20180525
COMPROMISING THE IDEALS OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE
25 MAY, 2018, Friday, 7th Week, Ordinary
Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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James 5:9-12 ©
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Do not ask for judgement, or you may receive it
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Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to
be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen waiting at
the gates. For your example, brothers, in submitting with patience, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord; remember it is those who had
endurance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard of the patience of
Job, and understood the Lord’s purpose, realising that the Lord is kind and
compassionate.
Above all,
my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at all.
If you mean ‘yes’, you must say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say ‘no.’ Otherwise
you make yourselves liable to judgement.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 102(103):1-4,8-9,11-12 ©
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The Lord is compassion and love.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
The Lord is compassion and love.
It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is compassion and love.
The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
His wrath will come to an end;
he will not be angry for ever.
The Lord is compassion and love.
For as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.
The Lord is compassion and love.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps110:7,8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure;
they stand firm for ever and ever.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn17:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O Lord:
consecrate us in the truth.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 10:1-12 ©
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What God has united, man must not divide
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Jesus came to the district of Judaea and the far side of the
Jordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his
custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it against the law for
a man to divorce his wife?’ They were testing him. He answered them, ‘What did
Moses command you?’ ‘Moses allowed us’ they said ‘to draw up a writ of
dismissal and so to divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were
so unteachable that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning
of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father
and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but
one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’ Back in the house
the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘The man
who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her.
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of
adultery too.’
COMPROMISING THE IDEALS OF THE GOSPEL MESSAGE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JAMES 5:9-12; PS 103:1-4, 8-9, 11-12; MARK 10:1-12 ]
We are living in
very a complex situation because we are living in a world of plurality and
relativism. There are so many ways to look at life that we are
not so certain of what is truth. Different people look at
morality differently. Many people consider sexual promiscuity as
acceptable. Divorce, abortion and use of contraceptives have become
accepted norms in society. Even gay marriages, artificial insemination and
human cloning are considered by society as being in line with the times.
The morality and values offered by the Church are considered outdated and not
in touch with technological advancements.
The stark
truth is that we cannot live up to the lofty teachings of Jesus. So in every quarter,
we try to dilute His teachings and justify the compromises we make. We
make compromises not only on moral and ethical issues but on doctrines as
well. All this is done in the name of unity and harmony. Hence, we
interpret poverty, obedience and celibacy in such a way to suit our interests
and comfort. Whether it is the Church, society or institutions, quite
often we pare down our ideals to suit people. This tendency to compromise
is understandable because we are just like the people during the time of Moses.
We are unteachable! Like them, we face the tension of being faithful to
the ideals of the Covenant mapped out by Jesus and the secular reality of the
situation.
But when we
look at Jesus, we do not see someone who feels the need to compromise or lower
His principles simply to please some people. It would have been most tempting for
Him to agree with His contemporaries that divorce be allowed. The fact
remains that Jesus refused to compromise with the acceptable stand in His
day. He remained firm in His teaching on the indissolubility of marriage
and He reiterated it in no uncertain terms, “The man who divorces his wife and
marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman
divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.”
Certainly such teaching of Jesus is difficult to accept not only in His day but
more so today. St James too urges us to be firm in our principles in
these words, “Do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at
all! If you mean ‘yes’ you must say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say no.” How
then do we respond to this apparent dilemma?
The first
thing we should not do is to condemn such people. St James warns us
against being too presumptuous to judge others. He advised, “Do not make
complaints against one another; brothers, so as not to be brought to judgment
yourselves.” Before we judge and condemn them, we must realize that we do not
know the difficulties involved for such people. The fact is that quite
often, some of us who make compromises are being pressurized by circumstances,
both psychologically and emotionally. Sometimes, for the sake of peace
and harmony, we compromise our beliefs and values so as not to offend these
people. Consequently, we cave in to the demands of others. St James
therefore exhorts us to submit with patience, imitating the endurance of the
prophets. We are called to be tolerant with others and ourselves for
being weak. Compassion is certainly needed rather than judgment. After
all, as St James says, “The Lord is kind and compassionate.” So did the psalmist
in today’s responsorial psalm.
Secondly, we
must confront ourselves and examine the state we are in and what our calling
is. We
must recognize that any compromise we make will take us away from the truth and
the reality. A distinction between the fundamental law of creation and a
dispensation from that law must be made. As was the case of Moses
granting divorce; it was due to the fact that the people were unteachable that
he allowed divorce. Clearly then, such a decision contradicts the original
intention of creation. Whenever we compromise, we fail to be
authentic to our true selves.
Hence, if
we are to accept the teaching of Jesus and be true to His gospel message, we
must return to the original ideals of marriage. To return to
the original purpose of creation is to reclaim our dignity as God’s image,
which is unity in love. To insist on divorce is a clear rejection that
the ultimate life is a life of love, expressed beautifully in the permanent
union of man and woman in marriage and then bearing fruit in procreation.
Certainly, it is
very difficult to live up to the permanency of marriage, especially when the
relationship has been broken and irreparable. For this reason, today’s
gospel text, which is one of the themes on Christian life expounded over the
last few days, is placed between the second and third passion prophecies.
This implies that the call to live the Christian ideals entails dying
to self and living the transfigured life of Christ revealed to the
disciples just earlier on. It involves surrendering ourselves to the
passion of Jesus, emptying ourselves in faith and love, trusting that God will
somehow empower us to live authentically in Him.
However, in
order that we are motivated to be faithful to our noble calling to a life of
truth, love and unity, St James reminds us that although God is merciful, we
will be judged. Indeed, he warned us, “the Judge is already to be seen
waiting at the gates.” When we compromise our standards, we ultimately
bring judgment upon ourselves and even destroy ourselves. Following
the cause and effect principle, we will destroy our happiness and ourselves
because we have not been faithful to the principles given by Jesus. To
compromise is but a way of cheating and deceiving others and ourselves.
If we are sincere about ourselves, we cannot but recognize our hypocrisy.
However,
having recognized the consequences of our compromise does not mean that we will
be able to follow the gospel message of Jesus entirely. Many people are aware of the
consequences of sexual promiscuity and divorce, yet they continue all the
same. Why? This is because we have not fully understood from the
depths of our hearts the real significance of Jesus’ teaching. We are not
really convicted and hence not convinced. We need divine grace and wisdom
to understand the inner reality of what Jesus has taught us, be it with regard
to marriage or the values that He has preached and lived Himself. Only
when we are convicted from the depths of our beings, can we find the courage to
be more faithful to our calling and our Christian identity.
This inner
conviction of course can only be realized in prayer, meditation and
contemplation. Without prayer, we will not be able to enter the depths of
the mind of God. Indeed, if Jesus were able to go beyond the Mosaic
dispensation of granting divorce, it was because Jesus understood the plan of
God intimately. The fact that He explained the indissolubility of marriage by
referring to the original plan of God means that He had perceived the mind of
God. But more than just understanding the plan of God, prayer puts us in
communion with Jesus. It is this communion with Jesus that empowers us to
live in communion with God and be identified with Him in every way. In this
way, instead of compromising our lifestyle, we assume the life of Jesus so
completely that ideals and reality coincide.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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