20180309
THE MASKS OF IDOLATRY
09 MARCH, 2018, Friday, 3rd Week of Lent
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Hosea 14:2-10 ©
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A call to conversion and promise of safety
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The Lord says this:
Israel, come back to the Lord your God;
your iniquity was the cause of your downfall.
Provide yourself with words
and come back to the Lord.
Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away
so that we may have happiness again
and offer you our words of praise.
Assyria cannot save us,
we will not ride horses any more,
or say, “Our God!” to what our own hands have made,
for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.’
– I will heal their disloyalty,
I will love them with all my heart,
for my anger has turned from them.
I will fall like dew on Israel.
He shall bloom like the lily,
and thrust out roots like the poplar,
his shoots will spread far;
he will have the beauty of the olive
and the fragrance of Lebanon.
They will come back to live in my shade;
they will grow corn that flourishes,
they will cultivate vines
as renowned as the wine of Helbon.
What has Ephraim to do with idols any more
when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him?
I am like a cypress ever green,
all your fruitfulness comes from me.
Let the wise man understand these words.
Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning.
For the ways of the Lord are straight,
and virtuous men walk in them,
but sinners stumble.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 80(81):6,8-11,14,17 ©
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I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.
A voice I did not know said to me:
‘I freed your shoulder from the burden;
your hands were freed from the load.
You called in distress and I saved you.
I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.
‘I answered, concealed in the storm cloud;
at the waters of Meribah I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning.
O Israel, if only you would heed!
I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.
‘Let there be no foreign god among you.
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.
‘O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.’
I am the Lord your God: listen to my warning.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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Mt4:17
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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Mark 12:28-34 ©
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'You are not far from the kingdom of God'
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One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him,
‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the
first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and
with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as
yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ The scribe said to him,
‘Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true: that he is one and there is
no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and
strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important
than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said,
‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And after that no one dared to
question him any more.
THE MASKS OF IDOLATRY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ HOSEA 14:2-10; MARK 12:28-34 ]
In ancient
days, the sin of idolatry was considered the greatest of all sins. It was
the cause of all the misery of Israel and the early Christians. Indeed, the
first commandment of the Decalogue says, “I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you
shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an
idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” (Ex 20:1-4)
In the context of Israel living in the midst of neighbours who worshipped idols
and deities, whilst Israel worshipped the one and only God, idolatry was
considered the most serious act of infidelity. The psalmist says, “I am the
Lord your God: listen to my warning. ‘Let there be no foreign god among you, no
worship of an alien god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you from the land
of Egypt.”
In truth,
worshipping idols per se cannot cause us any real harm because as the
psalmist says, “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears,
but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not
feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. Those
who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” (Ps 115:4-8)
To worship idols is to worship nothingness, an illusion. That is why when
we chase after illusions, we will ultimately hurt ourselves. The real
idolatry is not so much statues and carved images but what they
represent. When these statues represent our egoistic desires, then they
will destroy us.
In the final
analysis, the real idolatry is the worship of self. This is what the
prophet said to the people. It is pride, arrogance and disobedience of
the laws. “Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the
cause of your downfall. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any
more, or say, ‘Our god!’ to what our own hands have made.” The mistake of
Israel was to rely on human political powers instead of on God. They
trusted in military might and they sought to preserve their self-centered
lives. Indeed, this is the case for the modern man today. He trusts
more in science and technology than the power of God. He thinks that the
answer to the problems of life lies in knowledge expressed in political,
economic and technological power. Instead of trusting in God and submitting
all our plans to Him, we become proud and over self-confident in solving our
own problems.
This worship
of self can subtly mask itself as righteousness. Whilst the Israelites in the
Old Testament broke the laws of the Covenant, the Jews in the time of Christ
ironically broke the laws by keeping the laws! In seeking to keep the
laws, they became self-righteous, judgmental, proud and intolerant of those who
failed to keep the commandments perfectly. So instead of helping them to
be more loving and compassionate, the laws became a goal to achieve with all
their efforts, so that they could show off to others that they were holier than
the rest.
