20200118 CO-OPERATING
WITH GOD’S CHOICE
18 January,
2020, Saturday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Samuel 9:1-4,17-19,10:1 ©
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The Lord chooses Saul as king; Samuel anoints him
Among the men of
Benjamin there was a man named Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of
Becorath, son of Aphiah; a Benjaminite and a man of rank. He had a son named
Saul, a handsome man in the prime of life. Of all the Israelites there was no
one more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders taller than the rest of
the people. Now some of the she-donkeys of Saul’s father Kish had strayed, so
Kish said to Saul, ‘My son, take one of the servants with you and be off; go
and look for the she-donkeys.’ They passed through the highlands of Ephraim and
passed through the land of Shalishah, but did not find them; they passed
through the land of Shaalim, they were not there; they passed through the land
of Benjamin, but did not find them.
When
Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, ‘That is the man of whom I told you; he
shall rule my people.’ Saul accosted Samuel in the gateway and said, ‘Tell me,
please, where the seer’s house is?’ Samuel replied to Saul, ‘I am the seer. Go
up ahead of me to the high place. You are to eat with me today. In the morning
I shall take leave of you and tell you all that is in your heart.’
Samuel
took a phial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head; then he kissed him, saying,
‘Has not the Lord anointed you prince over his people Israel? You are the man
who must rule the Lord’s people, and who must save them from the power of the
enemies surrounding them.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 20(21):2-7 ©
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O
Lord, your strength gives joy to the king.
O
Lord, your strength gives joy to the king;
how
your saving help makes him glad!
You
have granted him his heart’s desire;
you
have not refused the prayer of his lips.
O
Lord, your strength gives joy to the king.
You
came to meet him with the blessings of success,
you
have set on his head a crown of pure gold.
He
asked you for life and this you have given,
days
that will last from age to age.
O
Lord, your strength gives joy to the king.
Your
saving help has given him glory.
You
have laid upon him majesty and splendour,
you
have granted your blessings to him forever.
You
have made him rejoice with the joy of your presence.
O
Lord, your strength gives joy to the king.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:36,29
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Bend
my heart to your will, O Lord,
and
teach me your law.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Lk4:17
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to
proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 2:13-17 ©
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Your light must shine in the sight of men
Jesus went out to
the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them. As
he was walking on he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus, sitting by the customs
house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
When
Jesus was at dinner in his house, a number of tax collectors and sinners were
also sitting at the table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of
them among his followers. When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating
with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat
with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this he said to them, ‘It is
not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the
virtuous, but sinners.’
CO-OPERATING
WITH GOD’S CHOICE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 Sm 9:1-4.17-19; 10:1; Ps 21:2-7; Mk 2:13-17 ]
In the scripture
readings today, we read that God chooses people uniquely and differently
according to His divine plan for us and in different situations. What is important is that God choses us
all to cooperate in His divine plan so that serving Him, the author of life and
all that is good, we can also share in His life, joy and love. No one is
excluded from the Kingdom of God regardless of our status, physique, intelligence,
wealth or circumstances in life. He calls each one of us wherever we are.
So in the first reading,
God chose Saul to be the King of Israel since the people were clamoring for a
king. Since a king in
those days was also the military leader, it was appropriate that Saul who was
tall and handsome was appointed to lead the people of Israel. Indeed,
“there was no one more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders taller
than the rest of the people.” He was the perfect choice to rule the
people of Israel. So Samuel was commanded by the Lord to anoint
him. “Samuel took a phial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head; then he
kissed him, saying, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you prince over his people
Israel? You are the man who must rule the Lord’s people, and who must
save them from the power of the enemies surrounding them.'”
The tragedy of Saul when
he was made king was that he did not fulfill his role as God’s Anointed One. He did not exercise the
kingship on behalf of Yahweh. Power, authority and wealth got into his
head. He began to think that he was powerful because of his talents and
personal assets. He began to believe that the kingship was due to
him. He abused his authority and disobeyed the commands of the
Lord. He forgot that his kingship was due to God’s graciousness in
choosing him to be the leader of Israel. Without God’s blessings and
grace, he would not have been king. As a result of this failure to be
grateful for God’s choice and lack of consciousness that he was just a deputy of
God, he coveted his throne as if it was his right. Instead of being
thankful for David who helped him to subdue his enemies, he became jealous of
his success. He felt that David was a threat to his kingship and sought
many times to eliminate him. (cf 1 Sm 18:6-16)
Many of us behave like
Saul. Some of us are gifted with many talents from the Lord. But we
take them for granted.
