20190705 PROTECTIONISM
05 JULY, 2019,
Friday, 13th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Genesis
23:1-4,19,24:1-8,62-67 ©
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'Choose a wife for my son Isaac'
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The length of Sarah’s life was a hundred
and twenty-seven years. She died at Kiriath-arba, or Hebron, in the land of
Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn and grieve for her.
Then
leaving his dead, Abraham spoke to the sons of Heth: ‘I am a stranger and a
settler among you,’ he said. ‘Let me own a burial-plot among you, so that I may
take my dead wife and bury her.’
After
this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah
opposite Mamre, in the country of Canaan.
By
now Abraham was an old man well on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in
every way. Abraham said to the eldest servant of his household, the steward of
all his property, ‘Place your hand under my thigh, I would have you swear by
the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not choose a wife for
my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live. Instead, go to
my own land and my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for my son Isaac.’ The servant
asked him, ‘What if the woman does not want to come with me to this country?
Must I take your son back to the country from which you came?’ Abraham
answered, ‘On no account take my son back there. The Lord, God of heaven and
God of earth, took me from my father’s home, and from the land of my kinsfolk,
and he swore to me that he would give this country to my descendants. He will
now send his angel ahead of you, so that you may choose a wife for my son
there. And if the woman does not want to come with you, you will be free from
this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.’
Isaac,
who lived in the Negeb, had meanwhile come into the wilderness of the well of
Lahai Roi. Now Isaac went walking in the fields as evening fell, and looking up
saw camels approaching. And Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac. She jumped down
from her camel, and asked the servant, ‘Who is that man walking through the
fields to meet us?’ The servant replied, ‘That is my master’; then she took her
veil and hid her face. The servant told Isaac the whole story, and Isaac led
Rebekah into his tent and made her his wife; and he loved her. And so Isaac was
consoled for the loss of his mother.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 105(106):1-5 ©
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O give thanks to the
Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.
Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds?
Who can recount all his
praise?
O give thanks to the
Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
They are happy who do what is right,
who at all times do what is
just.
O Lord, remember me
out of the love you have for
your people.
O give thanks to the
Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
Come to me, Lord, with your help
that I may see the joy of your
chosen ones
and may rejoice in the gladness of your nation
and share the glory of your
people.
O give thanks to the
Lord for he is good.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps24:4,5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Mt11:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are
overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 9:9-13 ©
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It is not the healthy who need the
doctor, but the sick
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As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man
named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’
And he got up and followed him.
While
he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and
sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the
Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with
tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the
healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the
words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call
the virtuous, but sinners.’
PROTECTIONISM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [GN 23:1-4. 19:24:1-8.
62-67; PS 106:1-5; MT 9:9-13]
In the first reading, we
have the story of Abraham looking for a wife for his son, Isaac. It was
all important for Abraham that the wife chosen for Isaac be from his own clan. He entrusted his servant to ensure
that this would happen. “Abraham said to the eldest servant of his
household, the steward of all his property, ‘Place your hand under my thigh, I
would have you swear by the Lord God of heaven and God of earth, that you will
not choose a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I
live. Instead, go to my own land and my own kinsfolk to choose a wife for
my son Isaac.'”
Why was it necessary
that the future wife of his son must be from his own tribe? This was to ensure the
continuity of the covenant that Abraham had made with God. Marrying
someone outside of the clan, and worse still from another tribe whose faith
they did not share, would lead to dilution of their faith and covenant with
Yahweh. So to protect the faith and their covenantal relationship with
God, Abraham had to make sure that Isaac took a wife from among his own
people. This tendency to protect one’s faith and culture was deeply
ingrained in the Israelites throughout their history because they saw
themselves as a chosen race, the People of God, whilst the rest were not.
So they forbade, or at least frowned upon, inter-faith marriages and even
marriages with those not of Jewish descent. This fear of losing
one’s faith and culture continued in the history of civilization. This
explains why many religions, races and tribes do not allow
inter-marriages. Some religions do not permit their followers to marry
people of other faiths for fear that they will lose their faith or have their
faith confused and weakened as a result of the marriage.
This principle of
exclusion extends also to how some religions treat sinners within their
community. Those
who break the laws or do not observe the rituals of their religions are
condemned, marginalized and sometimes excommunicated. In the gospel, we
can understand why the Pharisees or the “Separated Ones” who sought to live a
life of holiness would not mix with sinners for fear of being contaminated and
influenced by them. So, having fellowship with sinners was a
taboo. It would even make them ritually unclean to offer worship
and sacrifices. Thus, when the Pharisees saw Jesus at table with a number
of tax collectors and sinners, they were scandalized and asked His disciples,
“Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” As far as the
Pharisees were concerned, good and righteous people should stay away from
sinners so that they would remain pure and holy.
