20190410
TRUE
FREEDOM IS FOUND IN THE SON AND THROUGH THE SON
10 APRIL, 2019,
Wednesday, 5th Week in Lent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Daniel
3:14-20,24-25,28 ©
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God has sent his angel to rescue his
servants
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King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you
refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of
horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you
prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you
refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery
furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’ Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly
requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the
burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if
he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or
worship the statue you have erected.’ These words infuriated King
Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was very different now as he looked at Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times
hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then
King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers,
‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied,
‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely
in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like
a son of the gods.’
Nebuchadnezzar
exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent
his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the
order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or
worship any god but their own.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Daniel 3:52-56 ©
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To you glory and praise
for evermore.
You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
Blest your glorious holy name.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
You are blest in the temple of your glory.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
You are blest on the throne of your
kingdom.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
You are blest who gaze into the depths.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
You are blest in the firmament of heaven.
To you glory and praise
for evermore.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Mt4:4
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Or:
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cf.Lk8:15
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Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their
perseverance.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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John 8:31-42 ©
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If the Son makes you free, you will be
free indeed
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To the Jews who believed in him Jesus
said:
‘If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.’
They answered, ‘We are descended from
Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You
will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
everyone who commits sin is a slave.
Now the slave’s place in the house is not
assured,
but the son’s place is assured.
So if the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.
I know that you are descended from
Abraham;
but in spite of that you want to kill me
because nothing I say has penetrated into
you.
What I, for my part, speak of
is what I have seen with my Father;
but you, you put into action
the lessons learnt from your father.’
They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’
Jesus said to them:
‘If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do as Abraham did.
As it is, you want to kill me
when I tell you the truth
as I have learnt it from God;
that is not what Abraham did.
What you are doing is what your father
does.’
‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they
went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:
‘If God were your father, you would love
me,
since I have come here from God;
yes, I have come from him;
not that I came because I chose,
no, I was sent, and by him.’
TRUE FREEDOM IS
FOUND IN THE SON AND THROUGH THE SON
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ DANIEL 3:14-20,24-25,28; JOHN 8:31-42 ]
We are approaching the Feast of the
Resurrection, which is the feast of new life. Jesus wants to give us new
life at Easter. But there is life only when there is real freedom.
Freedom is an essential dimension of finding life, and of being truly
human. Without freedom, there can be no life. Of course, we are not
simply talking so much about physical freedom. We are speaking of an
interior freedom, the freedom of the mind and heart. Today, we are
presented with the three young men who, although not physically free, were so
happy because their interior freedom could not be taken away. In the
gospel too, we have Jesus enlightening us on the real meaning of freedom.
What then is
freedom? Very
often we define freedom as the ability to choose between good and evil.
We see this in the case of the three young men. They were conscious of
what is morally right and wrong. In their perspective, no compromise was
possible, even if it were to cause their death. As far as the three young
men were concerned, what was good and morally acceptable had to be done,
irrespective of the coercion of men to do otherwise. Their submission was
to God alone who is the source and measure of all goodness and truth.
However, whilst such understanding of
freedom is praiseworthy, this is still a very narrow understanding of
freedom. Freedom is not so much a moral choice, of choosing between
good and evil. Rather, it is to be true to oneself; to live by the truth;
to determine our lives for good rather than evil. Freedom, therefore, is
always orientated to goodness. It means the power to do and be good. Such
freedom implies that we must be able to be true to our convictions and the
truth. The inability to live up to our inner convictions is what makes us
slaves. This is what Jesus accused the Jews of. They were slaves to their
falsehood. They were slaves even though they were descended from Abraham.
Hence, Jesus told the people, “learn the truth and the truth will make you
free.”
What, then, is being
true to truth? Truth
is an existential and personal truth; not a philosophical truth. Hence, the
ultimate truth is that all of us are called to be sons of the Father. Indeed,
Abraham considered God as his Father. In the covenantal relationship between
God and Abraham, God is the Father of Abraham and all his descendants. It is
because Abraham was true to his identity as God’s heir that he lived the life
of faith and trust in God. It was the same situation for the three young
men who were willing to die for their faith and belief in God. By being
true to our identity, we will have a life that is reflective of God. All
our moral actions will flow from our basic and fundamental realization of who
we are.
On the other hand, when we do not
know our real identity, then, like the Jews who claimed that God was their
Father, we will not behave like the children of God nor accept Jesus and the
truth that He came to reveal. Did the Jews not know their identity?
