20171023
JUSTICE AND FAITH
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Romans 4:20-25 ©
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Since God had made him a promise, Abraham refused either to deny
it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God,
convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that
was ‘considered as justifying him.’ Scripture however does not refer only to
him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus ‘considered’; our
faith too will be ‘considered’ if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord
from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to
justify us.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Luke 1:69-75 ©
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Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has
visited his people.
He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant,
as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has
visited his people.
A saviour who would free us from our foes,
from the hands of all who hate us.
So his love for our fathers is fulfilled
and his holy covenant remembered.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has
visited his people.
He swore to Abraham our father
to grant us that free from fear,
and saved from the hands of our foes,
we might serve him in holiness and justice
all the days of our life in his presence.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has
visited his people.
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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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Mt5:3
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Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 12:13-21 ©
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A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give
me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your
judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be
on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure
by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’
Then he told
them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from
his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store
my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and
build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say
to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to
come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him,
“Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of
yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when a man stores up treasure for
himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’
JUSTICE AND FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Rom 4:20-25; Luke 1:69-75; Luke 12:13-21]
In the gospel, a
man came to Jesus seeking His intervention to restore his right of inheritance
from his brother. He said, “Master, tell my brother to give me a
share of our inheritance.” Such a request is understandable.
Many of us in that situation would surely fight for our rights. This
instinct for justice is deeply ingrained in our DNA. We all have a penchant for
justice and especially when it affects our rights.
It is not
wrong to demand for our rights, but it is also not the way of the gospel. Although Jesus came to
champion the cause of the poor and the marginalized, He refused to intervene in
the case of this man. He replied, “My friend, who appointed me your
judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?” Clearly, Jesus did not want to
take sides and get Himself embroiled in a family squabble over money and
property. Instead, He went to the root of the problem, which lies beyond
the question of strict justice. He said to them, “Watch, and be on
your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by
what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.”
So what is
the root of the problem? Whether it was the one who violated his
brother’s rights or the one who was deprived of his share of the inheritance,
it had to do with greed. In the first place, inheritance is a gift; not a
right. The deceased need not have bequeathed his or her property to
us. We never worked for it and we have no right to it. It is given
purely as a gift, not for anything we had done. So strictly speaking, we
cannot make a claim to it. At the bottom of this family quarrel is greed.
We want to have more and we want to possess more and more. We can never
satisfy this animal called greed. It is like a well that can never be
filled. No matter how much inheritance we receive from our loved
ones, we will feel jealous when others receive more than us, even though what
we have been given is more than enough to sustain us in our
lifetime. But the truth is that the word “enough” does not exist in
our vocabulary.
The cause of
greed is the lack of faith and trust in the divine providence of God. We want more and more; and
we hoard money and things because we are insecure about our future. By
holding on to things, money and property, we feel more secure about our future
needs. We are afraid of pain, suffering, illness and hunger.
So we keep money for our future so that we will not be in need. In
other words, we rely more on ourselves than in our trust in God’s
providence. We do not really believe that God will provide.
Hence, the tendency to keep more and more because nothing is secure in this
life.
This explains
why Jesus told them the parable of the rich man who stored his produce in the
barn. He “had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself ‘What am
I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what
I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my
grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty
of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink,
have a good time.’” He was over-confident of himself. He
thought that security was in his hands. But God said to him, “Fool! This
very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours,
whose will it be then?” We all never learn from this lesson in
life. Many of us hoard our money and things and we never get round to
enjoy the labour of our hands. Instead, all that we have are passed on to
undeserving people!
That is why
Jesus came to the heart of justice. What is justice? It is to be in good
relationship with everyone, including God and our neighbours. “So
it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich
in the sight of God.” To be rich in the sight of God is to be rich in
love, in freedom and in forgiveness. A person who is spiritually rich is
not attached to things. He sees them as means to be used to enrich
people’s lives, for them to develop themselves, to grow in kindness and
generosity, and most of all, to be like God, generous and giving. To be
truly rich, we must be free from all things.
This was why
Jesus taught us to let go when we feel like retaliating and seeking justice for
ourselves.
He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes
you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would
sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one
forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs
from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.” (Mt 5:38-42)
St Paul
offers us a similar advice in countering evil by doing good. “Beloved, never
avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written,
‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemy is
hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will
heap burning coals upon his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil with good.” (Rom 12:19-21)
Within this
context, we can better appreciate St Paul’s doctrine on justification by faith
alone through His grace. St Paul reminds us that what we are today is but
by the grace of God. We are called to trust Him and His plans for us in our
lives. We cannot earn this grace but we can cooperate by allowing His
grace to work in and through us. In the case of Abraham, he accepted
God’s promise to make him a great nation although this would not be realized
until a 1100 years later when the kingdom was fully established by King David
and fully realized 1000 years later in Christ. This is what the
responsorial psalm said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has
visited his people. He has raised up for us a mighty saviour
in the house of David his servant, as he promised by the lips of holy men,
those who were his prophets from of old. A saviour who would free us from our
foes, from the hands of all who hate us. So his love for our fathers is
fulfilled and his holy covenant remembered. He swore to Abraham our father to
grant us that free from fear, and saved from the hands of our foes, we might
serve him in holiness and justice all the days of our life in his presence.”
Abraham’s
faith in God’s promises justified his trust in God’s divine providence and
fidelity to His promises. Thus, St Paul concludes, “Since God had made him a promise,
Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from
faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had
promised. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying
him’.” Abraham justified his foolishness in leaving Ur of the
Chaldeans (Iraq) for a distant promised land that he could not see through
faith in God. Hence, God showed forth His fidelity to Abraham by making
him the Father of many nations.
For us too,
when it comes to the question of being reconciled with God, it is also pure
grace. On our own strength, we cannot do what the Law demands of us. We
will fail and break the laws. But our hope of being saved does not come
from our good works but from the fact that Christ our Saviour died for us and
then resurrected for our sake so that through His death and resurrection, He
may conquer the fear of eternal death and give us the promise of eternal life
with Him. This thought alone can help us to let go of our fears and to
trust in the promise of God to look after us. As St Paul wrote,
“Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says
that his faith was thus ‘considered’; our faith too will be ‘considered’ if we
believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death
for our sins and raised to life to justify us.” So the justice of God is
not legal justice, but He sought to make us right before His eyes by winning us
over in love, mercy and forgiveness. His mercy is His justice because He
makes us right before Him unconditionally.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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