20190607
THE
LIMITS OF THE STATE’S ROLE IN RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS
07 JUNE, 2019,
Friday, 7th Week of Easter
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Acts 25:13-21 ©
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'I ordered Paul to be remanded until I
could send him to Caesar'
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King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in
Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days,
and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom
Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests
and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his
condemnation. But I told them that Romans are not in the habit of surrendering
any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is given an opportunity
to defend himself against the charge. So they came here with me, and I wasted
no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man
brought in. When confronted with him, his accusers did not charge him with any
of the crimes I had expected; but they had some argument or other with him
about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to
be alive. Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked
him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue.
But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgement of the
august emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to
Caesar.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
102(103):1-2,11-12,19-20 ©
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The Lord has set his
sway in heaven.
or
Alleluia!
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 has set his
sway in heaven.
or
Alleluia!
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 has set his
sway in heaven.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord has set his sway in heaven
and his kingdom is ruling over
all.
Give thanks to the Lord, all his angels,
mighty in power, fulfilling
his word.
The Lord has set his
sway in heaven.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 21:15-19 ©
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Feed my lambs, feed my sheep
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Jesus showed himself to his disciples, and
after they had eaten he said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me
more than these others do?’ He answered, ‘Yes Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus
said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John,
do you love me?’ He replied, ‘Yes, Lord, you know I love you.’ Jesus said to
him, ‘Look after my sheep.’ Then he said to him a third time, ‘Simon son of
John, do you love me?’ Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, ‘Do
you love me?’ and said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.’ Jesus
said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.
‘I tell you most solemnly,
when you were young
you put on your own belt
and walked where you liked;
but when you grow old
you will stretch out your hands,
and somebody else will put a belt round
you
and take you where you would rather not
go.’
In these words he indicated the kind of
death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, ‘Follow me.’
THE LIMITS OF
THE STATE’S ROLE IN RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 25:13-21; PS 10:1-2, 11-12,19-20; JN 21:15-19 ]
All true religions are
promoters of peace, love and harmony, mutual respect of every human person. This is because God stands for
ultimate love, ultimate truth and life. A true lover of God or a lover of
truth and life will do not anything to harm anyone. Indeed, any religion
or philosophy that advocates violence, war, hatred and revenge cannot be said
to be from God. Yet, the truth is that in the name of God, violence and
hatred is often invoked by religious leaders and followers of their
religions. How could that be the case?
What is the cause of
religious conflicts? It is not from the religion itself. Indeed, the Catholic Church
acknowledges that “religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness
of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing ‘ways,’ comprising teachings,
rules of life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is
true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways
of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in
many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect
a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.” (Nostra Aetate, 2)
Religious divisions come
from the pride of religious leaders and members – when we begin to think of ourselves
as superior to others; and dismiss others’ religious experiences and encounters
with the Sacred, and despise their rituals and practices. Very often,
some religious leaders, insecure of their own faith, feel threatened by the
beliefs of others. This was clearly the case of the Jews in the first
reading. They accused Paul of destroying their religion. “We have,
in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews
throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even
tried to profane the temple, and so we seized him.” (Acts 24:5-7) Indeed, pride which breeds
jealousy, envy, fear and anger blind us from seeing the truth objectively.
This explains why before
Jesus appointed Peter to be the head of the Church to feed and take care of His
lambs and sheep, He needed to heal Peter from the sin of pride. Peter, we knew, was an impetuous man,
overly confident of himself. He was the one who professed to Jesus,
“Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” (Jn 13:37) In Luke, he said, “Lord, I am
ready to go with you to prison and to death!” (Lk 22:33) But
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you,
before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.” (Jn 13:38) Jesus wanted to rely on
himself and on his own strength.
To teach him humility
and dependence on Him, the Lord appeared to him again at the Sea of Tiberias
when he was out fishing and caught nothing. Jesus appeared to him and said to him to
“Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” (Jn 21:6) They dragged their net full of
fish, “full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were
so many, the net was not torn.” (Jn 21:11) This was to show Peter that he
cannot be sent on mission if he were to rely on his own strength and
ingenuity. He must learn to be humble and trust in the Lord.