Of course they knew, for they retorted saying, “we are descended from Abraham
and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, ‘You will be
made free’?” So why did Jesus say that they did not know their true
identity?
We can be children of
our parents in two senses.
We can regard our parents in biological terms. Legally and genetically,
we originate from them. But sometimes our biological parents are not our
father or mother, because they never exercised their paternity and maternity
over us. To be a father and mother in the real sense means that we
nurture our children according to our image and likeness, passing on to them
our nature, the way we think, the values we hold, the life that we live.
So a true son and daughter would take after his or her parents by adopting
their culture, outlook towards life and faith as well.
Prescinding from this, the Jews,
although true descendants of Abraham, could not in spirit call him ‘father’,
because they did not share the same faith of Abraham, a faith that was
lived in total obedience to God. This was why Jesus said to them, “If you were
Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. As it is, you want to kill me
when I tell you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what
Abraham did. What you are doing is what your father does.” Indeed, they
did not know the Father, as demonstrated by the fact that they rejected Jesus
who came to speak the Word of the Father. If they were truly the sons of
Abraham, they would have accepted Jesus, since He came from the Father.
But in truth, they were ‘bastards’, not truly the son of Abraham, neither were
they the sons and daughters of God.
In rejecting the Father,
they became slaves to their sins.
Jesus told them, “I tell you most solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a
slave. Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured, but the son’s place
is assured.” Truly, because we are not putting on the mind of Christ,
therefore of the Father as well, we allow fear to cripple us in life. We
live in guilt of our past, not believing that the Father loves us and has
forgiven us in Christ. We live in anxiety, not trusting that the Father
will look after our future. We do not love ourselves with all our
strengths and weaknesses, because we do not believe that the Father loves us
for who and what we are. So we struggle with the negativity about
ourselves, wallowing in low self-esteem on one hand, and on the other, envious
of others and angry with God, often making Him or others scapegoats for our
unhappiness in life. When we live under the bondage of anger, resentment
and sin, then we know that we are not free because true sons and daughters of
God are truly free, for they know that God has given them their dignity.
How then can we recover
our sonship? In Jesus, we are
set free because He says, “the Son makes you free.” In Jesus, we see what
being son truly means. In Jesus, the Father is revealed to us. This
is because Jesus is the true Son of God in the fullest sense of the term.
Jesus lives intimately with the Father. He shares the mind, heart and
will of the Father. Only Jesus can restore us to our true sonship in
Him. Jesus is the face of the Father. He said, “If God were your
father, you would love me, since I have come here from God; yes, I have come
from him; not that I came because I chose, no, I was sent, and by him.” He is
the One who can reveal to us the Truth that sets us free. In Jesus the
Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father, we discover the truth, since He
reveals to us the mind and heart of the Father. Jesus knows the Father
intimately as He originated from the Father. Hence He knows the real life
that is to be lived.
Consequently, if we want to
recover our sonship, then, as Jesus tells us, we must make His Word our home.
We must immerse ourselves in Jesus, not simply by listening to His Word, but by
having a personal relationship with Him. The Word of God is not simply
words but an event, His personal self. Hence, by letting His Word make a
home in us, we will indeed be His true disciples. We can discover the truth
by immersing ourselves in the Word, which is to put on Christ, since the Word
is a person. In our relationship with Jesus, we become more like Him and
therefore one with the Father. Only then can we enjoy real freedom
because we truly become who we are. And then as sons in the Sonship of Jesus,
we truly become like Abraham, the heirs of God. Hence, as we approach
Holy Week, the Church underscores the importance of confessing Jesus as the Son
of God, for only by accepting Him can we truly regain the joy and freedom of
our divine filiation at our baptism which we will renew at Easter.
Most of all, by coming to accept
our true identity as sons and daughters of God, we can surrender our lives to
Him completely, like the three young men. Their trust in God was
vindicated. Because they fixed their eyes on God, they were saved by
Him. Nothing is too difficult for God. We too, when faced with
trials, temptations and the struggles of living an authentic life, are called
to surrender in faith. We are called to exercise the highest and most
heroic form of freedom, which is obedience to God unto death. The highest
form of freedom is to surrender our freedom to the Lord by accepting His holy
will. This was the case of Jesus who surrendered His life to the Father.
His only food was to do the Father’s will, and this obedience caused Him His
life and suffering on the Cross. It was by this very obedience unto death
that God demonstrated His power over death by raising Jesus from the
dead. When we respond with fearless and unflinching obedience to His
divine will, we, too, will find ourselves elevated to the level of the divine,
transcending all earthly pain and fear, for God is our security and peace.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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