20200723 LEAKY CISTERNS
23 July, 2020, Thursday, 16th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading
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Jeremiah 2:1-3,7-8,12-13 ©
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I brought you to a fertile country and you defiled it
The word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying, ‘Go and shout this in the hearing of Jerusalem:
‘“The Lord says this:
I remember the affection of your youth,
the love of your bridal days:
you followed me through the wilderness,
through a land unsown.
Israel was sacred to the Lord,
the first-fruits of his harvest;
anyone who ate of this had to pay for it,
misfortune came to them –
it is the Lord who speaks.”
‘I brought you to a fertile country
to enjoy its produce and good things;
but no sooner had you entered than you defiled my land,
and made my heritage detestable.
The priests have never asked, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me.
The shepherds have rebelled against me;
the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal,
following things with no power in them.
‘You heavens, stand aghast at this,
stand stupefied, stand utterly appalled
– it is the Lord who speaks.
Since my people have committed a double crime:
they have abandoned me,
the fountain of living water,
only to dig cisterns for themselves,
leaky cisterns
that hold no water.’
Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 35(36):6-11 ©
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In you, Lord, is the source of life.
Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven;
your truth to the skies.
Your justice is like God’s mountain,
your judgements like the deep.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
O Lord, how precious is your love.
My God, the sons of men
find refuge in the shelter of your wings.
They feast on the riches of your house;
they drink from the stream of your delight.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
In you is the source of life
and in your light we see light.
Keep on loving those who know you,
doing justice for upright hearts.
In you, Lord, is the source of life.
Gospel Acclamation
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
Or:
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Mt11:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 13:10-17 ©
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Prophets and holy men longed to hear what you hear
The disciples went up to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:
You will listen and listen again, but not understand,
see and see again, but not perceive.
For the heart of this nation has grown coarse,
their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes,
for fear they should see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and be converted
and be healed by me.
‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
LEAKY CISTERNS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13; MT 13:10-17]
It is natural that as human beings, we seek to satisfy first our physical and material needs because we have a body that is prone to pain, weakness, illness, suffering and death. It is a legitimate striving to ensure that we have our basic needs so that we can contribute to the building of the community. These basic needs are symbolized in today’s first reading as the desire for water. In a desert like Palestine, water is precious. The question is where we keep this water. What kind of cisterns do we have to keep what is most precious to us in life?
This is where the Lord reprimanded His people because they were seeking the wrong place to contain what God wanted to give them. The Lord leveled His charge against the people, “my people have committed a double crime: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, only to dig cisterns for themselves, leaky cisterns that hold no water.” Leaky cisterns means that they would not be able to contain whatever is precious to them.
What were these leaky cisterns that the Israelites put their faith in? Namely, prosperity, wealth, power and above all, the Canaanite god of fertility, Baal. From being a nomadic people where they encountered Yahweh as the Trek God, the God who moved with them in the desert, lived in a Tent, protected the people from their enemies and fed them, the people became agriculturalists upon entering the Promised Land. They no longer needed a Trek God and sought the god of fertility, which was found in the pagan god of Baal. The worship of Baal involved a fertility rite which required the use of male and female prostitutes. They believed that Baal would help to bring about good weather so that their crops would grow.
Indeed, they abandoned the God who delivered them out of Egypt, the only true God. This was what the Lord said, “I remember the affection of your youth, the love of your bridal days: you followed me through the wilderness, through a land unsown. Israel was sacred to the Lord, the first-fruits of his harvest; anyone who ate of this had to pay for it, misfortune came to them – it is the Lord who speaks.” God treated His people like His bride. He loved them and cared for them. He protected them as His first fruits, which no one else could touch. However, the people were ungrateful. They broke the covenantal promise and betrayed the Lord for Baal.
