20180312
SIGNS FOR FAITH
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Isaiah 65:17-21 ©
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Be glad and rejoice for ever at what I am creating
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Thus says the Lord: Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and
the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds. Be glad
and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create
Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness.’ I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and
exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be
heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only,
or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a
hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a
curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their
fruit.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13 ©
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I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,
restored me to life from those who sink into the
grave.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.
At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:
O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ps129:5,7
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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cf.Amos5:14
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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John 4:43-54 ©
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Go home: your son will live
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Jesus left Samaria for Galilee. He himself had declared that there
is no respect for a prophet in his own country, but on his arrival the
Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem
during the festival which they too had attended.
He went
again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there
was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that
Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and
cure his son as he was at the point of death. Jesus said, ‘So you will not
believe unless you see signs and portents!’ ‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come
down before my child dies.’ ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man
believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on
the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He
asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’
they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the
time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household
believed.
This was the
second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.
SIGNS FOR FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ISA 65:17-21; PS 30:2,4-6,11-13; JN 4:43-54 ]
In the first
reading, prophet Isaiah gave hope to the Israelites who had just returned from
exile to a new beginning. “Thus says the Lord: Now I create new heavens and a new
earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s
minds. I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more
will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no
more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living
to the end of his days. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant
vineyards and eat their fruit.” Such a message of hope of a new beginning certainly
was uplifting for the people who had just returned from exile and was starting
to rebuild the kingdom from scratch. By providing them with a vision, the
people could then work with confidence towards realizing the dream that God had
for them.
This same
promise is also made to us all. God wants to give us a new life and a new beginning as
well. For those of us who are struggling in our faith, in our illness, a
failed relationship or uncertainty about our career and business, the Lord
wants to assure us that He will lead us. But how can we be so sure that His
promise is real and that the Lord will be faithful to His promises? This
is where we are called to have faith in the hope that we have before us.
Faith is the key to obtaining the promises of God.
Indeed, as we
enter the 4th Sunday of Lent, which is the Midway of the Season
of Lent, the Church wants us to focus more on our faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is a
pre-requisite for the Lord to effect transformation in our lives. The
gospel began by noting that the townsfolk of Jesus did not accept Him earlier
on. “He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in
his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having
seen all that he had done in Jerusalem during the festival which they too had
attended.” To His surprise, a group of Galileans was happy to
welcome Jesus this time, but simply because they saw the work He did in
Jerusalem. They saw the signs that He did.
Then when He returned to
Cana in Galilee, the Court Official came to the Lord to plead with Him to heal
his dying son, the Lord remarked. “So you will not believe unless you see signs
and portents!” It seems therefore that the Lord requires us to
have absolute faith in Him without the signs of His power. The question
is, did the Court Official have faith in Jesus before seeing the signs and the
portents? Is Jesus asking from us to make a leap of blind faith in Him
without the aid of any signs? Would it not be dangerous if we were to
believe in someone whom we have not seen or heard before? Surely, faith
requires some signs for credibility; otherwise we might be misled and be
deceived into believing because of our naivety. Signs are not
proofs. At the end of the gospel passage, we read, “This was the
second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.”
What Jesus
was unhappy about was not that the man had no faith in Him, rather His remark
was directed at His fellow Galileans. They were not just asking for signs to believe in Jesus but
they were constantly seeking for proofs. They were not interested in His
message and in His teaching, which were more important than the spectacular
miracles that He performed. At any rate, Jesus disavowed the use of
miracles and powers to prove His identity. Right from the start of Jesus’
ministry, when the Devil sought to make Him demonstrate His power by changing
stone to bread or jumping from the pinnacle of the Temple, the answer of Jesus
was a firm “no”. “Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship
the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (ct Mt 4:1-11)
Indeed, the Galileans, like His townsfolk in Nazareth, could not accept Jesus
until they saw the spectacular signs. But Jesus would not entertain
such people without faith.
However, in
truth, the Court Official had already heard about Jesus. He already had the
seed of faith. The evangelist remarked that Jesus “went again to Cana in
Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine.” The people
would have known that Jesus performed His first miracle in that town. He
would have been told about Jesus who could heal. So he went to
Jesus in faith, asking for the healing of his son who was ill in Capernaum, 33
km away from Cana. This man showed his faith in Jesus’ capacity to
heal. Otherwise, he would not have taken the risk to travel 33 km to look
for Jesus. Secondly, he was a senior Court Official and it would have
been embarrassing for him if the Lord could not heal his dying son. That
he would risk his reputation demonstrated his earnest faith in the Lord.
However, his
faith was still imperfect. He thought that the Lord would need to come with him to
Capernaum to heal his son. “Sir, come down before my child dies.” He had
not yet arrived at the perfect faith of the Centurion who on the contrary told
Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come
under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word,
and let my servant be healed.” (Lk 7:6f)
Jesus wanted to help him perfect his faith in Him. So He told the Court
Official, “Go home, your son will live.” The Lord wanted the man to have
complete faith in Him without Him having to physically go to his son to heal
him. It was an occasion for the Court Official to increase his faith in
Him.
In total
faith, the Court Official believed the Lord at His word. “The man believed
what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on the
journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.”
He would have been embarrassed if the Lord did not heal his son. On the
word of the Lord, he returned home without having seen his son healed.
This is what faith is all about, to trust in the Word of God. His faith
was rewarded because the Lord knew when to heal the boy. The Court
Official asked his servants, “when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The
fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father
realized that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will
live.’” Indeed, the moment we submit in faith, the Lord will work His
miracles in us. This is what the Lord asks of us when He said, “Truly, I
say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’
and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to
pass, it will be done for him.” (Mk 11:23)
But this
miracle was performed not just on account of the faith of the Court Official,
it was to inspire faith in others. We read that because of his total trust in the Lord, “he
and all his household believed.” The others, when they heard what the
Lord did for him, also came to believe. What inspired the others to
believe was not simply because Jesus performed the miracle but also because of
the faith of the Court Official. It is important for us to realize that
when we have faith, we inspire others to have faith as well. If Jesus had
followed the Court Official back to the house to heal his son, the others who
would have seen it would certainly be inspired to have faith in Jesus.
But in this case, that Jesus could heal from afar, helped them to have greater
faith in Jesus; they know now that they need not have Jesus physically present
for the Lord to heal them.
Truly, how
many of us have this faith of the pagan? Often, non-believers have stronger faith
than us believers in the Lord. We receive the Eucharist, which is a
sacrament of healing, but still lack the faith that the Lord would heal
us. Many of us are still weak in faith. We still need the priest to
pray over us directly. We need the human touch, or sacramentals,
such as the rosary or holy water, to encounter the Lord’s healing grace.
In truth, if our faith is as strong as the Centurion’s or the Court Official’s,
the Lord would have healed us too. This is true especially those
who stand in proxy to be prayed over for their loved ones. But
unless those who are being prayed over have that deep faith in the Lord’s
healing grace, the healing grace of God would be impeded. Hence, let us
deepen our faith in the Lord first, through believing His word and teaching,
before asking for healing.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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