20171006 DEALING WITH REJECTION
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
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First
reading
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Baruch 1:15-22 ©
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Integrity belongs to the Lord our God; to us the look of shame we
wear today, to us, the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, to our
kings and princes, our priests, our prophets, as to our ancestors, because we
have sinned in the sight of the Lord, have disobeyed him, and have not listened
to the voice of the Lord our God telling us to follow the commandments which
the Lord had ordained for us. From the day when the Lord brought our ancestors
out of the land of Egypt until today we have been disobedient to the Lord our
God, we have been disloyal, refusing to listen to his voice. And so the
disasters, and the curse which the Lord pronounced through his servant Moses
the day he brought our fathers out of Egypt to give us a land where milk and
honey flow, have seized on us, disasters we experience today. Despite all the
words of those prophets whom he sent us, we have not listened to the voice of
the Lord our God, but, each following the dictates of his evil heart, we have
taken to serving alien gods, and doing what is displeasing to the Lord our God.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 78(79):1-5,8-9 ©
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Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
O God, the nations have invaded your land,
they have profaned your holy temple.
They have made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
They have handed over the bodies of your servants
as food to feed the birds of heaven
and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the
earth.
Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
They have poured out blood like water in Jerusalem;
no one is left to bury the dead.
We have become the taunt of our neighbours,
the mockery and scorn of those who surround us.
How long, O Lord? Will you be angry for ever;
how long will your anger burn like fire?
Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us.
Let your compassion hasten to meet us;
we are left in the depths of distress.
Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
O God our saviour, come to our help.
Come for the sake of the glory of your name.
O Lord our God, forgive us our sins;
rescue us for the sake of your name.
Rescue us, O Lord, for the glory of your name.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps144:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
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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Luke 10:13-16 ©
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Jesus said to his disciples:
‘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, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And
still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you.
And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall
be thrown down to hell.
‘Anyone who listens to you listens
to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the
one who sent me.’
DEALING WITH REJECTION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Baruch 1:15-22; Ps 79:1-5,8-9; Lk 10:13-16]
We just read about the
mission of the 70 disciples whom Jesus dispatched to proclaim the Good News of
the Kingdom of God. “The Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead
of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to
come.” (Lk 10:1) In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus also instructed the
Twelve to do the same. But He also reminded them, “You received without
pay, give without pay” (Mt 10:8b) Finally, they were preempted in their mission
with an advice, “Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is
set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The
kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a
town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even
the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you;
nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’” (Lk 10:8-11)
Why did Jesus give these
counsels before they set out on the mission? This is because while
the Good News is good, not all will find it good. There will be some who
reject the Good News that is offered to them freely. The disciples must
be ready to face rejection and opposition for the good work that they do.
To give without charge means that there should be no conditions attached to the
proclamation of the gospel. There should not be a financial price tag
attached to it. Not only must it be given freely but
unconditionally. This would mean that even if the Good News is not
accepted, we would not react negatively to those who reject the Good News.
However, for most of us, the
normal reaction towards people who reject our gifts and assistance is one of
anger. We get annoyed when people do not accept our advice or our
offer. How often do priests feel that their homilies and good advice were
not heeded? Fraternal correction among family members and friends are not
taken seriously. Some feel rejected when they are not appointed to
positions in the organization. They feel they are the best and the most
competent to lead the organization. Indeed, there are some who promptly
resign when they are not re-elected or appointed in their
organizations. They feel angry and humiliated, their ego is
wounded. They seek to have their agenda adopted at all costs. Most
of all, if we have spent much time trying to help a person to put his or her
life in order and the response seems slow and the results negligible, we get
disheartened, feeling like we have been throwing pearls before swines. We
become bitter with the whole situation. From bitterness, we become
indifferent and soon it we become hostile. When we act in such a
manner, whether we admit it or not, it is obvious our service is with
conditions. It is more about ourselves than about those whom we are
reaching out to. This explains why we are hurt and disappointed. In
rejecting our message, they reject us. We need to feel good about
ourselves. So when we do not have a positive response, we react
negatively.
