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GATHERING THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF GOD
24 MARCH, 2018, Saturday, 5th Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 37:21-28 ©
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I will bring them home and make them one nation
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The Lord says this: ‘I am going to take the sons of Israel from
the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them together from everywhere
and bring them home to their own soil. I shall make them into one nation in my
own land and on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them
all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms. They
will no longer defile themselves with their idols and their filthy practices
and all their sins. I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been
guilty of; I shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their
God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will
follow my observances, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the
land that I gave my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They
will live in it, they, their children, their children’s children, for ever.
David my servant is to be their prince for ever. I shall make a covenant of
peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and
increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my
home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations
will learn that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is
with them for ever.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Jeremiah 31:10-13 ©
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The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his
flock.
O nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him
and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his
flock.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,
they will stream to the blessings of the Lord.
The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his
flock.
Then the young girls will rejoice and dance,
the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console them, give gladness for grief.
The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his
flock.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ezk18:31
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or:
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Jn3:16
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes in him has eternal life.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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John 11:45-56 ©
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Jesus was to die to gather together the scattered children of
God
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Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what
Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what
Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is
this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If
we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will
come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the
high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at
all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than
for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it
was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation –
and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered
children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no
longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town
called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with
his disciples.
The Jewish
Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem
to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood
about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’
GATHERING THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZEKIEL 37:21-28; JER 31:10-13; JOHN 11:45-56
]
One of the
most painful realities of the world is division. There is division
among peoples and among nations. Even within each country, there is much
division among the different cultural, religious and social groups.
Within the family, the members are divided and often not on talking terms. As a
consequence, members would leave their organization, their religion, their
country and even their family because of misunderstanding, quarrels and
injustices. The root of conflict is always injustice and
discrimination. There is an unfair distribution of the world’s resources
and within each country. When the gap between the rich and the poor gets
too big, unity is shattered. This results in violence and terrorism and
armed conflicts.
The cause of
division is always sin. It is found in man’s wounded nature, beginning with
original sin. Sin is an integral part of man. “If
we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not
in us.” (1 Jn 1:8,10) But the root of all sins is pride, beginning with
Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God without God. This sin is again
represented anew in the Tower of Babel, which is the situation of the world
today, when humanity seeks to build his life without God, focusing only on the
horizontal dimension of life, work and social involvements, forgetting that God
is their creator, Lord and Saviour. When man seeks to build his
life without God, it is to usurp His place. As in all cases, exclusion of
God leads to ruptured relationship with our fellowmen because pride,
selfishness, insecurity, fear and envy become the order of the day.
Hence, in the
first reading, the Prophet Ezekiel prophesied that God was going to unite
Israel, the Chosen People of God into one people so that they could be the
instrument of salvation for the whole of humanity. “I am going to take
the sons of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them
together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil. I shall make
them into one nation in my own land and on the mountains of Israel, and one
king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be
two separate kingdoms.” There would no longer be two kingdoms, one north
and one south, Ephraim and Judah.
The unity
between the peoples would happen when God cleanses them of their sins. “They will no longer
defile themselves with their idols and their filthy practices and all their
sins. I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I
shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their God.”
Indeed, sin is the cause of division and therefore purifying the people of
their sins is the first necessary step to unity. This is true for all of
society. If there is so much evil and division in society, it is because
there is no morality to govern the lives of our people. More so, in a
secular world where everything is relative and there is no question of what is
right or wrong. When the world becomes amoral, what hope is there but a
greater division because every man would live for himself instead of for
others.
But how would
this happen unless God dwells in man? “I shall make a covenant of
peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and
increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them forever. I shall make my
home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations
will learn that I am the Lord the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is
with them forever.” Removing our sins must be followed by the indwelling
of the presence of God. We can live a life free from sin and selfishness
only when God dwells in us and enables us to walk the way of truth and love. “I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my
laws.” (Ezk 36:26f)
This is
realized in Jesus who is the Shepherd of Israel and of all humanity. “My servant David
will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances,
respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the land that I gave my
servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it,
they, their children, their children’s children, forever.” Jesus was the
promised Messiah, the Son of David who would unite Israel as one and all the
peoples of the world. This was confirmed ironically by the High Priest,
Caiaphas who uttered the prophetic words without grasping the full significance
of what he said. “You don’t seem to have grasped the situation at all;
you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for
the whole nation to be destroyed.” The evangelist noted, “He did not
speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that
Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather
together in unity the scattered children of God.”
Indeed, in
the death of Jesus, man is reconciled with God and man with man. As we
enter into Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday tomorrow, we are called to
deepen our understanding of how His passion on the cross would bring salvation
for all and reconciliation between God and man, and among all peoples. In Jesus, the
Word became flesh and dwelt in the world. Jesus entered into our history
and revealed to us that God is love and that we are all brothers and sisters of
the same Father. We are called to love each other with the same love that
the Father has given to us. Jesus has taught us the new commandment
of love when He commanded us, “A new command I give you: Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn 13:34f)
Indeed, by
His death on the cross, we come to realize not just the infinite love of God
for us in sacrificing His only Son for us all, but Jesus won victory over the
sting of death by dying for us. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in
their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds
the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives
were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Heb 2:14f)
The fear of death is the cause of many sins because man does not want to
die. All capital sins are rooted in the fear of death. That is why
St John wrote, The death of Jesus frees man from the power of death, the power
of sin and evil. St Paul says, “For he must reign until he has put
all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
(1 Cor 15:25f)
But more
importantly, His death on the cross makes the resurrection possible. In His resurrection,
Christ demonstrates that evil and suffering does not have the last word.
This is what St Paul remarked, “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been
reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we
also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received reconciliation. (Rom 5:10f)
Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, Salvific Doloris said, “In the Cross
of Christ not only is the Redemption accomplished through suffering, but also
human suffering itself has been redeemed. Christ, – without any fault of
his own – took on himself “the total evil of sin”. (SD no, 19) He
elaborated, “Christ goes towards his Passion and death with full awareness of
the mission that he has to fulfil precisely in this way. Precisely by
means of this suffering he must bring it about ‘that man should not perish, but
have eternal life’. Precisely by means of his Cross he must strike at the
roots of evil, planted in the history of man and in human souls.
Precisely by means of his Cross he must accomplish the work of salvation.
This work, in the plan of eternal Love, has a redemptive
character.” (SD, no 16) With Jesus’ death and resurrection, we
should no longer fear suffering and even death because we know we will be
victorious at the end of the day.
What is left
for us now is to share in Christ’s redemptive suffering so that we can bring
reconciliation between God and man; and among all peoples. We must now share in
His suffering through mercy, forgiveness and works of love. We have been
given the work of reconciliation. St Paul wrote, “All this is from God,
who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself
in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us
the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s
behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:17-20)
As Church, we are called to be the “sacrament – a sign and instrument, that is,
of communion with God and of unity among all people. The condition of the
modern world lends greater urgency to this duty of the Church; for, while men
of the present day are drawn ever more closely together by social, technical
and cultural bonds, it still remains for them to achieve full unity in Christ.”
(LG , No 1) This then is our mission. Let us begin in our homes,
offices, organizations and our Church. Let us be like Jesus, the
reconciler and peacemaker.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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