2020828 THE WISDOM OF GOD IN CHRIST CRUCIFIED
28 August, 2020, Friday, 21st Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
These are the readings for the feria
First reading |
1 Corinthians 1:17-25 © |
We preach a crucified Christ, the power and wisdom of God
Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed. The language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation, but those of us who are on the way see it as God’s power to save. As scripture says: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing all the learning of the learned. Where are the philosophers now? Where are the scribes? Where are any of our thinkers today? Do you see now how God has shown up the foolishness of human wisdom? If it was God’s wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach. And so, while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,10-11 © |
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp,
with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
For the word of the Lord is faithful
and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right
and fills the earth with his love.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
He frustrates the designs of the nations,
he defeats the plans of the peoples.
His own designs shall stand for ever,
the plans of his heart from age to age.
The Lord fills the earth with his love.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps129:5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk21:36 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake, praying at all times
for the strength to stand with confidence
before the Son of Man.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 25:1-13 © |
The wise and foolish virgins
Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’
THE WISDOM OF GOD IN CHRIST CRUCIFIED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Cor 1:17-25; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,10-11; Mt 25:1-13 ]
St Paul wrote that Christ sent him to “preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.” Indeed, Christianity is truly a religion that transcends logic and reason. This explains why acceptance of Christ is based on faith. It is not grounded on reason alone. Understandably, those who have not known Christ or never encountered Him would not be able to accept the claims of Christ about Jesus as the Son of God, or that God is the Holy Trinity and the doctrine of the Incarnation. Those who try to reason themselves into faith will not be able to do so. Neither can we reason out with someone that Christ is the Son of God.
The essence of Christianity is the proclamation of the Kerygma, which consists in declaring that Christ suffered, was crucified on the cross for our salvation and rose again. However, St Paul noted that “the language of the cross may be illogical to those who are not on the way to salvation, but those of us who are on the way see it as God’s power to save.” Indeed, mere reasoning alone would contradict the claim that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. It goes beyond human logic and philosophical reasoning. As St Paul said, for the Jews, the proclamation of the Messiah’s suffering and crucifixion is a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. “The Jews demanded miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness.”
Why is it a scandal for the Jews? Simply because they have always thought that God was all powerful. God has always shown Himself victorious over His enemies. In the Old Testament, He was the Lord of Host, the Commander of Israel’s army. With His power, Israel would win every battle. So to think of a suffering and, worse still, a crucified Messiah contradicts the faith of the Israelites. In fact, they understood suffering, poverty and sickness as signs that they were cursed by God or condemned by Him. This was the question raised in the book of Job. Most of all, the death of Jesus would be inexplicable since Moses said, “anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” (Dt 21:23) Even Peter and the apostles could not accept Jesus’ passion prophecies. They found it difficult to understand why the Messiah had to die. That was why after His death on the cross, the faith and hope of the disciples were shaken. The disciples at Emmaus were feeling downcast. (Lk 24:13-27) To say that the Messiah was crucified would be a contradiction.
Why a scandal for the Greeks? For the Greeks, God is perfect and immutable. God is pure being, as the Greeks believe in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Because God is perfect, He is the unchanging. He is impassible, omniscient, omnipotent, and all good. Not only is the suffering of God untenable, even His incarnation is irreconcilable. This was why in the early Church, the heresies were centered around the person of Jesus, whether He was one or two persons that is divine, or human, or both assimilated into one person, or whether He had one or two natures, human or divine, or both assimilated. It was very difficult for the early Christians to preach the crucified Christ to the Greeks because it sounded ludicrous. Firstly, that God could become man, secondly that He suffered and died, and lastly, He was raised from the dead. Indeed, when St Paul spoke to them at Areopagus about Christ as the appointed one whom God raised from the dead, some scoffed at him. (Acts 17:31f) Such ideas of the incarnation, passion and resurrection of the body fly in the face of the Greeks. These were totally unacceptable because for the Greeks, using logic and reason, they came to conclude that we are contingent beings. Only God is pure being. He is the efficient cause not caused by any. Unlike the Being (God) we are all dependent beings.
The Christian proclamation of Christ crucified precisely went contrary to all the religious and philosophical beliefs in the Jewish and the Greek world. This is the true wisdom of God. What is an obstacle to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks is God’s power and wisdom! St Paul wrote that he preached “a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” How is this so? How is Christ’s crucifixion a wisdom that defeats the wisdom of man?
In the suffering and death of our Lord, how is the obstacle of the Jews removed? Precisely, in Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, God demonstrated that weakness is power. By not resisting, by not fighting back, by not retaliating, Jesus showed that love is greater than hatred, life is greater than death. Only because God loves in this manner, no one can ever doubt the love of God and His mercy. By raising Jesus from the dead, God showed that not even sin, hatred or death could overcome goodness, love and life. Indeed, St Peter wrote, “When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (1 Pt 2:23-25 cf Is 53:13-15)
Against the Greek concept of an immutable and impassible God, the humanity of Jesus reveals to us that this God whom we worship is with us. In the suffering and death of our Lord, God is identified with us. He shares in our joys and sorrows, our pain and struggles against sin. This God is therefore not distant from our suffering. The letter of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:15f) Indeed, only because we know that this God feels with us, we can pray to Him.
Otherwise, we cannot speak of God’s love and mercy. If God is immutable and impassible, why do we worship such a God? We cannot love Him and He cannot love us. We will just fall into fatalism. Since this God is the Supreme Being outside of us, so perfect, all we need is to accept His will and suffer. There is no one to blame, there is no one to help us. We can only depend on ourselves. So the conclusion of a Theistic concept of God is that it does not matter whether God exists or not. We just have to surrender ourselves to the order of nature, do what we can ourselves and solve our problems. There is no need to worship Him or even know about Him since He is a helpless and often hapless God too.
Once we understand the wisdom of such a concept of God, we can appreciate the Crucified Christ as God’s wisdom. St Paul cited the scripture saying, “I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing all the learning of the learned. Where are the philosophers now? Where are the scribes? Where are any of our thinkers today? Do you see now how God has shown up the foolishness of human wisdom? If it was God’s wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach.” (cf Is 29:14, 19:1)
This preaching of the Crucified Christ must include the resurrection, which serves to prove that although God is passible, He is never overwhelmed by our suffering and our needs. He is also beyond us as God. This is the meaning of the resurrection. He is not only Almighty God but He is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of us all. As Father, He can feel with us and suffer with us. He loves us and hears our prayers. As almighty God, He is beyond all our sufferings. He is not a God whom we can control or a hapless puny god we can manipulate. As God, nothing is impossible for Him.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved. The contents of this page may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission from the Archbishop’s Office. This includes extracts, quotations, and summaries.
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