We even harbor the thought that our achievements are solely due to our hard
work, ingenuity, intelligence and creativity. We think so highly of
ourselves, that we are somebody today, holding some top post in the Civil
Service or in the Corporate World, or in politics and religion. We become
so proud of ourselves, of being seen as someone important with people serving
us and coming to us for help. We are honoured by society, Church and
country. But after some time, we begin to think that we are really that
great, powerful and indispensable. We want people to serve us and respect
us, give us honour and precedence wherever we go. Instead of being
humbled at God’s mercy and grace, and using our talents and gifts for the
service of God and His people, we abuse our authority and position in life.
We use them for our own selfish interests, rather than remembering that the
office is given to us on trust and for a period of time.
Indeed, we must remember
that our success is due to God’s grace and mercy alone. This is what the psalmist reminds
us. “O Lord, your strength gives joy to the king; how your saving help makes
him glad! You have granted him his heart’s desire; you have not refused the
prayer of his lips. You came to meet him with the blessings of success,
you have set on his head a crown of pure gold. He asked you for life and this
you have given, days that will last from age to age. Your saving help has
given him glory. You have laid upon him majesty and splendor, you have granted
your blessings to him forever. You have made him rejoice with the joy of your
presence.” Indeed, all things come from God’s grace and mercy alone.
In the gospel, we have
someone who was unworthy to be called by the Lord. He was a
tax-collector.
He did not qualify to be a disciple, much less an apostle of our Lord. As
a tax-collector, he was taking in handsome profits from his trade through
exorbitant taxes. He was seen as a traitor by the Jews for working for
the Romans. He was certainly despised not just as a sinner but a public
sinner. So it must have been a great surprise for Levi when the
Lord said to him, “Follow me” whilst he was going about his usual day’s work in
the customs house. Without having second thoughts, we read that “he got
up and followed him.”
In the case of Levi, he
knew that Jesus’ choice of him to be His disciple was a great gift from God. It was not just anyone calling him
to do something but it was the Lord. When the Lord calls, one cannot
hesitate, delay or make compromises. Hence, immediately, he left his
customs house and followed after Him. Levi was fully aware that he
did not qualify to be considered as a disciple of the Lord. He was too
sinful and unworthy. But since Christ counted him worthy, he was
courageous enough to leave everything and follow after Him.
We are called to be like
Levi today to find our fulfillment in Christ. In the gospel, Jesus said, “It is not the
healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the
virtuous, but sinners.” We are all sick in some ways. We are all
poor in some ways. We must not reduce the sick to those who are
physically, mentally or emotionally sick. The sick includes those who are
spiritually sick, those who are numb to their conscience because of
compromises, those who are influenced by the values of the world, those who
cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood, and those who do not know
God. Similarly, the poor is not just the materially poor but the rich and
powerful as well. They can be poor in love, poor in generosity and poor
in true friendships. Most of all, they are not poor in spirit and thus
cannot encounter the love and mercy of God. Being self-sufficient in
wealth, talents, social rank, we depend only on ourselves. Levi, we can
be sure, was rich as well but he was without real friends, had no peace of mind
and no joy in his heart. He can feel the emptiness in him. Truly,
those of us who are rich and successful and are without God and without true
love for the poor and the suffering, are poor too.
What is significant for
Levi is that instead of keeping Jesus for himself as Saul did with his
kingship, Levi wanted to share his treasure with others. Having found such a great
gift of God’s love and mercy in Jesus, Levi wanted his friends to come to know
him as well. He invited his friends to dine with Jesus in his
house. He was not afraid that others might also have the attention of
Jesus. Levi was not possessive of Jesus but was happy to have others be
touched by His love. Having been touched by Christ’s love and mercy, he
immediately became an apostle even before the Lord appointed him. He
reached out to fellow sinners, tax-collectors like himself, so that they, too,
could enjoy God’s love and be healed by God’s merciful and all-embracing
love. He could not resist making Jesus known and loved.
This is so unlike
us. Most of us, when we find something beautiful, good and lovely, will
want to possess them for ourselves.
This includes friends as well. We are jealous if our best friend loves
others and are loved by them. We want to have exclusive love and
attention from the one we love, afraid to share our loved ones with
others. We are so insecure that our beloved will give his or her
attention to others. We become jealous and feel threatened just as Saul
did with David. The green-eyed monster takes control of us and we begin
to hate our competitors rather than rejoice in seeing them happy to be loved by
our beloved as well. We are not willing to share generously. When
we behave in that manner, then we are not doing what we should be doing, be
apostles for our Lord. We are keeping Jesus away from those who need
Him. This was what the Pharisees and Scribes did. They prevented
sinners from coming to God. They were seen as outcasts and ostracized.
But for Jesus, all the more, we must go out to them, reach out in love and
mercy, live and mix with them, and call them to dine with the Lord.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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