20180419
LEADING OTHERS TO CHRIST OUR TEACHER
19 APRIL, 2018, Thursday, 3rd Week of Easter
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 8:26-40 ©
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Philip baptizes a eunuch
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The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, ‘Be ready to set out
at noon along the road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.’
So he set off on his journey. Now it happened that an Ethiopian had been on
pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a eunuch and an officer at the court of the
kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia, and was in fact her chief treasurer. He was now
on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet
Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and meet that chariot.’ When Philip
ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand
what you are reading?’ ‘How can I’ he replied ‘unless I have someone to guide
me?’ So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side. Now the passage of
scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its
shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend
him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants,
since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said, ‘Tell me, is the prophet
referring to himself or someone else?’ Starting, therefore, with this text of
scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further
along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is
some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?’ He ordered the
chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip
baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was
taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but
went on his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and
continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as
Caesarea.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 65(66):8-9,16-17,20 ©
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Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
O peoples, bless our God,
let the voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave life to our souls
and kept our feet from stumbling.
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Come and hear, all who fear God.
I will tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud,
with high praise ready on my tongue.
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Blessed be God
who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.
Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord, who hung for us upon the tree,
has risen from the tomb.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn6:51
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven,
says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 6:44-51 ©
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I am the living bread which has come down from heaven
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Jesus said to the crowd:
‘No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They will all be taught by God,
and to hear the teaching of the Father,
and learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God:
he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life.
‘I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate the manna in the desert
and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that a man may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,
for the life of the world.’
LEADING OTHERS TO CHRIST OUR TEACHER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 8:26-40; PS 66:8-9,16-17,20; JOHN 6:44-51 ]
In the gospel, Jesus
said, “It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God.”
In saying this, Jesus was referring to the Prophet Jeremiah who said, “But this
is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I
will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will
be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer
shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the
Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest; for
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
The prophet Isaiah also said a similar thing, “All your sons shall
be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the prosperity of your
sons.” (Isa 54:13)
How will they
be taught by God? Christ, precisely, is the fulfillment of this
promise. Only the one who came down from heaven and has gone up to heaven
can reveal to us who God is. Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one has ascended into
heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” (Jn 3:13)
In the gospel, Jesus reiterated this truth, “to hear the teaching of the
Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anybody has seen the
Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.”
Hence, Jesus declared Himself to be “the way, and the truth, and the life; no
one comes to the Father, but by me.” (Jn 14:6)
He is the Shepherd and the Gate. (cf Jn 10:2,7)
He is the New
Moses, the teacher, as Jesus hinted in today’s gospel. “I am the bread of life. Your
fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread
that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.” Moses
gave them bread from heaven. Those who consumed the bread died because the
bread was just physical sustenance. But Jesus came to give us the Bread
of life. In the synoptics, Jesus presented Himself as the New Moses
when He ascended the Mountain to teach His disciples. (cf Mt 5:1)
And at the Transfiguration, Jesus summed up in Himself the Law and the Prophets
represented by the appearance of Moses and Elijah. (cf Mt 17:3f)
Consequently,
if we want to find life to the fullest, we must come to Jesus who is the Bread
of life. As the bread of life, He came to speak to us of the goodness and
mercy of His Father. “I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known,
that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in
them.” (Jn 17:26) He came to show us the way to live our lives
so that we can find fullness of life by giving ourselves for the service of God
and others. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and
whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Mt 20:26-28)
The way of a blessed life is to live the Beatitudes, the blueprint for true
happiness. (cf Mt 5:1-11)
But Jesus
revealed the Father to us not just through His teachings but His very life. He said, “I am the
living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will
live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the
world.” His flesh refers to His humanity. Jesus came to give His
entire life and through His life and humanity, He showed us the face of His
Father. “He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show
us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and
the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own
authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am
in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the
works themselves.” (Jn 14:9-11) In His works of mercy, His miracles, His
conduct, relationship with people, the poor, sinners and marginalized, Jesus
showed us the merciful and compassionate face of God, and most of all, by His
death and resurrection.
But how can
we come to Jesus? In the first place, God has planted in the heart of
each man a deep desire for God. Jesus said to the crowd, “No one can come to me unless he is drawn
by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day.” The
Father draws us all to Him, regardless of who we are. For in our hearts,
we all long for eternal truth and love. This desire for the fullness of
truth and love is found in every human person. Man seeks to find truth
and love in their fellowmen but they are deeply disappointed. No human
person can reveal to us the fullness of truth or give us the fullness of
love. Only God can fulfill our thirst and hunger. That is why
St Augustine remarked that our hearts are restless until we rest in God.
There is nothing on this earth that is really satisfying, only God.
So the truth
is that God is stirring in everyone’s heart a deep yearning for fulfillment. Whenever we feel
incomplete, it means we are looking for something more. Those of us who are
wealthy and have everything we want, do we not feel there is some emptiness in
our hearts and we wonder what it is? It is our longing to rest in
God. Those of us who are successful in life, in our career or business,
and have accomplished great things in life, how long can past achievements
sustain our joy? They came as quickly as they went. Even human
relationships cannot last, regardless how loving it is. They too must
come to an end. That is why only God can fulfill our needs and our
emptiness in life.
But to come
to Jesus, we need to have guides to lead us to Him. Philip proved himself
to be a good guide in leading others to Jesus. He took the opportunity when
it presented itself, to explain to the Ethiopian about Jesus by enlightening
him that the prophecy of Isaiah on the Suffering Servant was a reference to the
Crucified Christ and Lord. When the Ethiopian understood that Christ was
the fulfilment of the prophecy, his heart and mind were opened and he sought
baptism from Philip. Indeed, Philip was truly a good instrument of the
Lord to lead others to Jesus, seizing every opportunity that he had.
If Philip was
a good pointer to the Lord, it was because he was led and moved by the Spirit. He was completely
docile to the Lord and did not keep anything for himself. He was filled
with the Holy Spirit and he allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him wherever He
chose. The first reading highlighted a few times how the angel of the
Lord told him, “’Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes
from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.’ So he set off on his
journey.” And then after the baptism of the Eunuch, “Philip was taken
away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on
his way rejoicing. Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his
journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea.”
If we want to
be used by the Lord to lead others to Him, then we too must be available to the
Lord like Philip. We must not resist the Holy Spirit but be attentive to how He
leads us. The trouble is that we often want to lead the Holy Spirit
instead. We have all our plans set up and we expect God to follow our
plans. By all means, we must prepare and plan but we must also be
receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who is one of surprises.
As Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one
who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)
Finally, if
we are to be true guides to others in bringing them to the Lord, we must not
make ourselves the focus of attention. This is what John the Baptist reminded us. “You
yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been
sent before him. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn 3:28, 30)
Philip showed us his self-effacement too when he disappeared immediately after
the baptism of the Ethiopian. All he wanted was to make the Lord known
and loved so that we too can say “this joy of mine is now full.” (Jn 3:29)
Preachers and teachers must be careful not to take over the limelight of our
Lord. They should be directing them to the Lord and not to themselves.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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