20210721 DISCOURAGEMENT AT THE LACK OF RESULTS
21 July, 2021, Wednesday, 16th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading |
Exodus 16:1-5,9-15 © |
The Lord sends quails and manna from heaven
From Elim they set out, and the whole community of the sons of Israel reached the wilderness of Sin – between Elim and Sinai – on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. And the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, this will be twice as much as the daily gathering.’
Moses said to Aaron, ‘To the whole community of the sons of Israel say this, “Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.”’ As Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the sons of Israel, they turned towards the wilderness, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the form of a cloud. Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’ And so it came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them ‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 77(78):18-19,23-28 © |
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
In their heart they put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.
They even spoke against God.
They said: ‘Is it possible for God
to prepare a table in the desert?’
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Yet he commanded the clouds above
and opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down manna for their food,
and gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Mere men ate the bread of angels.
He sent them abundance of food;
he made the east wind blow from heaven
and roused the south wind by his might.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
He rained food on them like dust,
winged fowl like the sands of the sea.
He let it fall in the midst of their camp
and all around their tents.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:36,29 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Bend my heart to your will, O Lord,
and teach me your law.
Alleluia!
Or: |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 13:1-9 © |
A sower went out to sow
Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.
He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’
DISCOURAGEMENT AT THE LACK OF RESULTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ex 16:1-5. 9-15; Ps 78:18-19,23-28; Mt 13:1-9 ]
Many of us feel discouraged in our work and ministry. We work hard but sometimes with little success. Few respond to our invitation to work together to achieve great things either for humanity or for God. And even the few that respond give up easily in the face of trials and challenges. Most of the time, we are left alone to carry on the project. Very often, we feel like giving up our cause in the face of indifference or a tepid response.
This was the situation of the apostles. They were sent on a mission. (Mt 10:5-15) And as warned by our Lord, they faced rejection in spite of the miracles they performed. (Mt 10:16-24) They also saw their master being challenged as well. The religious leaders were seeking to destroy Him because of His attitude towards the Sabbath Law. (Mt 12:1-14) Even His own relatives thought He was not Himself and came to take Him home. (Mt 12:46-50) Indeed, like their master, they were grossly misunderstood. He was even ejected from the Synagogue. This explains why from today’s gospel onwards, we see Jesus delivering His discourse not in the Temple but at people’s houses, along the streets, at the sea-side and on the hills. Even among the crowd, the response was generally superficial with a few successes in-between. Most came to see Jesus only because of some need, whether physical or spiritual healing, or even for material favours. Some had political motives, wanting Jesus to be their king and liberate them from their enemies.
The Parable of the Sower was told to explain why the gospel would be met with resistance and superficial acceptance by different groups of people. Whilst the Word is the grace of God, given freely to all, it requires our cooperation. Whether the seeds sown would take root would depend on the receptivity of the listeners. Those on the edge of the path are those who remain stubborn, just like the Jewish leaders. They were indifferent to the message because of pride, prejudice and blindness to the truth. Sometimes, it is sin that shuts a person’s mind to the truth. Those on the rocks are those who like novelty, new ideas and new things. But they get tired very easily and switch to someone more entertaining when discipleship gets tough and sacrifices are needed. They tend to react emotionally, and of course emotions do not last.
This was certainly the case of Pharaoh and the sons of Israel. Pharaoh was not ready to believe in the God of Moses in spite of the many miracles performed before his eyes. He would repent, and when the threat was over, his heart would again be hardened. After letting the people go, he regretted and sent his army to chase after them for fear that he would lose their labour forever. Indeed, the scriptures describe him as one with a hardened heart. He had no compassion or gratitude for what the Hebrews and Joseph, their forefather, had done for Egypt. Instead, he saw them as a threat to the nation.
But the sons of Israel were no better. They were always ungrateful and recalcitrant. When things did not go their way, they would blame Moses and their leaders. When they were in slavery, they cried out to God to deliver them. When God sent Moses to help them, and when Pharaoh increased their workload without giving them extra straws, they blamed Moses. “You have brought us into bad odour with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (Ex 5:21)
In today’s reading, they were in the Desert of Sin and kicked a big fuss over the lack of good food. This incident happened just one-and-a-half months after they were delivered from the slavery of the Egyptians through the mighty hand of God. But they forgot so easily and now they grumbled and complained against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve this whole company to death!” Whining and grumbling was the way the Israelites behaved whenever life became a little more difficult. Indeed, “the whole community of the sons of Israel began to complain.” How could they have become so ungrateful?
This was clearly an absurd charge against Moses and Aaron. In truth they had sufficient food; not that they were going on an empty stomach. They brought along with them their “livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds.” (Ex 12:38; 17:3) When they left Egypt, “they plundered the Egyptians.” (Ex 12:36) So to say that they had no meat or milk, was a lie. Rather, as our responsorial Psalm 78:18,30 said, “In their heart they put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. They even spoke against God.” It was not about essential food for their sustenance but their discontent was due to greed and a desire for the fine things of life. In truth, we are quite often like them because we often complain to God that we do not have this and that but in fact, we have more than what we need in life. What we are really lamenting is that we are not enjoying the luxuries that rich people have.
Furthermore, their complaint was over exaggerated. They exaggerated the benefits they had when they were in Egypt. It is doubtful whether this was really the case. If so, they would not have cried out in misery to the Lord to deliver them. Now in times of trial, they sought to go back to Egypt. This only shows that it was easier to get them out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of them! When things go wrong, we lament the good old days. We forget the sufferings that we had then, and the complaints we made. We never learn our lessons. We are just escapists. Instead of looking at ourselves, we find scapegoats for our sins.
But the truth was that in complaining against their leaders, they were complaining against God because it was the Lord that instructed Moses to do what he did. To accuse their leaders of trying to kill them was simply too shocking. They had given up their lives to serve the people and to set them free. Instead of gratitude, they heaped false accusations and complaints. Well, this is a fact that most leaders have to contend with. Those of us who are in leadership will know that we please no one. No matter what we do, we will displease them. No matter what we provide for them, it will never be enough. Instead of gratitude, we only receive complaints and back-biting and slander.
And so God put them to the test by ordering them to be given manna and meat. But to test them, He said to Moses, “Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, this will be twice as much as the daily gathering.” Alas some of them disobeyed and collected more than enough for themselves. The truth is that God was dealing with a disobedient, ungrateful, recalcitrant people. Throughout the history of Israel, they would remain disobedient, then repent when under suffering, and then they will turn back to sin again.
However, the Parable of the Sower wants us to assure us that not all are like that. There will be some who would respond to the grace of God. Some would learn from their mistakes eventually. They will gradually learn that one does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4) So we must take courage and rely on His grace alone. We must remain nurtured by our Lord who is the Bread of Life. (Jn 6) We must feed on Him and grow in grace as we surrender ourselves into the hands of God. Just as in the Exodus, God will triumph and show forth His glory. We must not fall into despair. The harvest is certain. We cannot, like the farmer, expect that every seed will germinate. We can only leave it to the grace of God after doing all we are supposed to do, which is to continue sowing the seeds of truth, love and grace. We may not see the full impact of what we do on everyone, but in reality, other than those few whiners, discontented people and ingrates, most are quietly grateful to us without letting us know. But God knows!
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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