20211029 THE TRAGEDY OF UNAPPRECIATED PRIVILEGES
29 October, 2021, Friday, 30th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Romans 9:1-5 © |
I would willingly be condemned if it could help my brothers
What I want to say now is no pretence; I say it in union with Christ – it is the truth – my conscience in union with the Holy Spirit assures me of it too. What I want to say is this: my sorrow is so great, my mental anguish so endless, I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help my brothers of Israel, my own flesh and blood. They were adopted as sons, they were given the glory and the covenants; the Law and the ritual were drawn up for them, and the promises were made to them. They are descended from the patriarchs and from their flesh and blood came Christ who is above all, God for ever blessed! Amen.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 147:12-15,19-20 © |
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Gospel Acclamation | cf.1Th2:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn10:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 14:1-6 © |
'Is it against the law to cure a man on the sabbath?'
Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. There in front of him was a man with dropsy, and Jesus addressed the lawyers and Pharisees. ‘Is it against the law’ he asked ‘to cure a man on the sabbath, or not?’ But they remained silent, so he took the man and cured him and sent him away. Then he said to them, ‘Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a sabbath day without hesitation?’ And to this they could find no answer.
THE TRAGEDY OF UNAPPRECIATED PRIVILEGES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Rom 9:1-5; Ps 147:12-15,19-20; Lk 14:1-6]
In the gospel, the evangelist recounted an incident when Jesus went to “the house of one of the leading Pharisees” for a meal. He knew very well that the Pharisees were out to get Him. In fact, the meal was a trap to incriminate Jesus for breaking the Sabbath Law. Most likely, they arranged for a man with dropsy to come before Him, knowing that Jesus would heal him. They were not concerned about the health and the cure of the man. He was just a bait for them to make a charge against Jesus. Indeed, Jesus, so to speak, entered into the Lion’s den knowingly.
This incident speaks not only of the courage of Jesus to confront His enemies head-on, but also His refusal to back down in the face of opposition against His doing something good on the Sabbath. As He asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it against the law to cure a man on the sabbath, or not?” The answer was obvious, but they kept silent because they had nothing to rebut the Lord. Exposing their hypocrisy, the Lord further asked, “Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a sabbath day without hesitation?”
But most of all, it reveals the heart of Jesus. He was not one who would manipulate the situation or use trickery to get things done. Jesus accepted the invitation of the Pharisee simply because He wanted to dialogue with His opponents. He was not one to fight shy of His enemies. But He did not intend to have a battle with them. He went simply because that was the only way to win over His enemies, by being with them and to clarify what He taught and did. He loved and cared not only those who were responsive, but even those who were not. He did not give up hope on them in spite of their obstinacy, pride and malice.
Jesus reveals to us the unconditional love and mercy of God even for sinners like us and all those who reject Him. As St Paul would later write, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6-8) Then reflecting on the Father’s love, he said, “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” (Rom 8:31f)
St Paul too imitated Jesus in his love for, and patience with his fellow Jews. After giving such a great exposition on how we are all justified in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, and given adopted sonship in Him regardless whether we are Jew or Gentile, or those without the Law, he could not but feel a deep sadness and regret that his own fellow Jews rejected our Lord. Wherever he went, the gospel was always preached first to the Jews, but when they rejected the gospel, he would then offer it to the Gentiles. At Antioch in Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'” (Acts 13:46f)
So deep and sincere was Paul’s love for his fellow Jewish brothers that he said, “What I want to say now is no pretence; I say it in union with Christ – it is the truth – my conscience in union with the Holy Spirit assures me of it too. What I want to say is this: my sorrow is so great, my mental anguish so endless, I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help me brothers of Israel, my own flesh and blood.” In suggesting this, he placed the salvation of his brothers before himself. The last thing that Paul desired was to be cut off from Christ, since Christ for him was everything. He could not wait to be with Jesus even when he was on earth. “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” (Phil 3:7-9) He was acting selflessly as was the case of Moses when he implored God’s mercy for his people, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin – but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” (Ex 32:31f)
Alas, greater still when he recounted how much the Jews had been favoured by God. Firstly, “they were adopted as sons.” Indeed, they were specially the chosen people of God. They were adopted as members of the household of God. Moses was instructed to tell Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son. I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may worship me.'” (Ex 4:22) Moses said, “You are children of the Lord your God.” (Dt 14:1) “Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?” (Dt 32:6) And even when Israel was unfaithful to Him, God said, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” (Hos 11:1,3,4) To face the rejection of one’s own children that we have fed and raised is the one thing that breaks the hearts of parents.
Secondly, they were given the glory of God. They had seen the mighty works of God delivering them from the hands of the Egyptians. “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” (Ex 19:4) They saw the divine splendour in the clouds, descending on the mountain and God revealed His face to Moses. (Ex 16:10; 24:16-17; 33:18-22) Yet, after having seen the glory of God, they still went after false gods! They forgot all that the Lord had done for them.
Thirdly, they were given the Covenants. God established and renewed His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and with the People of Israel at Mount Sinai. In the bible, there were four significant events when God entered into a covenant with His people, firstly with Noah, the sign was the rainbow, then with Abraham, the sign was circumcision, then Moses, when the Law, the rituals were given, and then finally in the New Covenant as prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in Christ Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit and we are now the adopted sons of God and heirs with Christ. (Rom 8:15-17)
Unfortunately, we are no better than them. Christ, the Son of God, has been revealed to us as the Way, the Truth and the Life. He paid the price for our salvation. In spite of the fact that we are God’s adopted sons and daughters, His children, we have failed to live out our sonship in Christ. We take for granted the blessings the Lord has given to us. We take our faith as an inheritance, just like the Jews. But we have not done anything to grow our faith, to own it personally and to spread it. Instead, we store them away, hidden from our eyes and our consciousness. Instead of valuing the scriptures, the Lord has given to us, we do not read them or spend time praying the Word of God. We have been given the sacraments, the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but we have not made full use of them to strengthen our faith and spiritual life, or to seek healing of mind, body and spirit. Such is the tragedy of those who have received God’s blessings, whether spiritual or temporal, but squandered them away, either through disuse or misuse, instead of using them for others. God cries for us as He did for Israel. St Paul and the saints too cry for us because we have been negligent, taking our blessings for granted.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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