20190713 FAITH
OVERCOMES FEAR
13 JULY, 2019,
Saturday, 14th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Genesis
49:29-33,50:15-26 ©
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'God has turned the evil you planned
into good'
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Jacob gave his sons these instructions, ‘I
am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me near my fathers, in the cave that
is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at Machpelah,
opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the
Hittite as a burial-plot. There Abraham was buried and his wife Sarah. There
Isaac was buried and his wife Rebekah. There I buried Leah. I mean the field
and the cave in it that were bought from the sons of Heth.’
When
Jacob had finished giving his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up
into the bed, and breathing his last was gathered to his people.
Seeing
that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph intends to
treat us as enemies and repay us in full for all the wrong we did him?’ So they
sent this message to Joseph: ‘Before your father died he gave us this order:
“You must say to Joseph: Oh forgive your brothers their crime and their sin and
all the wrong they did you.” Now therefore, we beg you, forgive the crime of
the servants of your father’s God.’ Joseph wept at the message they sent to
him.
His
brothers came themselves and fell down before him. ‘We present ourselves before
you’ they said ‘as your slaves.’ But Joseph answered them, ‘Do not be afraid;
is it for me to put myself in God’s place? The evil you planned to do me has by
God’s design been turned to good, that he might bring about, as indeed he has,
the deliverance of a numerous people. So you need not be afraid; I myself will
provide for you and your dependants.’ In this way he reassured them with words
that touched their hearts.
So
Joseph stayed in Egypt with his father’s family; and Joseph lived a hundred and
ten years. Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children, as also the
children of Machir, Manasseh’s son, who were born on Joseph’s lap. At length
Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die; but God will be sure to
remember you kindly and take you back from this country to the land that he
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ And Joseph made Israel’s sons
swear an oath, ‘When God remembers you with kindness be sure to take my bones
from here.’
Joseph
died at the age of a hundred and ten; they embalmed him and laid him in his
coffin in Egypt.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 104(105):1-4,6-7 ©
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Seek the Lord, you who
are poor, and your hearts will revive.
Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,
make known his deeds among the
peoples.
O sing to him, sing his praise;
tell all his wonderful works!
Seek the Lord, you who
are poor, and your hearts will revive.
Be proud of his holy name,
let the hearts that seek the
Lord rejoice.
Consider the Lord and his strength;
constantly seek his face.
Seek the Lord, you who
are poor, and your hearts will revive.
O children of Abraham, his servant,
O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God:
his judgements prevail in all
the earth.
Seek the Lord, you who
are poor, and your hearts will revive.
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Gospel Acclamation
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1Jn2:5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Whenever anyone obeys what Christ has
said,
God’s love comes to perfection in him.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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1P4:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
It is a blessing for you
when they insult you for bearing the name
of Christ,
for the Spirit of God rests on you.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 10:24-33 ©
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Everything now hidden will be made clear
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Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows:
‘The disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor the slave to his master. It
is enough for the disciple that he should grow to be like his teacher, and the
slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
what will they not say of his household?
‘Do
not be afraid of them therefore. For everything that is now covered will be
uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in
the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the
housetops.
‘Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him
rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows
for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing.
Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be
afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.
‘So
if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I will declare myself
for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But the one who disowns me in
the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of my Father in heaven.’
FAITH OVERCOMES
FEAR
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Gn 49:29-33; 50:15-26; Ps 105:1-4,6-7; Mt 10:24-38]
Fear is what paralyses
us in life. Many
of us are afraid to venture out because of fear of the future. We all
fear pain and suffering. We fear the unknown. Because of the fear
of rejection, we are afraid to be true to ourselves, to our beliefs and
convictions. We fear our friends might reject us, our enemies might take
revenge against us, and our opponents defeat us. Our fear springs from
our past and the future.
This was the case of the
brothers of Joseph. After Jacob’s death, they were fearful that Joseph
might seek revenge against them for what they did to him years ago. They continued to live in guilt of their
past misdeeds. They could not forgive themselves and so projected their
fears onto Joseph. They could not believe that their brother Joseph had
forgiven them. Their insecurity about Joseph of course was not something
new. They felt insecure already when Joseph shared his dreams of being a
great ruler over them one day. They were made more insecure when he was
the favourite of their father. That was why they wanted to get rid of
him.
The truth is, the
leopard cannot change its spots. The first reading again showed that they had never
changed. They cheated Joseph before and again sought to cheat him by
claiming that the Father asked them to give the message to Joseph, saying, “‘Oh
forgive your brothers their crime and their sin and all the wrong they did
you.’ Now therefore, we beg you, forgive the crime of the servants of your
father’s God.'” We read that when Joseph heard it, he “wept at the
message they sent to him.” Why did he weep at that message? Was it
because he really believed that was what the father had said to him, or was it
more likely that Joseph saw through their fears and the lack of trust in his
word to look after them. I surmise that he must be grieved to know
that his brothers had not change their attitude towards him; always so full of
suspicion and fear.
