20210216 CIRCUIT BREAKER
16 February, 2021, Tuesday, 6th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Genesis 6:5-8,7:1-5,10 © |
Noah's Ark
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that the thoughts in his heart fashioned nothing but wickedness all day long. The Lord regretted having made man on the earth, and his heart grieved. ‘I will rid the earth’s face of man, my own creation,’ the Lord said ‘and of animals also, reptiles too, and the birds of heaven; for I regret having made them.’ But Noah had found favour with the Lord.
The Lord said to Noah, ‘Go aboard the ark, you and all your household, for you alone among this generation do I see as a good man in my judgement. Of all the clean animals you must take seven of each kind, both male and female; of the unclean animals you must take two, a male and its female (and of the birds of heaven also, seven of each kind, both male and female), to propagate their kind over the whole earth. For in seven days’ time I mean to make it rain on the earth for forty days and nights, and I will rid the earth of every living thing that I made.’ Noah did all that the Lord ordered.
Seven days later the waters of the flood appeared on the earth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 28(29):1-4,9-10 © |
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
O give the Lord, you sons of God,
give the Lord glory and power;
give the Lord the glory of his name.
Adore the Lord in his holy court.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The Lord’s voice resounding on the waters,
the Lord on the immensity of waters;
the voice of the Lord, full of power,
the voice of the Lord, full of splendour.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders.
In his temple they all cry: ‘Glory!’
The Lord sat enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits as king for ever.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ac16:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 8:14-21 © |
Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod
The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’
CIRCUIT BREAKER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [GEN 6:5-8; 7:1-5,10; PS 29:1-4,9-10; MARK 8:14-21]
What do we do when those who live among us have Covid-19 and many of them are asymptomatic? They are carrying the virus and infecting people unknowingly. What is even more dangerous is that they can infect everyone they come into contact with and when this is multiplied eventually all would be infected. But that is not all; Covid-19 can cause an infected person to die, especially those with weak immunity, such as the elderly. The only way to stop the virus from spreading is to mandate that the people wear mask in public, practise physical distancing, good hygiene, regular sanitization of their hands and avoid prolonged stay in a crowded place. However, the truth remains that there are some who are not convinced of such practices and will continue to flout the health advice, even when it is mandated by law. The drastic action to stop the spread is to order a lockdown, restrict movements of people, or in Singapore, we call it a ‘circuit breaker’.
This analogy would help us to understand today’s scripture readings on how God deals with evil in society. After the fall of Adam and Eve, evil spread to their children, with Cain killing Abel. Lamech took depravity further by engaging in killing and polygamy. (cf Gen 4:19-24) Then we read of how the fallen angels came to unite themselves with human beings. (cf Gn 6:2) Indeed, the laws of creation were violated by man simply because he has cut himself away from God. Such wickedness was manifested in violence and killing. Instead of bringing order to creation, which God did when it was in chaos, the world was going back to chaos, sin and corruption.
So God was in a dilemma. On the one hand, evil was mounting each day and appeared to be unstoppable. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that the thoughts in his heart fashioned nothing but wickedness all day long.” The Lord regretted and felt sorry for both the evil people who were destroying themselves because of their selfishness and the good ones suffered because of the sins of others. “So what could He do? He said, “I will rid the earth’s face of man, my own creation, and of animals also, reptiles too, and the birds of heaven; for I regret having made them.” This is no inference that God was vindictive against those who broke His laws. Rather, the punishment of God was the work of nature unleashing itself on humanity who has violated the natural laws. It was not God who actively acted to punish them. Rather, they were punished by their own sins and folly. It is so as in the case of the ecological crisis we are going through today.
On the other hand, “Noah had found favour with the Lord.” What should the Lord do? If He were to allow creation to destroy itself by allowing evil to continue and win the battle against goodness, all would eventually be destroyed, even the good ones. This is often our dilemma as well. If the organization we run is in a mess, with members lacking commitment, often absenting themselves and others who are more concerned with power and self-interests, what do we do as leaders? Do we allow them to continue or should we intervene? If we do not, then eventually the entire organization would have to be dissolved because of division.
Indeed, the Lord faced this dilemma throughout the history of Israel. After the call of Abraham, we read of the evils and sexual immorality committed in Sodom. The Lord was in a dilemma and wanted to destroy the city. But Abraham appealed to the Lord not to destroy the city if there were some good people there. He bargained with the Lord, from fifty to ten good people. Alas there were not even ten of them. (Gen 18:16-33)
However, in the case of Noah, God decided to impose a circuit breaker, to protect Noah and his family from the contamination of evil in the world. He instructed Noah to build an ark and bring all his family members and seven of each clean and unclean animals, male and female into the ark whilst God would pour down rain for forty days and nights. He said, “I will rid the earth of every living thing that I made.” In other words, God would leave the incorrigible evil people to themselves. It would not be Him that would destroy them but they themselves. This is true for those people who refuse to take preventive measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. They would get infected and some would die, not because God punished them but because they did not respect the laws of nature.
This was the same warning of our Lord to His disciples. Jesus also felt a circuit breaker, not so much of physical distancing but a spiritual distancing, would be necessary. Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” What is this yeast that Jesus was speaking about? The Lord did not make it clear and so it is left to our imagination. So it was not surprising that the dull-witted disciples mistook His warning. They said to one another, “It is because we have no bread.” Jesus was exasperated and reprimanded them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember?”
Yeast, for the Jews, is a symbol of contamination. This was why they were told to leave Egypt eating unleavened bread. For us, Latin rite Catholics, the Eucharist is of unleavened bread. St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians said, “Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Cor 5:6-8)
So Jesus was warning them not to imbibe the sins of Herod and the Pharisees. Herod was always seeking power, glory and popularity. He was insecure but he also had a troubled conscience. He loved to hear the preaching of John the Baptist but he was too attracted by the world. Clearly, we cannot serve God and mammon, as the Lord warned us. The Pharisees were hypocritical too because they were trapped by spiritual worldliness. They used the Laws and religion to secure recognition and power over the people. Most of all, they could not accept that the Gentiles were also loved by God. This explains why the Lord asked the disciples, “When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?” They answered, “Twelve.” “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?” And they answered, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Are you still without perception?” They failed to realize that the second multiplication of loaves meant that the Gentiles were also loved and accepted by God.
Today, we take courage that all of us are invited to live in a community of grace. The Ark represents the Church. The sea represents evil. To be protected from evil, we need to die to our sins, washed by the waters of baptism so that we belong to the family of God. To be baptized is to belong to the community of the redeemed. This covenant that God made with Noah has been renewed and foreshadows Christian baptism and the New Covenant in Christ. Unless we belong to the family of God and are connected with it, we will be influenced by the secular world. This is not to say that we should cut ourselves off from the world entirely. But we cannot salt the world if we have lost the saltiness in us. The Lord did ask, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.” So before we can shine our light before others, let us stay close to the Lord and His Church. Only in communion with Him and His Church, can we bear fruit in plenty. (Jn 15:5)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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