20211021 THE PRICE OF COMMITMENT
21 October, 2021, Thursday, 29th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Romans 6:19-23 © |
Now you are set free from sin, and slaves to God
If I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-4,6 © |
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn8:12 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
Or: | Ph3:8-9 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I have accepted the loss of everything
and I look on everything as so much rubbish
if only I can have Christ
and be given a place in him.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 12:49-53 © |
How I wish it were blazing already!
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
THE PRICE OF COMMITMENT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Rom 6:19-23; Ps 1:1-4,6; Luke 12:49-53]
For the early Christians, especially the gentile Christians, St Paul’s message on the new gift of freedom won by Christ was something most consoling, especially as many were slaves. Studies reckoned that up to one third of the population were slaves during the Roman period. In ancient time, slaves had no rights or privileges at all. They were owned by their masters who could do as they liked with them. But being a Christian offered them a freedom unheard of when all were treated alike, regardless of status and position, placing them on the same level as free people.
But this freedom from slavery must also extend to morality as well. They were free for Christ, not just free from the slavery of sin. When St Paul spoke about the slavery of sin, they understood quite well what it meant to be a slave. When we are slaves to our passion, when we are addicted to drugs and uncontrollable anger, such slavery means that we are not in charge of our lives. We are controlled by sin and therefore not given over to Christ as yet, for no man can serve two masters as the Lord said, either He serves God or mammon. (Mt 6:24) Indeed, this is the choice that we have to make.
To help us make this choice, St Paul made a distinction between slavery to sin and slavery to righteousness. When we are slaves to sin, we put our bodies “at the service of vice and immorality.” We have no control over our will to do what is right and good. We give in to temptations easily, seeking to satisfy our pleasures and boost our ego. We have no control over our moods, temper or anger. We are reactive and retaliate. When we do not get what we want, we allow our envy and anger to consume us. We make everyone our enemy, so long they are better, more popular, more powerful and more influential than us. We live in constant suspicion of others, always thinking how to manipulate people and the situation, to become richer and more powerful. We become insecure that one day our competitors or enemies will triumph over us. We are afraid of illness and death.
What is even more insidious is that when we surrender ourselves to sin, our sins will grow in number and in depth. Just as no one becomes a saint overnight, no one becomes a sinner overnight. Sin grows from strength to strength once we let it have a foothold in us. That is why, St Paul wrote, “When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death.” Indeed, when we first commit a sin, we feel ashamed and guilty but after finding the courage to commit the first time, the second time would be much easier and after some time, we become not only numb to sin but we even boast of our sins as something acceptable and great.
Today, people without a sense of decency and morality like to show the whole world the disgraceful and unthinkable things they do. We have people who like to boast of their extra-marital affairs, how many women or men they slept with, how they managed to manipulate people, trick them of their money, cheat them of their property. They even seek to normalize what is irregular so that such immoral actions soon become the norm of society. When the world endorses infidelity, divorce, marriages not in accordance with the divine plan of God, war and terrorism, drugs, abortion and euthanasia, it means that society has lost its soul and moral conscience. Clearly, the outcome of it all, as St Paul captures it so aptly, is death. “The wage paid by sin is death”, not just physical death but emotional and spiritual death leading to eternal death.
Conversely, if we choose righteousness, it will lead to our sanctification. When we are under the slavery of righteousness, we seek justice and integrity. We seek peace, joy and love. To live a life of justice and compassion is to live the life of God. It is already a share in the eternal life of God. St Paul writing to the Galatians says, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Gal 5:22-24) Hence, St Paul rightly says, “Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to your sanctification and ending in eternal life.”
In the gospel, Jesus also made it clear to the disciples the price of committing ourselves to God and to Him. Jesus spoke about His own baptism, which would be the price of dying to self, surrendering His body for the glory of God and the salvation of humanity. He said, “There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!” Christian baptism is more than just a mere washing off of our sins but it is an invitation to die to sin and be alive in Christ, living a life of righteousness, and offering our bodies for the glory of God and the service of humanity. If we are not ready to die to our sins, then we are not ready for commitment to the Lord. Earlier on, he told the Christians, “What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:1-4)
Secondly, this would inevitably bring about opposition and rejection. This is because the message of the gospel is a judgment on the earth. This explains why Jesus said, “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!” Fire is a symbol of judgment. Jesus has come to the world to proclaim the truth of God. Upon hearing the Word of God, we are called to judgment. Jesus said, “I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge. (Jn 12:46-48)
Thirdly, the message of truth will bring division and separation. Jesus said, “Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Indeed, there will be division in the family, among closed ones, in the community, in society, in the country and among the nations as there will be those who seek to eliminate the truth from being taught because the gospel exposes their deceits and selfishness. It is not surprising that the world wants to marginalize not just Christianity but all religions and relegate them to our homes and churches. They want to make secularism the religion of the day where there is no God, no values, no truth, no immorality, so that they can promote licentiousness.
Again, we must be clear about the choices we make. The choice we make must depend on the outcomes we desire. If we desire a society that is fragmented, without good values, without integrity, without strong marriages and families, without unity and harmony; a world in which powerful and rich nations dominate and manipulate the poorer nations, and render the world unstable by threats of war and economic sanctions, then there is no need to ignite and set the world on fire because the planet will inevitably and literally be consumed by fire because of ecological disorder in humanity and in the environment. But if we want to save the world, then like Jesus we must be ready to ignite the world with the fire of truth and love that purifies our minds and hearts. Indeed, either we evangelize the world, salt it with the gospel truth and light up with the light of Christ, or we will allow the world to desensitize us to what is good and true. We will allow sin to reign in the world until we are all destroyed.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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