20190409
ACCEPTING
JESUS AS THE DIVINE MERCY OF THE FATHER IS THE WAY TO SALVATION
09 APRIL, 2019,
Tuesday, 5th Week in Lent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Numbers 21:4-9 ©
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If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he
looked up at the bronze serpent and lived
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The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road
to the Sea of Suph, to skirt the land of Edom. On the way the people lost
patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out
of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here;
we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’
At
this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many
in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking
against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us
from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered
him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and
looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put
on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze
serpent and lived.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
101(102):2-3,16-21 ©
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O Lord, listen to my
prayer and let my cry for help reach you.
O Lord, listen to my prayer
and let my cry for help reach
you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear towards me
and answer me quickly when I
call.
O Lord, listen to my
prayer and let my cry for help reach you.
The nations shall fear the name of the
Lord
and all the earth’s kings your
glory,
when the Lord shall build up Zion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the
helpless;
he will not despise their
prayers.
O Lord, listen to my
prayer and let my cry for help reach you.
Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may
praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his
sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to
the earth
that he might hear the groans of the
prisoners
and free those condemned to
die.
O Lord, listen to my
prayer and let my cry for help reach you.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn8:12
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
I am the light of the world, says the
Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of
life.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
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Or:
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Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the
sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for
ever.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal
glory!
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Gospel
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John 8:21-30 ©
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When you have lifted up the Son of Man
then you will know that I am He
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Jesus said to the Pharisees:
‘I am going away;
you will look for me
and you will die in your sin.
Where I am going, you cannot come.’
The Jews said to one another, ‘Will he
kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot
come”?’ Jesus went on:
‘You are from below; I am from above.
You are of this world; I am not of this
world.
I have told you already:
You will die in your sins.
Yes, if you do not believe that I am He,
you will die in your sins.’
So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus
answered:
‘What I have told you from the outset.
About you I have much to say
and much to condemn;
but the one who sent me is truthful,
and what I have learnt from him
I declare to the world.’
They failed to understand that he was
talking to them about the Father. So Jesus said:
‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am He
and that I do nothing of myself:
what the Father has taught me is what I
preach;
he who sent me is with me,
and has not left me to myself,
for I always do what pleases him.’
As he was saying this, many came to
believe in him.
ACCEPTING JESUS
AS THE DIVINE MERCY OF THE FATHER IS THE WAY TO SALVATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ NUM 21:4-9; JN 8:21-30 ]
We live in our sins,
like the Israelites in the desert. This is manifested in the fact that we are not
happy, always dissatisfied with life, always complaining. Our hearts are
restless. As a result, we will die in our sins. This is to say, our
constant dissatisfaction with life will eventually destroy our peace, take away
our happiness. Truly, the Israelites were never happy and although set
free from the slavery of the Egyptians, their hearts were not free. They
were still under the bondage of greed and the worship of false gods. Just
as the serpents were attacking the Israelites, our sins will also destroy
us. This is what Jesus warns us, “You will die in your sin.”
How will we die in our
sin? What does it mean to die
in our sins? In the first place, our sins will kill
us because sin is anti-life and anti-love. Sin, ultimately, is the
lack of love and lack of wisdom. We think of this earth only and only of
this life. We then live only for this world as if this is the only world
and only life we have on earth. We forget who we are that we are called
to be heavenly. As Jesus says, “You are from below; I am from above. You
are of this world; I am not of this world. I have told you already: You will
die in your sins.” By living a worldly life based on satisfying our sensual and
egoistic needs, we will hurt ourselves because of the sins and wrongs we do to
ourselves, and especially the harm we cause to our neighbours. The
consequences of sin can be too hard on some of us who are unable to forgive our
mistakes and follies in life, especially those faults that cause us to lose our
reputation, dignity, status and destroy the unity of the family. We can
be so ashamed of ourselves that we dare not face the world again. Some
fall into deep depression and end their lives even.
The other reason why we will die in our
sins is, as St Paul warns us, the “wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). One sin will lead to another
sin. We live in a world contaminated by sin. We are all in some
ways under the bondage of sin because of our fallen nature. And the irony
is that no matter how much we try to overcome our sinfulness, we find ourselves
paralyzed. We are unable to avoid sin completely. Those who try to
observe the laws often become proud and self-righteous. They fall into
spiritual pride and seek a false independence from God. In other words,
regardless of what we do, we will find ourselves trapped in our sins. We
feel miserable about ourselves, fearful of the judgment that is to come, as we
will never be able to perfect ourselves before God. We live under the
false notion that unless we are morally perfect, God will relegate us to hell.
We live in guilt and this often surfaces in our nightmares when our conscience
is disturbed.
We will be entering into
Holy Week soon.
The Church is anxious that the Catechumens might still not be ready to reject
Satan and all his works. They might not have given up everything to
experience the new life because of their sins. Hence, today the liturgy
wants to remind us that faith in Christ who, as our Saviour and as the “I Am”,
will save us from our sins. By having faith in Him, we will be delivered
from our sins. This is also true for all baptized Catholics who will
renew their baptismal vow at Easter.