The crux of their fear
was not Joseph, but because they could not forgive themselves. They continued to live in the
past. They could not let go and move on. And that is true for many
of us. We cannot move on in life. We are shackled to our past
failures; mistakes made in our work, in our relationships, especially with our
spouse and loved ones. We keep going back to the time when we were hurt by
our parents, our siblings, our spouse and our friends or colleagues. We
keep using the past negative experiences as our lens to view the present
situation and people when people do change and past events are past. So
long as we cannot let go of our past hurts, fears and prejudices, we close
ourselves to the future ahead of us.
In the gospel, we have
another kind of fear, not so much because of the past but of the future. The disciples were worried about their
future, having seen the opposition that Jesus faced in His ministry. They
were anxious about their life and whether they could handle their enemies when
they spoke the truth and proclaimed the Good News about God. More so when
Jesus told them, “The disciple is not superior to his teacher, nor the slave to
his master. It is enough for the disciple that he should grow to be like
his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the
master of the house Beelzebub, what will they not say of his household?”
Indeed, if Jesus was so opposed by the religious leaders, why should they
expect to be spared? They too would suffer the same fate as Jesus in
being misunderstood, slandered, opposed and marginalized. Would they be
ready to be messengers of the Good News in the face such opposition?
Indeed, they were
afraid, just as many of us are afraid. Catholics fight shy of sharing
Jesus with others and inviting others to come and know Jesus. Although we claim that Jesus is the Way,
the Truth and the Life, we tell no one about Him. Our faith does not
agree with our words and actions. Most Catholics do not even dare to let
others know that they are Catholic. They hide their identity as Christ’s
disciples. They are not proud to be Catholic. The reason is simply
because they are afraid of rejection, ridicule and opposition. But Jesus
made it clear, “if anyone declares himself for me in the presence of men, I
will declare myself for him in the presence of my Father in heaven. But
the one who disowns me in the presence of men, I will disown in the presence of
my Father in heaven.”
How, then, can we
overcome our fears that come from our past and the unpredictability of the
future? We need to have faith. Firstly, faith in God’s
forgiveness. Joseph
in the first reading is a prototype of Christ. In spite of all that his
brothers had done to him, always deceiving him, yet he was always forgiving of
their weaknesses. He knew where they were coming from, namely, their
fears and insecurity. So Joseph learned to accept them as they were without
condemning them. That is how God deals with us in Christ. He always
forgives us for our failings and our past. He does not condemn us for our
past. “It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Cor 13:5 NIV) We need to claim God’s
forgiveness in our lives.
How can we know that we
have accepted His forgiveness? When we begin to realize that God allows
us to make mistakes so that we can learn and grow. When Joseph’s brothers came before him and
fell down before him saying, “We present ourselves before you as your slaves”,
Joseph reassured them as he did before, “Do not be afraid; is it for me to put
myself in God’s place? The evil you planned to do me has by God’s design been
turned to good, that he might bring about, as indeed he has, the deliverance of
a numerous people.” Joseph saw the sins of humanity as the way in which
God shapes and moulds us and unfolds His plan for us. Indeed, St Paul
wrote, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be
the firstborn within a large family.” (Rom 8:28f)
Indeed, Jesus Himself
learnt obedience through suffering.
“Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and
having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who
obey him.” (Heb 5:8f) Jesus
said a similar thing to the disciples at Emmaus. “‘Oh, how foolish you are, and
how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it
not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into
his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he
interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”
Secondly, we need to
have faith in His divine promises. This was the faith of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob and Joseph. Hence,
Jacob gave his sons these instructions to bury him near his fathers, “in the
cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave in the field at
Machpelah, opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from
Ephron the Hittite as a burial-plot.” So, too, Joseph reminded his
brothers, “‘I am about to die; but God will be sure to remember you kindly and
take you back from this country to the land that he promised on oath to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ And Joseph made Israel’s sons swear on oath,
‘When God remembers you with kindness be sure to take my bones from here.'” They
were confident that God would be true to His promises to give them a Kingdom
and a land of their own. This was what the Lord assured His apostles,
“For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now
hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the
daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the house tops.” God
is faithful. We must believe that God will fulfil His promises made to
us. “O children of Abraham, his servant, O sons of the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our God: his judgements prevail in all the earth.”
Finally, we need to rely
on His divine providence. Jesus
said, “Do not be afraid of those that kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not
buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without
your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted.
So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”
God will take care of us. Joseph also reassured his brothers, “‘So you
need not be afraid; I myself will provide for you and your dependants.’
In this way he reassured them with words that touched their hearts.”
Indeed, God will protect us and grant us eternal life with Him even if we were
to die.
With faith that comes
from prayer and thanksgiving following that of the psalmist, God will grant us the faith to forgive
our past and look forward to the future with hope and confidence. “Seek
the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive. Give
thanks to the Lord, tell his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. O
sing to him, sing his praise; tell all his wonderful works! Be
proud of his holy name, let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice. Consider the
Lord and his strength; constantly seek his face.” Have confidence in His
forgiveness and fidelity to us!
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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