20210512 PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN THE MARKETPLACE
12 May, 2021, Wednesday, 6th Week of Easter
First reading |
Acts 17:15,22-18:1 © |
I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing it
Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.
So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech:
‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. Well, the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.
‘Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said:
“We are all his children.”
‘Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.
‘God overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a man to be the judge. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from the dead.’
At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, ‘We would like to hear you talk about this again.’ After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 148:1-2,11-14 © |
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Praise the Lord from the heavens,
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his host.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
All earth’s kings and peoples,
earth’s princes and rulers,
young men and maidens,
old men together with children.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Let them praise the name of the Lord
for he alone is exalted.
The splendour of his name
reaches beyond heaven and earth.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
He exalts the strength of his people.
He is the praise of all his saints,
of the sons of Israel,
of the people to whom he comes close.
Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Col3:1 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 16:12-15 © |
The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I still have many things to say to you
but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes
he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself
but will say only what he has learnt;
and he will tell you of the things to come.
He will glorify me,
since all he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine;
that is why I said:
All he tells you
will be taken from what is mine.’
PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN THE MARKETPLACE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 17:15, 22-18:1; JOHN 16:12-15 ]
The call to proclaim Christ to non-believers takes on a two-pronged approach. St Paul was clear that he had to proclaim Christ to those who already shared much of their beliefs in God, as in the case of the Jews who shared with the Christians the faith of the Old Testament. This explains why when addressing the Jews he would, like Peter and Stephen, draw from the Old Testament, going back to the Patriarchs, Moses and the prophets. This is what the Christians had in common with the Jews. However, when it came to faith in Jesus as the Promised Messiah and His resurrection, which confirmed His divinity as the Son of God, this was a stumbling block. The idea of a crucified Messiah was scandalous to the Jews.
However, in today’s first reading, St Paul was addressing not the Jews but those who did not share in the tradition of the Jews and the Christians. Rather, he was addressing a group of intelligentsias, the philosophers who were thinkers of the day. They belonged principally to two groups, namely, the Epicureans and the Stoics.
The Epicureans were materialists. They did not believe in an after-life or a spiritual realm. They believed that the universe came about because of the random mixing of atoms. For them pain and suffering were seen as evil. Hence, they pursued happiness by living life to the fullest on earth, not worrying about the next life. To them, there was only one life to live and one should live it to the fullest. This is how the world is living today.
The stoics on the other hand believed in reason and not just matter. Reason shaped matter. Nature, in their view, was rational and had its own laws. Happiness was to just follow the laws of nature and act according to it. One had to accept things as they were and not go against the laws of nature. This explains why the Stoics seemed heartless and emotionless because they followed their reason rather than their feelings. They fought against their passions and believed that happiness was found when one acted according to what was right and true. In other words, happiness was to be found in living a virtuous life. This is akin to Confucianism.
The approach to such a diverse philosophical audience was to establish what was common between the Christians and the rest of them. Indeed, when we speak to people who have no share in our tradition, the way of natural theology would be the politically correct approach. More so when we are living in a very secular, materialistic and relativistic world. Beginning with what we hold in common will help us to engage them immediately. So what did they have in common? St Paul drew their attention to the fact that people sought God. They were religious-minded. “Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech: ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God.” Indeed, this must always be our starting point. Deep in the heart of every man, man is looking for fulfillment, meaning and purpose. All of us seek love, truth and meaning, besides comfort for our body as well. This is because we are made of body and spirit.
Hence, evangelization does not mean proclaiming something so new that our listeners do not already know. It is just that they could not name the vacuum and the void in their life. They are seeking something more, something that could satisfy them completely, since even the things of this world, after some time, will reach its saturation point, and then we will become frustrated and restless again. St Paul put his finger on the heart of the quest. “Well, the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.”
Evangelization is to make explicit what is implicit in the hearts of men. It calls for the courage to name that reality, that void, that desire for comfort, for love, for truth and for life. St Paul once again affirmed that the Unknown God was in truth known to them in their hearts and minds. He said, “Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him.” God, by whichever name you call Him, is the Ultimate ground of life, the Ultimate meaning and the Ultimate destiny. Whatever we do, we cannot domesticate God in a place, a statue or even in a temple or church. Of course, through rituals and sacred signs we are brought to encounter God but God is greater than whatever rituals or signs or shrines we have built for God. The Lord said to the Samaritan woman, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn 4:23f)
St Paul then went further to affirm the unity of humanity. He said, “On the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone. From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: “We are all his children.” We are all God’s children created by Him and therefore we all belong to the same human family. This explains why every human person has the same desires, hopes and goals in life. We are all seeking fullness of life, love, truth and happiness. Everyone is concerned about his physical, affective and spiritual well-being. The corollary to this truth that we are God’s children means, as St Paul wrote, “we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by man. God overlooked that sort of thing, when men were ignorant.”
This is why theological language is always anthropomorphic. In other words, God is greater than whatever we can think of Him. All that we say is simply human words or human expressions of what we desire to convey about certain aspects of God. Hence, theological affirmations of God follow the triple Via, via negativa, via positive and via eminenza, that is, we must deny that we affirm about God is exactly what we say, for example, God is love in the way we love. This is followed by via positiva which affirms that when we say God is love, it does convey truth. We end by affirming that all we could say about God is greater than whatever we can think or conceive or say. This is via eminenza.
However, natural theology can only go so far. This can only prepare the ground but the leap of faith must be taken. This was why when St Paul spoke about the crucified Christ and His resurrection, they laughed at him. It was absurd and ridiculous to think of a Messiah, or worse still, of a God who was crucified and rose from the dead. The resurrection of Christ requires faith. This is why the Lord said, “I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth. He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine.” Unless the Spirit of truth enlightens our minds and touches our hearts, no amount of reasoning can lead a person to find faith in Christ. As St Paul said, the Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, Christ is the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. (cf 1 Cor 1:23-25)
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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