So what is the way out? Jesus said, “You will die in your
sins. Yes, if you do not believe that I am He.” The text of today’s
gospel is focused on Jesus’ identity. “Who are you?” is the fundamental
question. Faith in Jesus’ identity as being sent from the Father is a
guarantee of Jesus’ teaching. Only faith in Jesus can rescue us from our
sins. He said, “I do nothing of myself; what the Father has taught me is
what I preach; he who sent me is with me.” Faith in Jesus is the
pre-requisite for confidence in His message. Hence, we must look to Jesus
to be saved, since “what I have learnt from him I declare to the
world.” Only by taking the words of Jesus seriously and
seeking in all sincerity to follow the teachings of Jesus, can we then live
in the truth and find the way to life.
But more importantly, salvation is not a
matter of observing all the commandments of Jesus meticulously, but believing
that He is the unconditional mercy and compassion of the Father.
This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Yes, if you do not believe that I am
He, you will die in your sins. ….What I have told you from the outset.
About you I have much to say and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is
truthful, and what I have learnt from him I declare to the world.” In the final
analysis, we are not perfect. We belong to the world. That is what Jesus
said, “I am going away; you will look for me and you will die in your sin.
Where I am going, you cannot come….You are from below; I am from above. You are
of this world; I am not of this world.” This realization that we cannot
save ourselves by our own efforts and merits forces us to turn to the Lord for
mercy instead. Like the psalmist, we can only cry out in prayer for His
divine assistance and forgiveness. “Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry
come to you. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Hide not your
face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when
I call, answer me speedily.”
But what is the basis for
believing in Jesus as the Unconditional love and mercy of the Father, of
the One being sent to reveal to us that God forgives us always and has loved us
eternally? Precisely, in His raising up on the cross, which is the symbol
of His death and exaltation, we come to ponder on the immensity of God’s
merciful love. In the cross, we see the Father’s love revealed. In
the cross, we see how sin is destroyed by death. It is the way by which
God delivered the Israelites from sin and death, for they used the serpent
raised on the pole to save them from the serpents.
In the cross too, and especially at His
resurrection, Jesus reveals that the Father “has not left me to myself
for I always do what pleases him.” Thus the cross as the symbol
of His death and resurrection is the great event of revelation. It
reveals that God identifies Himself with Jesus in His death, since only because
of His death, His total surrender to the Father in complete trust and
obedience, did God raise Him from the dead. By so doing, Jesus is
vindicated. But most of all, it shows us that the person whom we
crucified turned out to be the One who saves us. Jesus lifted up on the
cross reminds us that it is through death that we will be raised to life.
In the light of His power and victory over sin and death, we too can surrender
all our inadequacies and sins to Him.
Truly, it is when we come to realize that
God never leaves us to our sins but that He comes to deliver us from
our sins, which we cannot do for ourselves, that we find hope and peace.
Like the Israelites and the psalmist, we must trust in God’s mercy
instead. God has provided us the remedy for sin by sending us His Son to
teach us how to live a life of holiness, and most of all, to convict us of His
love for us so that whenever we want to sin, we only have to look at the
crucifix and see the pain we are inflicting on Him and the heart of His
Father. Looking at the crucifix with faith and trust, we too can
share in Christ’s victory over sin and death. Salvation, in the final
analysis, is not our doing but that of God. It does not come from us but
from Christ’s death and resurrection.
Hence, today, we are called to
look upon the cross like the way the Israelites “looked at the bronze serpent
and lived.” We are called to look at the cross so that we can
recognize our sinfulness and what sin could do, not just to our fellowmen,
causing them to suffer so deeply, but even to God Himself. Jesus on the
cross reveals to us the suffering of God Himself for us and with us, caused by
our sins. It is our greed, anger, laziness, lust, envy and gluttony that
have caused so much pain and misery to ourselves and those hurt by us.
Hence, we are healed by looking at the cross, just as the people looking at the
bronze serpent lifted up on the pole. All of us who truly ponder and
reflect on Christ’s passion for us and His innocent suffering on the cross will
be able to admit our sins and, moved by sincere sorrow for our faults, begin to
ask the Lord for forgiveness. Without this contemplation on His passion
and suffering, there will be no true contrition of heart. There is
nothing that moves us as much as one who suffers innocently in our place for
the love of us. The only life changing motive is when we change, because
of love and the realization of how much we have hurt those who love us so much.
Today, in a special way, let us reflect on
our sins. Let our sins and misery be occasions to reflect on our
lives. But we must not reflect on our sins in themselves, as we will only
become disheartened and even hate ourselves. Rather, any examination
of our sins must be done in the light of God’s love for us in Christ, which
is done by meditating on the passion of Christ. One effective way is to
contemplate on Christ’s passion in the Stations of the Cross. But let us
do it with devotion, slowly and meditatively, rather than just rushing through
it as a ritual and empty devotion. The extent of our conversion will
depend on how deeply we enter into the passion of Christ. As we go
through the consequences of sin, let us unite ourselves with Jesus in His
passion. For through our sufferings, either inflicted upon ourselves on
account of our foolishness, or by others, we will be purified, and thus able to
share in the resurrection.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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