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INSINCERITY IN LISTENING TO HIS VOICE
08 MARCH, 2018, Thursday, 3rd Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Jeremiah 7:23-28 ©
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Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord
its God
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These were my orders: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God
and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for
you, and you will prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention;
they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and
turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of
Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants
the prophets.
But they
have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and
behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they
will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer. So tell them
this, “Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God
nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.”
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 94(95):1-2,6-9 ©
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O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts.’
Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Let us come before him, giving thanks,
with songs let us hail the Lord.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts.’
Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us:
for he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts.’
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.’
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts.’
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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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Joel2:12-13
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:14-23 ©
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Know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you
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Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil
had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them
said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out
devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what
they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is
heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with
Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? –
since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it
is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts
cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of
God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken
you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are
undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the
stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
‘He who is
not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.’
INSINCERITY IN LISTENING TO HIS VOICE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 7:23-28; PS 95:1-2,6-9; LK 11:14-23 ]
In the first
reading, the people of Israel were reprimanded for their insincerity in
observing the commands of the Lord. In order to understand the
context of today’s first reading from Jeremiah, we need to read the preceding
verses that were left out of today’s text. “Thus says
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to
your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought your
ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning
burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Jer 7:21f)
Indeed, they pretended to offer sacrifice to the Lord but this was not the
sacrifice that the Lord wanted. The offering of sacrifices was to remind
the people of their sins and through the sacrifices, the people were called to
repentance. God does not need us to offer holocausts to Him.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually
before me. I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your
folds. For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a
thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the
field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world
and all that is in it is mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the
blood of goats?” (Ps 50:8-13)
What God
wants from us is to obey His commandments. “These were my orders:
Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people.”
The tragedy is that like Israel, we never listen to the voice of God. As
the Lord lamented, “But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they
followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned
their backs on me from the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt
until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the
prophets. But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they
have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors.”
Indeed, today, we are asked to examine ourselves sincerely whether we have
truly been faithful to the commandments of the Lord.
How have we
been insincere in obeying the commands of the Lord? This insincerity is
seen in the way, we twist and turn the scriptures to suit our preferences and
our desires. Like the Devil, we can also quote the scriptures to justify
our doctrinal and moral positions. Instead of listening to the voice of
the Lord, we listen to the people instead. We try to satisfy what the
world desires in the same way Aaron gave in to the people’s desire by molding
the golden calf for worship. (cf Ex 32:21-24)
We are no longer strong enough to uphold the truth of the Word of God.
Like the Jews in today’s gospel who accused Jesus of casting out the devils
through Beelzebul, the prince of devils. Indeed, we can distort the
truth in such a way as to justify our egotism and our selfish interests.
This is why
the world we live in today is such a complex and confused world. We no
longer know where the truth is to be found. What we hold to be absolute
truths and unquestionable doctrines are being challenged by the world,
including religious leaders. The gloomy state of the world today is
because leaders themselves are confused, especially religious leaders. It
is a sad reality that religions have lost its moral ground in steering the
conscience and morality of our people and our secular leaders. If
religious leaders are not too sure of what is true anymore, or afraid to be
firm in their moral teachings, then we have abandoned our roles as shepherds of
our people. If this is true, we should not be surprised that our secular
leaders have given up their position as the moral spokesperson for the nation
as well. So morality today is decided by consensus and not by moral
principles. Indeed, if we examine the changing positions of religious
leaders with regard to those doctrines which were once held with tenacity but
eventually given way to the cries of the people for change, then we wonder how
sincere we are in observing the commands of the Lord. Have
religious leaders compromised the truth so that religion could be more
acceptable to the people?
We just have
to examine how some of these issues have changed gradually but radically.
Catholics
once held that contraceptives as taught in the Encyclical Humane Vitae is
intrinsically wrong. The Church had the foresight to see that once contraceptives is
permitted, it will lead to the separation of sex from love and eventually, to
sexual promiscuity. The truth is, how many Catholics still uphold this
doctrine and practise it? The world certainly does not believe in it.
Again, the question is, how sincere we are in obeying the Word of God?
What about
abortion? It was considered the most serious sin against the dignity of
human life. Again, this is not accepted by the world and laws have been
enacted to permit abortion. Today, even a good number of our Catholics go
for abortion when they are not ready to raise a child. When it
comes to personal interests and convenience, the individual rights come before
others. Again we need to ask the question, “Are we sincere in obeying the
Word of God?”
With regard
to the question of divorce, it is even more ironical. King Henry VIII would not
have broken away from the Catholic Church if the annulment of his marriage to
Catherine went through. And to think that millions had suffered in
silence because the Church was faithful to the command of the Lord on the
indissolubility of marriage. But today, it is much easier to get an
annulment, and permission is even given to divorced couples who have remarried
to receive the sacraments. Again we need to ask ourselves, “Are we
sincere in obeying the Word of God?”
In those
days, same sex union was unthinkable. It was then a crime and could even be punished by
death. Today, it is becoming universally accepted and even written into
law. Clearly, the scriptures condemn homosexuality, but theologians have
found a way to justify that same sex marriage is not against the Word of
God. Governments are giving in to the people. In our world, society
dictates the policies of the government and the government has become merely a
servant and an executor; no longer a leader. This is true even of
the Church as well. Are we sincere in obeying the Word of God?
The latest
absurdity in our times is the promotion of euthanasia, which is slowing being
legalized in many countries. At one time, life was considered sacred but now it is just
a thing that can be disposed of when it is useless. Euthanasia used to be
a crime punishable by death and seen as murder, but today it is being promoted
as mercy killing. Doctors used to take the Hippocratic Oath, undertaking
that “I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients
according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or
injustice to them. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor
will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to
cause an abortion.” But this is no longer held. Even if
doctors take the Oath, this is now radically modified. So, we change the
Word of God to suit our needs!
The truth is
that we lack a strong man to lead the world. Jesus in the gospel made it
clear, “So
long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are
undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the
stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his
spoil.” We need to pray for good leaders to guide the nations on
earth. So long as our leaders are weak, lacking courage and integrity,
lacking wisdom and prudence, then humanity is moving towards
self-destruction. Indeed, the truth must be told. Jesus warns us in
no uncertain terms, “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not
gather with me scatters.” If we do not stand by the Lord and His word, we
will be divided and scattered, which is what is happening to the world.
This world is a fragile place to live in. We live in superficial peace
and unity. Unless we come back to the Lord, “the rock who
saves us”, we cannot stand for long. Jesus is our rock and our
strongman. “O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not
your hearts as at Meribah!”
In the final
analysis, how do we know that we are living in the truth and not simply making
false compromises? History will be our judge. We just have to see
how current policies, whether on divorce or remarriage, same-sex union,
abortion or euthanasia, will affect humanity in the future. We are too
short-sighted. The situation we are now in is precisely because we have
tried to tamper with nature and we are suffering the backlash of nature, a
promiscuous society, dysfunctional families, aging population, etc. What
will be the outcome of those who legalize same-sex union and euthanasia?
We are walking down the slippery path of no return. If we do not
listen to His voice, humanity will destroy itself eventually. But if we
“follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will
prosper.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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