Today, the gospel also
recounts Jesus’ feelings of frustration in His ministry. He had been preaching
to His people, supposedly the chosen people of God, but they failed to respond
to His message of the Good News of the Father’s love. They were too proud
or willful in their sinful lifestyle to listen to Jesus. They failed to
see that Jesus was the Word of God in person. But there is a marked
difference in the way, Jesus responded to those who rejected His message and
even His person. He did not retaliate, become angry or take
revenge. Instead, He responded with regret and compassion. Jesus
was not angry with them but felt sorry for them because they would have to suffer
the consequences of their sins. “Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you,
Bethsaida!” These are expressions of sadness, not condemnation.
This is the tragedy of rejecting the Good News. Those who reject the
message are the ones who will lose out, not the messenger of the Good News.
The consequences of
rejecting the message are spelt out in the first reading. Firstly, they
would have to suffer the shame of their sins. The prophet Baruch
confessed and admitted to this “shame we wear today, to us, the people of Judah
and the citizens of Jerusalem, to our kings and princes, our priests, our
prophets, as to our ancestors, because we have sinned in the sight of the Lord,
have disobeyed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God
telling us to follow the commandments which the Lord had ordained for
us.”
Secondly, they would have to
suffer the disaster because of their disobedience to the Lord. “From the day when
the Lord brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until today we have been
disobedient to the Lord our God, we have been disloyal, refusing to listen to
his voice. And so the disasters, and the curse which the Lord pronounced
through his servant Moses the day he brought our fathers out of Egypt to give
us a land where milk and honey flow, have seized on us, disasters we experience
today.” All sins bring about destruction in our lives and in the lives of
our loved ones.
This, too, is the warning of
our Lord about the destruction of those cities in which the Good News is proclaimed
but rejected.
“For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it
would not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon, at the judgement as with you.
And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall
be thrown down to hell.” Pride and selfishness prevent them from
being converted to the Lord. But their punishments would be harsh.
How many of us, by refusing to walk the ways of the Lord find ourselves getting
hurt by our folly and sins? We land ourselves in a divorce because of
infidelity, lose our family because of gambling and addictions, lose our job
because of criminal breach of trust, get sick because we did not take care of
our health.
So we should instead feel
sorry for those who reject us rather than get angry. It is their loss, not
ours. This is why the Lord asked us to wipe off the dust from out feet
when we are rejected. In other words, we should not take such rejections
personally. If at all, when they reject us, they are not rejecting us but
Christ Himself. “Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who
rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent
me.” We are just the messengers of Christ.
Jesus showed His love and
patience for His enemies. It was not out of vindictiveness that Jesus spoke those
words of regret but out of compassion, out of pity for them. Jesus continued
His mission and preaching, doing good in spite of the fact that He failed to
get the full response from the people. It behooves us as the ambassadors
of Christ, to be patient with others who are slow in responding.
Like Jesus, we need to pray for our enemies and make excuses for them as Jesus
did on the cross. Often, they cannot hear or see the truth because they
are blinded by their sins, especially of pride, like the inhabitants at
Capernaum. But more often than not, the inability to listen to the
truth could be blocked by the wounds of their sins and the sins of their
fellowmen. They are hurt so deeply that they are imprisoned by their
pains and their past. They cannot let go of their fears and
prejudices. They are afraid of being cheated again. They cannot
forgive or let go. Over the years, they become conditioned to act out of
self-defence. As a result, they cannot see the truth of what they are
doing, and even if they do, they are helpless psychologically.
Of course, as messengers of
the Good News we must also examine ourselves. Sometimes we can fall into
self-righteousness, become arrogant and insensitive in the way we relate with
sinners. We could have used the wrong approach or fallen into the sin of
presumption, thinking that we know the whole situation when we do not. As
a result, our judgement could have been skewed and even flawed. So let us
learn humility in approaching people with the Good News and when rejected, to
pray for them. In the final analysis, only God can set them free.
With the psalmist we pray, “O God our saviour, come to our help. Come for
the sake of the glory of your name. O Lord our God, forgive us our sins; rescue
us for the sake of your name.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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