20220106 GOD’S LOVE IS ALWAYS INCLUSIVE IN CHRIST
06 January, 2022, Thursday After Epiphany
First reading | 1 John 4:19-5:4 © |
Anyone who loves God must also love his brother
We are to love,
because God loved us first.
Anyone who says, ‘I love God’,
and hates his brother,
is a liar,
since a man who does not love the brother that he can see
cannot love God, whom he has never seen.
So this is the commandment that he has given us,
that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ
has been begotten by God;
and whoever loves the Father that begot him
loves the child whom he begets.
We can be sure that we love God’s children
if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us;
this is what loving God is –
keeping his commandments;
and his commandments are not difficult,
because anyone who has been begotten by God
has already overcome the world;
this is the victory over the world –
our faith.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 71(72):1-2,14-15,17 © |
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgement.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
From oppression he will rescue their lives,
to him their blood is dear.
(Long may he live,
may the gold of Sheba be given him.)
They shall pray for him without ceasing
and bless him all the day.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
May his name be blessed for ever
and endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be blessed in him,
all nations bless his name.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 4:14-22 © |
'This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen'
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.
GOD’S LOVE IS ALWAYS INCLUSIVE IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 JOHN 4:19-5:4; PS 72:1-2,14-15,17; LUKE 4:14-22]
We are in the season of Epiphany celebrating the manifestation of Christ as the Saviour of humanity, not just of the Jews but of the Gentiles, not just of the rich and the powerful but especially the poor and the vulnerable. Indeed, as St Paul wrote, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3:27-29)
What is the basis for the inclusive love of Christians? Simply this, as St Paul says, we are baptized into Christ. We all belong to Christ and in Christ, we share in His sonship. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:14-17)
Hence, St John wrote, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God.” Faith in Christ as the begotten Son of the Father is the basis for sharing in His sonship. Only through Christ who is truly God and truly man, can we share in the divine life of God through the Spirit He gave us at Pentecost. In Christ we are all adopted children of God. The implication of being God’s children means that we are called to love everyone since, as St John wrote, “whoever loves the father that begot him loves the child whom he begets.” We cannot claim that we love the Father if we do not love His Son our Lord Jesus Christ whom He has sent. By extension, we cannot also claim that we love the Father if we do not love all His adopted children in Christ. All of us are God’s children because He is the Father of us all. Earlier on St John wrote, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed.” (1 Jn 3:1f)
Indeed, St John says, the only way we know we love God is when we love our brothers and sisters because they are also God’s children, regardless of who they are, irrespective of social class, nationality, race, culture, language and religion. St John emphatically wrote, “We can be sure that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us; this is what loving God is – keeping his commandments; and his commandments are not difficult, because anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world; this is the victory over the world – our faith.”
This was how Jesus showed the Father’s love for us all. In today’s gospel, we read, “Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.” Jesus was the anointed One of God, confirmed and revealed at His baptism. He was proclaimed as the Son of the Father, called to be the light to humanity and “to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.” He was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah when God will anoint His servant to bring the light to all. The Lord said, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isa 49:6) Jesus was clear that His mission extended beyond His fellow Jews but to all.
What was the reaction of His audience who listened to Him? Initially, they were filled with admiration. We read, “He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.” Their immediate reaction was positive. Jesus must have been an eloquent preacher and they were impressed that Jesus was such an anointed prophet.
But the words did not sink in just yet, not until they began to have second thoughts about Jesus. Firstly, they said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.” (Mk 6:2f) They could not accept Him as He was one of them. Prejudice and jealousy hindered them from being receptive to the proclamation of our Lord. They lacked openness and humility to recognize that God was at work in Him.
Secondly, they sought for proof instead of submitting to faith. Jesus said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'” (Lk 4:23) The truth is that no miracles can convince anyone who has no faith and who is not open to hearing the Word of God. So long as we come with a prejudiced mind, we will always be looking for reasons to contradict whatever miracles we see, or the Word of God. Only when we are ready to accept the Word of God can miracles happen. That is why Mark the evangelist noted, “Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” (Mk 6:4-6)
Thirdly, what really incensed them was when Jesus told them that the Good News was not just for the Jews but for the Gentiles too. In fact, ironically, the Gentiles were the ones who accepted the gospel more readily than the Jews. Jesus cited the examples of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament and Elisha. When Israel turned away from God, he was sent to the Gentiles to save them. He said, “there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Lk 4:25-27)
Indeed, Jesus came to proclaim the Good News to the poor, not just the socio-economically poor but those who are receptive to the Good News. Of course, those who are materially well-off, powerful in society, highly educated and self-sufficient do not need God and so tend to be less open to the grace of God at work in their lives. Those who are spiritually poor are receptive to the gospel. Jesus came for those who are oppressed, not just by political or religious institutions but spiritually under the bondage of the Evil One when they live in sin, selfishness, greed and lust. Jesus came not just for those physically blind but for those who lack the wisdom to see the truth of how they were living their lives. Jesus did not just heal the blindness of Bartimaeus but also that of Zacchaeus. Jesus came for the sinners, the Gentiles, the lowly, the humble and those who were rejected and marginalized.
Today, we are called to do the same. The gospel must be directed not just at good Catholics but to nominal and lapsed Catholics, those who do not know the Lord. This is why the gospel must be proclaimed to the poor, to those who are seeking God, meaning and salvation. This is what loving our brothers and sisters mean.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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