But he was not yet
purified of his pride. Truly, often, our pride is so subtle that we might
not even be conscious of it. Most proud people think they are very humble.
They cannot see their own sins and that is why they are very free to judge
others since they think they have no sins of their own! The pride of
Peter was the pride of shame! He had betrayed the Lord by denying Him
three times when he followed him to the High Priest’s house during his
trial. To remind him of his failure, Jesus had a similar charcoal fire at
the seashore, the same event when he was warming himself with the servants
before he denied our Lord. After they had eaten, Jesus asked Peter
whether he loved Him “more than these others do?” Three times the
Lord asked him and three times, he said, “Yes Lord, you know I love you.”
On the surface, we
cannot appreciate the conversation between Jesus and Peter because we fail to
understand the nuances in the words used as a result of translation. When Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?”,
He was using the word, “agape”, that is to love Him with the self-sacrificing
and oblative love of God. But Peter would answer with the word, “philo”
which is a human love, a friendship. Just as we thought that Peter was
humble enough to admit that he could not love Jesus with the love of God, that
his love was imperfect since he could only love Jesus with a human love, yet
again His pride showed when Jesus asked him a third time. He was upset
because he was asked a third time, reminding him of his failures. Again
his ego surfaced because it was difficult for Peter to admit that he could only
love that much.
But the great thing is
that Jesus accepted his capacity to love even if his love was not perfect. Jesus knew Peter’s heart and
strength as Peter himself acknowledged, “Lord, you know everything; you know I
love you.” In spite of the fact that Peter’s love for Him was
imperfect, the Lord invited him to feed His lambs, look after and feed His
sheep. The Lord still appointed Peter, weak as he was. Because from
then on, Peter knew that he should never rely on his own strength but on God
alone and on the love of Christ. He knew that humility in leadership is
the key to feeding the lambs, shepherding the sheep and feeding them.
Later in advising his fellow elders, he wrote, “Do not lord it over those in
your charge, but be examples to the flock. And all of you must clothe
yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for ‘God opposes
the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'” (1 Pt 5:3, 5)
Humility is to follow
where Jesus asks us to go not where we want to go or what we want to do. When Peter was curious about the
future of the disciple Jesus loved, Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that
he remains until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!” (Jn 21:22) It does not matter what the
Lord asks of us. All we need is to follow Jesus in humble obedience to
His will, tendering “the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the
oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it
– not for sordid gain but eagerly.” (1 Pt 5:2)
Ironically, the governor
Festus was exemplary as a political leader in dealing with religious
conflicts. He was clear about the role and limits of the intervention of
the state with regard to religion. It
is the role of the state to ensure peace, harmony and order in the
country. Hence, the State must intervene when there are religious
conflicts so that order and peace could be maintained. But the
State must remain impartial in the work of mediation. This was what
Festus sought to do. He told Paul’s accusers, “Romans are not in the
habit of surrendering any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is
given an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.” Festus
not only remained impartial in handling the case, but he also provided security
to Paul because the Jews wanted him to be transferred from Caesarea to
Jerusalem. We read that it was because “They were, in fact, planning an
ambush to kill him along the way.” (Acts 25:3) Finally, when he heard the
case, he realized it concerned “some argument or other with him about their own
religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive.”
Feeling not qualified to deal with questions of this sort, he offered Paul the
process of justice, which was to be tried in Jerusalem. In the end, he
acceded to his request to be tried in Rome. Indeed, in matters of
faith, the State cannot intervene as they do not have the authority or
knowledge to deal with supernatural things of life.
What the State can do and
must do is to ensure peace and harmony among all religions and that they are
respectful of each other. But
beyond preserving justice and harmony, matters of faith must be dealt with by
those in religions themselves. Just as we cannot make judgments on
others’ beliefs, the State cannot do likewise as well. Political leaders
must know their limits and not act like gods! As Gamaliel warned the
Sanhedrin, “keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan
or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you
will not be able to overthrow them – in that case you may even be found
fighting against God!” (Acts 5:38f)
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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