But this intention of
separation, which was meant to protect the purity of their faith and culture,
ended in their alienation of sinners. They
began to look down on sinners, despised them and condemned them. By
condemning the sinners, they only isolated them further and drove them to
remain outside the community. As a result, they were led to further sin,
since they were excluded from worship and the community. Indeed, to
exclude sinners from our community simply because they failed to live up to
their discipleship causes more harm than good. They feel hurt and
resentful. The truth is that if sinners are living a life of dishonesty,
selfishness and self-centeredness, it is because they do not know the
truth. They are hurt, unenlightened and confused. They are more to
be pitied than to be blamed. That is why Jesus said, “It is not the
healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.”
Unfortunately, that is
how so-called good and holy people treat sinners, as if they themselves are
without sin. We exclude those
who are homosexual, divorced or ex-prisoners, drug offenders, uneducated and
uncouth from our community. We will not allow them, even if they have
repented of their past, to hold leadership positions in the community, or sometimes
even to join ministries in the Church. We keep them at a distance, gossip
about them and judge them as bad Catholics. We condemn them and make them
feel as if they are second-class citizens. We tell our children and
our friends to stay away from them because they are bad company. We
don’t give them a second chance. Once a sinner or a criminal, even if the
person has changed, he or she is, in our minds, always a condemned sinner and
incorrigible criminal.
Hence, Jesus invites us
to learn the true meaning of holiness, which is mercy. He said, “Go and learn the meaning
of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not
come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” Mercy is undeserved
love. Only mercy can change the lives of others. What sinners
need most is our mercy, understanding, empathy, forgiveness and encouragement;
not judgment and condemnation. What they need most is our acceptance of
them as they are. Unless we reach out to them and be with them, we will
not be able to understand their struggles in living an authentic life, be they
of same-sex orientation, divorced or ex-offenders. By identifying with
them in their sinfulness, we will learn mercy and compassion.
If we really want to
help sinners, we need to reach out to them in sincerity and in love. This
was what Jesus did. He brought them into fellowship with Him. He did not insist, like the Pharisees,
that they change their lives, repent and convert before they could be in
fellowship with Him. Rather, Jesus went among them, spoke to them and
invited them to have a meal with Him. God does not want us to be
converted out of fear or out of obligation or merely observe blind obedience to
the rules and laws. Such conversion will not last long and at any rate,
it is not a real conversion. Rather, Jesus invited them to have a meal
with Him so that they could get close to Him, listen to His words of wisdom,
share in His love, enjoy His company and feel loved and accepted by Him.
Conversion will follow
when they know that Jesus is their friend; not their judge. Conversion that springs from love
will last. That is why, instead of condemning sinners, we must bring them
to Jesus. Regardless who they are, those who have left the Church because
they felt marginalized by some Catholics or even priests, those who are living
in irregular relationships, those who had a colourful past, should be brought
to Jesus, encounter His love and mercy before we can even speak of
conversion. Our task is not to tell people what to do or what not to do,
but to tell them about Jesus and bring them into fellowship with Him.
Once they are in
fellowship with the Lord, it will be the Lord who will open their hearts to
welcome the Good News.
When they love Jesus, they will also love the Word of God. When they love
Jesus, they will want to live His way of life. Only then will they begin
to understand and accept the wisdom of the Word of God and the teachings of the
Church in helping them to live an authentic life of love and truth. In the final
analysis, conversion, precisely, is the work of the Holy Spirit. We are
merely instruments of God’s love and mercy. We must be courageous like
Jesus to reach out to them instead of isolating them.
What about the dangers
of being influenced wrongly by sinners? The danger remains. This is why the
scriptures advise us not to have fellowship with sinners. “Happy are
those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners
tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers.” (Ps 1:1) Instead, we should mix with the right
company because birds of a feather flock together. “I am a companion of all who
fear you, of those who keep your precepts.” (Ps 119:63) “Whoever walks with the wise
becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.” (Prov 13:20) St Paul himself advised the
Christians, “not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or
sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard,
or robber. Do not even eat with such a one.” (1 Cor 5:9-11) So what do we make of
this? Is it contrary to what the Lord is teaching us, to go out and mix
with the sinners?
The truth is that we can
only reach out to sinners when we are healthy and strong! If we are weak and we mix with
them, we will be too weak to resist the temptations. Instead of helping
them, we fall into the same temptations that they could not overcome. So
before we can help others, we must first strengthen our own faith. Jesus
made it clear that when He ate with sinners, He was the One influencing them
and not they influencing Him! He called Levi and transformed his enemy
into His friend and apostle. He came to heal the sick because He is the
healthy man, like a doctor attending to sick patients. So before we dare
to venture out to save sinners, let us first save ourselves. We must
first become disciples before we can become missionaries of Christ.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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