The other reality is that this sin of infidelity was a sin committed by the entire nation, from the rulers to the peoples and the prophets. The Lord said, “I brought you a fertile country to enjoy its produce and good things; but sooner had you entered than you defiled my land, and made heritage detestable. The priests have never asked, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me. The shepherds have rebelled against me; the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal, following things with no power in them.” The people chose Baal and the false gods of prosperity and power over the God of Israel. The rulers took their side. Instead of leading the people to walk in the truth, as good shepherds should, they were no better than them. They promoted the worship of Baal and they practiced corruption, bribery, cheating, injustices and oppression of the poor. But worst of all, the prophets who should be denouncing the betrayal of the people to Yahweh and exposing their crimes, were themselves accomplices to the crimes. Instead of speaking the truth, the Word of God, they were giving false messages to soothe the conscience of the people, and condoning what they did. They gave the kings and the people false hope, affirming that they were on the right track.
Is not this happening in the world today? From governments and rulers to the people, and even embarrassingly religious leaders as well, these are all supporting the secularistic trends in the world. Our people too have abandoned God and become secularists and relativists. They chase after money, power, prestige and pleasures in life. They have become arrogant and proud, believing in no one other than themselves. Their gods are themselves, technology and science. They think that these are the ways to happiness in this life and that they do not have to be accountable to anyone at the end of their life because death is the end of everything. This is why the world live selfishly, absorbed only in the things of this world, because having rejected God, they are misled into believing that life ends in death. They are ignorant that our souls will live on eternally and we will have to face God.
Indeed, as Jeremiah prophesied, we will face the same judgment as Israel and Judah. We will be wiped out from history and be consigned to exile and misery. Those who choose to listen to the world are storing their happiness in leaky cisterns that cannot hold them for long. These cisterns made of clay and limestone will give way. At the end of our lives, we will find ourselves empty, more so when we have attained the heights of success, wealth and power. For in the face of illness and death, no one can save us, not our position, not our power, not all the money in the world, no medicine, only God alone!
The responsorial psalm invites us to seek God, the fountain of life. To seek God is to seek His love, to renew our covenantal relationship with Him. “Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven; your truth to the skies. Your justice is like God’s mountain, your judgements like the deep. O Lord, how precious is your love. My God, the sons of men find refuge in the shelter of your wings. They feast on the riches of your house; they drink from the stream of your delight. In you is the source of life and in your light we see light. Keep on loving those who know you, doing justice for upright hearts.” Indeed, only a renewed personal relationship with God can recover our faith and trust in Him. When a personal relationship with God is lacking, faith becomes a religion, a ritual and some laws to follow. This will eventually make religion burdensome, a chore and a hypocritical act. Like the Israelites, our worship is mere lip service and external performance but our heart is far from Him.
In the gospel, Jesus made it clear that the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven are only revealed to those who are receptive of Him. Those outside of His circle of disciples would not be able to comprehend the parables because they are not open, receptive and humble to enter into the experience and the message. They behave like the Israelites during the time of the prophet Isaiah who said, “You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes for fear they shall see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.” Without receptivity, we cannot enter into the experience of Jesus in His personal relationship with God. The parables are meant to help people to be in touch with their human experience so that they can have a glimpse into the heart of God.
In the final analysis, our personal experience of God will lead us back to Him. When Jesus speaks of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, the word ‘mystery’ is not the same as something that is a puzzle or something that is intelligible to our minds. This word “mystery” must be understood in the New Testament term, which means entering into the mind and heart of God, sharing in His life and love. At Mass, at the heart of the Eucharistic prayer, the priest would say, “The mystery of faith.” In other words, what we celebrate at the Eucharist should be interiorized in our hearts, identifying with Jesus in His passion, death and resurrection, for by so doing, we are initiated into the life of Christ. This explains why for Catechumens baptized at Easter, the following seven weeks are called the Mystagogia Period, because they are invited to enter deeply into the sacraments, the mysteries that we celebrate so that they too can enter into the mystery of Christ celebrated.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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