20211130 LEFT OUT
30 November, 2021, Tuesday, St Andrew, Apostle
First reading | Romans 10:9-18 © |
Faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of Christ
If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips you are saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all belong to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask his help, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But they will not ask his help unless they believe in him, and they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless they get a preacher, and they will never have a preacher unless one is sent, but as scripture says: The footsteps of those who bring good news are a welcome sound. Not everyone, of course, listens to the Good News. As Isaiah says: Lord, how many believed what we proclaimed? So faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of Christ. Let me put the question: is it possible that they did not hear? Indeed they did; in the words of the psalm, their voice has gone out through all the earth, and their message to the ends of the world.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 18(19):2-5 © |
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
The heavens proclaim the glory of God,
and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Day unto day takes up the story
and night unto night makes known the message.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
No speech, no word, no voice is heard
yet their span extends through all the earth,
their words to the utmost bounds of the world.
Their word goes forth through all the earth.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Mt4:19 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Follow me, says the Lord,
and I will make you into fishers of men.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 4:18-22 © |
'I will make you fishers of men'
As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
LEFT OUT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Rom 10:9-18; Psalm 19:2-5; Mt 4:18-22]
Many of us have gone through the humiliating experience of being left out of something which we started, or at least was one of the pioneers. This can be in business, a charitable organization or church ministry. We were the ones who initiated the program or the organization. We laid the foundation and rallied people to support us. But as soon as the organization took shape, those who came after us ousted us from our leadership position. We were relegated some unimportant tasks, or worse still, ignored. We feel unwanted, hurt and our ego is bruised. We begin to resent the leadership and the members who did not elect us to head the organization. After all, it is we who had given birth to the organization. We demand respect, privilege and recognition. Booted out of leadership, we begin to attack those who are now in position. We slander them and discredit their work and cast spurious doubts on their motives. We seek to rally those who are still on our side to rebel against the current leadership. And when that is not possible, we break away and start a rival organization.
Being left out does not only happen in organizations but also among friends. We rally together a group of friends so that we could share our life together, our faith, our joys, our interests. We build strong ties with the members of the group, until someone comes along and changes the group dynamics. The person is charismatic, eloquent, attractive and have good communication skills. He or she starts sowing rumours and doubts about us to the other members of the group. We start to find ourselves marginalized, even by our friends, who begin to leave us out of gatherings and their chat groups. We feel so wronged and misunderstood. This happens in the family too. Because of gossiping, jealousy, backbiting, we find some members of our family being sarcastic towards us and leaving us out of family affairs and events. This is why sometimes family gatherings can be a source of tension because instead of fellowship and mutual support, the gatherings are hostile and destructive.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St Andrew. In the Byzantine Church, he is given the nickname, Protoklitos, the first called. Andrew was the first disciple to be called by the Lord. St John’s gospel recounted how Andrew and another disciple, probably, John, were disciples of John the Baptist. When they heard their master pointing out to them that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29,35), they started to follow Jesus. Andrew was a sincere man, one of faith and hope. He was seeking the Messiah. He wanted to know the Lord better and to listen to Him. Since his former master, John the Baptist, disclaimed that he was the Messiah or the prophet, and directed him to our Lord, he took the courage to follow Jesus.
After meeting Jesus, spending a significant day with Him, for John recounted the time, “It was about four o’clock in the afternoon” (Jn 1:39), Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, shared the good news about Jesus with Peter. Instead of keeping the good news or Jesus for himself, he went to find his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed.) He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). (Jn 1:41f) Indeed, Andrew was the foundational link to Peter who was the rock of the apostolic Church. Without Andrew, Peter would not have come to know Jesus or gained faith in Him. Andrew therefore had a very important role to play in the foundation of the Church. He was the first apostle who received the call to follow Jesus. This is why the Roman Catholic Church of Rome and the Orthodox Catholic Church of Constantinople regard each other as sister churches. There is this close relationship between these two churches on account of the fraternal relationship between Peter and Andrew who were blood brothers.
But what we often fail to realize is that although Andrew was the first to be called by our Lord, yet he was not included among the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. Although he was the one who led Peter to our Lord, it was not he that the Lord chose to be in His inner circle. The gospel of Matthew which we read today made it clear that Andrew and Peter, James and John, were among the first to be called by our Lord. Andrew and Peter, just like James and John, were brothers and they were all fishermen. But eventually, Andrew was left out from the foursome. As Jesus gathered the apostles together, only three were chosen to be in His inner circle, and these were Peter, James and John. It was only Peter, James and John that were privileged witnesses at the Transfiguration of our Lord, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was in agony.
How did Andrew feel? He could have felt slighted and struggled with the pain of being excluded. He could have said to himself, “but I was the one who met Jesus first and I was the one who introduced Jesus to my brother.” Rightly, he should be among the inner circle of our Lord. But the truth was that he was not. Was he upset, angry and wounded? Did he get angry with Jesus and accuse Him of favouritism? Did he try to influence the rest of the apostles to think our Lord was unfair in not choosing him to be in the inner circle of disciples? Did he give up following Jesus, just as some of us do when we are disillusioned because we have not been elected or reappointed to a position of leadership? Did he try to fight for his rights? Nay, Andrew was not concerned about position.
Firstly, Andrew was simply in love with our Lord. It did not matter how the Lord wanted him to serve and which position he should hold. It was good enough that he could be with our Lord, accompanying Him in His ministry and serving Him. It was more important for Andrew to be with Him than to have position and honour. Indeed, he would never have forgotten that day when the Lord told him, “Come and see”. Intimacy with Jesus is greater than anything else in this world. To be in the company of our Lord is greater than any other ministry or position. We remember what our Lord said to Martha, “you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:41f)
Secondly, Andrew trusted in the wisdom of our Lord and God’s plan for him. He understood that we are all called differently for different things. The Lord knew his talents and his ability. He believed that the Lord knew best how he should be used for the service of the master. So when the Lord called, he dropped everything to follow Him. He was completely obedient to the Lord. We too must put our faith in the Lord. We should be contented with whatever position the Lord chooses for us. Andrew was not jealous of Peter, his brother. However, James and John, although in the inner circle, were still not happy and secure; they wanted to be seated on the left and right hand of our Lord when He came to power. (Mt 20:20-23) We, too, must be contented with whatever role the Lord gives to us.
St Paul himself saw his ministry and mission the same way. “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (1 Cor 3:5-9) What is of utmost importance is that we play our part in leading people to Jesus as Andrew did when he became the interpreter for the Greeks who came to hear Jesus. (Jn 12:20-24) In telling Andrew that the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified had come, He was anticipating how the gospel would be spread to the Gentiles after His death and resurrection. It is good enough that we bring people to Jesus, and introduce them to our Lord as Andrew did. When the people were hungry, he was the one who told our Lord that there was a boy with five loaves and two fish. (Jn 6:9) Andrew was never discouraged but would make himself useful in whatever ways to lead people to our Lord. So must we, as St Paul said, “they will not believe in him unless they have heard of him, and they will not hear of him unless they get a preacher. The footsteps of those who bring good news are a welcome sound.” Let us be evangelizers, even if we are not apostles, according to the humble position we are in.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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