Consequently,
they became over legalistic in the way the laws were implemented. This was the context
of the scribe’s question when he asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the
commandments?” The Jews were required to observe not just the Ten
Commandments but also the 613 laws and other customs as well. There were
so many laws that they began to question which was the most important.
The good Jews were doing their best to keep the laws so that they would be
blessed by God. Others kept them so that they could earn praise from
others. (cf Mt 6:1-5)
Observing the
commandments alone need not necessarily make us more loving towards God and
others.
As St Paul noted, “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it
legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not
for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and
sinful.” (cf 1 Tim 1:8-11) At any rate, the Laws tell us what we
cannot do. They are prohibitive and restrictive by requiring us to do the
minimum. They do not teach us how to love more.
Idolatry is
self-love. That is why the antidote to the sin of idolatry is love; love of God
and of others. Jesus declared, “This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our
God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second
is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment
great than these.” In saying that the love of God is the first and loving
our neighbours as the second, Jesus was not speaking of specific laws. He
was laying down the principles to be applied in every specific situation.
Once we get the principles right, then we will know what to do in every situation
instead of worrying whether we broke the letter of the laws. Jesus, in
delineating these two fundamental principles of love, was simply reiterating
the Old Testament commandments given by Moses in Deuteronomy and
Leviticus. (cf Dt 6:5; Lev 19:9-19)
Why is the
love of God the first of all commandments? This is because we do not love as we
ought because we do not know the meaning of love, or because we do not have the
capacity to love. Loving God is to enable us to love as He has loved us
and to find the strength from His love for us to love others. St John
makes this point when he wrote, “God’s love was
revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we
might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our
sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one
another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in
us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1 Jn 4:9-12)
This explains
why our God is a loving and compassionate God. When we sin, He is always
ready to forgive and to heal us. He does not take delight in seeing us suffer the
consequences of our sins. The prophet said, “’You are the one in whom
orphans find compassion.’ – I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them with
all my heart, for my anger has turned from them. I will fall like dew on
Israel. He shall bloom like the lily, and thrust out roots like the poplar, his
shoots will spread far; He will have the beauty of the olive and the fragrance
of Lebanon.”
Only when we
have loved God, can we then do likewise. Accordingly, the command to “love the
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and
with all your strength” is but the means to acquire the heart and mind of
God. When we love Him with all our heart, we become one with Him in love
and in compassion. When we love Him with all our mind and soul, we begin
to think like Him with respect to how we should see people, especially sinners
and the poor. When we love Him with all our strength, we will in turn be
strengthened in our capacity to do good for others.
But prior to
even loving our neighbours, the command of the Lord is that we should love
ourselves. This is the presupposition to the capacity and the right way to
love. If we know how to love ourselves, we will know how to love our
neighbor because we share the same humanity, the same aspirations in life for
love, respect, dignity, care, compassion, forgiveness, food, accommodation and
health. The golden rule of our Lord is this, “In everything we do to
others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the
prophets.” (Mt 7:12) Thus we cannot love our neighbour unless
we are first in touch with our own needs.
So the end to
loving God is for the love of our neighbours. God does not need our love
but He wants us to love Him so that we can love ourselves by loving our
neighbours. St Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love one
another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love
does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the
law.” (cf Rom 13:8-10) Anyone who loves is filled with the love of
God. “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us,
and his love is perfected in us.” (cf 1 Jn 4:12f)
In loving, God is glorified, and in God, we are glorified.
So today, let
us take heed of the call of the prophet. Let us come back to the Lord so that we
can truly love ourselves and our neighbours once again. Let us be wise
and not rely on our idols, for the Lord says, “What has Ephraim to do with
idols any more when it is I who hear his prayer and care for him? I am like a
cypress ever green, all your fruitfulness comes from me. Let the wise man
understand these words. Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning. For the
ways of the Lord are straight, and virtuous men walk in them, but sinners
stumble.” Let us walk the way of truth and love. Let us love
from the strength that comes from God’s love and mercy for us.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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