20211011 OBEDIENCE OF FAITH
11 October, 2021, Monday, 28th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Romans 1:1-7 © |
Our apostolic mission is to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan nations
From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus who has been called to be an apostle, and specially chosen to preach the Good News that God promised long ago through his prophets in the scriptures.
This news is about the Son of God who, according to the human nature he took was a descendant of David: it is about Jesus Christ our Lord who, in the order of the spirit, the spirit of holiness that was in him, was proclaimed Son of God in all his power through his resurrection from the dead. Through him we received grace and our apostolic mission to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan nations in honour of his name. You are one of these nations, and by his call belong to Jesus Christ. To you all, then, who are God’s beloved in Rome, called to be saints, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send grace and peace.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 97(98):1-4 © |
The Lord has made known his salvation.
Sing a new song to the Lord
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.
The Lord has made known his salvation.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.
The Lord has made known his salvation.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.
The Lord has made known his salvation.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:88 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love give me life,
and I will do your will.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ps94:8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your hearts today,
but listen to the voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 11:29-32 © |
As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign
The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them:
‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
OBEDIENCE OF FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Rom 1:1-7; Ps 98:1-4; Lk 11:29-32]
In today’s gospel, Jesus gave a warning to those who reject His message. This was preceded by a tense argument with those who accused the Lord of casting out demons by collaborating with Beelzebul, the prince of the demons. The Lord threw down the gauntlet to the crowd, “whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Lk 11:23) He then held His mother up as an example of “those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Lk 11:28)
Today, we are called to make a stand for the Lord. Are we going to be like the people of Nineveh when they repented after hearing the Word of God preached by Jonah? Very often, we reduce the sign of Jonah as a prefigurement of Jesus rising from the dead because he was in the belly of the whale for three days. Although this inference is not excluded, the direct message was that the Ninevites repented upon hearing the Word of God but the contemporary of our Lord was an evil generation because they were still looking for a sign when Jesus had already performed many signs. They were simply rebellious and incredulous. Jonah was just a prophet and the Lord was the Word of God and yet they rejected Him. This was what the Lord said, “On judgement day, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Or will we be like the Queen of the South who “came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon”? She took the trouble to travel the long journey to hear Solomon. Here we have the Wisdom of God in person, but like the Jews, we take Him for granted. We have the Word of God read and preached at our liturgical celebrations. We have the Eucharist, the presence of our Lord, but few of us appreciate and take the trouble to hear Him or receive Him when it does not take more than 15 minutes for us to get to the church. All we hear are excuses for not going to church. When the churches were under lock-down, people complained that they could not attend Mass. Now that we have reopened our churches, not all try to book a slot to attend our physical services.
But taking a stand for our Lord is more than just welcoming Him or receiving Him in the Eucharist. It means to share in the apostolic mission that St Paul speaks about. We have a duty to be a servant of the Good News which we have received. St Paul was conscious of this responsibility placed upon him. He wrote, “From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus who has been called to be an apostle, and specially chosen to preach the Good News that God promised long ago through his prophets in the scriptures.” This is also our responsibility as well because we too have been chosen like Him to be messengers of the Good News.
And St Paul was clear about who Jesus was to him. He wrote, “This news is about the Son of God who, according to the human nature he took, was a descendant of David: it is about Jesus Christ who, in the order of the spirit of holiness that was in him, was proclaimed Son of God in all his power through his resurrection from the dead.” In no uncertain terms, St Paul speaks of the two natures of Christ, his humanity, being a descendent of David, and His divinity as seen in the resurrection. St Paul was not just defining the two natures of Christ but the two stages of existence, as man and as God. Not that Jesus was not God from all eternity but in assuming our humanity to be one with us and one of us, Jesus revealed to us the face of God in His life, passion, death and resurrection. This truth of course was established by the fact of His resurrection. Without the resurrection, we cannot confidently claim that Jesus is Lord and God. It was Paul’s encounter with the Risen Lord that changed him.
But we are diffident because in a world of relativism, to proclaim Christ as Saviour and Lord is to invite criticism of being narrow-minded and dogmatic. The culture today is that there is no one way, no absolute truth, no right way but everything depends on one’s perspective. We see things from our own vantage point. So what is good and true to us holds for the individual. Whilst it is true that truth can be seen from different perspectives, that is, there are many facets to the truth, yet, often such perspectival philosophy eventually is reduced to relativism. This makes it difficult for the Christian to declare that Christ is the universal saviour of the world. We will meet with hostility, accusations of adopting a supremacy stance and causing religious disunity. This explains why most Catholics either keep silent about their faith or become syncretic by declaring that all religions are the same and therefore we can learn from each other, adopting each other’s practices and even some beliefs as well.
What, then, is the key to remaining focused in our apostolic mission? We must first be loved by God. Faith in Christ is not an ideology or a philosophical doctrine. St Paul makes it clear in his letter to the Corinthians, “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5)
Indeed, grace and apostolic calling go together. St Paul associated grace with his apostolic calling. “Through him we received grace and our apostolic mission to preach the obedience of faith to all pagan nations in honour of his name.” Being an apostle is always the grace of God. We are able to do what we do because of God’s grace. Serving God according to our capacity is the consequence of God’s unmerited love for us. All the gifts we have come from Him. This is why we must never forget that when we serve, we all serve in His name because without Him and His grace, we cannot do anything. This explains why St Paul calls himself a servant of the gospel.
Hence, St Paul wrote to the Romans, “To you all, men, who are God’s beloved in Rome, called to be saints, may God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ send grace and peace.” He underscored that they were not only called by God to belong to Jesus Christ but they were God’s beloved, called to be saints. Unless, we have encountered God’s love in Christ as St Paul and the disciples did, we cannot confess our faith in Christ as the Son of God. Unless, there is a prior love, there cannot be faith. Trust and faith presuppose that we are loved. When someone is loved unconditionally and sincerely, that person opens his heart to his lover. Indeed, the only way to win a person’s trust and faith in us is to begin by loving that person without conditions. That person who is closed up, sceptical, hostile and suspicious will gradually open his or her heart to those who love him or her. Love leads to faith.
Faith leads to obedience. When we have faith in someone, that faith is expressed not just in trust but in action as well. To trust the person implies that we believe what the person says and we will also carry out what the person tells us. The good works we do flow from our faith in Christ. Faith and obedience; faith and good works are two sides of the same coin. There is no separation even though there is a distinction. But the primacy belongs to faith. Faith is not faith when it is just an emotional and intellectual relationship with God. Faith is intrinsically connected with obedience. When we have faith in our Lord, then we render Him total allegiance. Indeed, those who have difficulties in obeying the scriptures and the teachings of our Lord reveal their lack of faith in Him. We cannot obey without believing. Hence, we cannot blame those Catholics who are not faithful to the teachings of Christ and the Church simply because they lack faith. Unfortunately, they seek an intellectual answer to their dilemma when they should see to have a deeper personal relationship with Christ.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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