. Instead of being grateful
and thankful to God and to those who have blessed them, they remained
indifferent. This is the tragedy of life. There are some people who
are so grateful for the little things we have done for them. They
remember our kindness for life and in turn want to bless others with whatever
blessings they have received. Indeed, we hear stories of those who have been
helped by the Church when they were poor. Now that they have become rich,
they recount their stories of their gratitude to the Church for standing by
them in those difficult times. They remain eternally grateful to God and
the Church and seek to help those who are less fortunate.
Then there
are others we have helped much, financially and in so many other ways. They take us for
granted, remain unappreciative and demanding. What is most hurting is
that those people whom we have sacrificed our lives for, given all we could and
supported them in every way, would later turn against us. For such
people, we do not condemn them. They deserve our pity rather than
judgment. This was the way Jesus felt for those people in Chorazin and Bethsaida.
He spoke out of sorrow for them rather than anger at their ignorance and
indifference. At the end of the day, they were the ones who deprived themselves
of the fullness of the grace of God’s blessings.
Today, we are
called to be like the psalmist who is ever so grateful to God for delivering
him from the troubles of life. “I have sunk into the mud of the deep and there is no
foothold. I have entered the waters of the deep and the waves overwhelm
me. In your great love, answer me, O God, with your help that never fails.
As for me in my poverty and pain let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song; I will glorify him with
thanksgiving. The poor when they see it will be glad and God-seeking
hearts will revive; for the Lord listens to the needy and does not spurn his
servants in their chains.” The Lord listened to the prayers of the needy
and those in the depths of their pains. Filled with gratitude and joy,
they glorify God in their lives. Let us not receive the grace of God in
vain, like the people in the towns that Jesus preached.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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