20220217 TEST OF FAITH
17 February, 2022, Thursday, Week 6 in Ordinary Time
First reading | James 2:1-9 © |
God chose the poor but you do not respect them
My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people. Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, ‘Come this way to the best seats’; then you tell the poor man, ‘Stand over there’ or ‘You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.’ Can’t you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that?
Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. In spite of this, you have no respect for anybody who is poor. Isn’t it always the rich who are against you? Isn’t it always their doing when you are dragged before the court? Aren’t they the ones who insult the honourable name to which you have been dedicated? Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme law of scripture: you must love your neighbour as yourself; but as soon as you make distinctions between classes of people, you are committing sin, and under condemnation for breaking the Law.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):2-7 © |
This poor man called; the Lord heard him.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
This poor man called; the Lord heard him.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
This poor man called; the Lord heard him.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
This poor man called; the Lord heard him.
Gospel Acclamation | James1:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
By his own choice the Father made us his children
by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits
of all that he created.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 8:27-33 © |
The way you think is not God's way, but man's
Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’
TEST OF FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JAMES 2:1-9; MK 8:27-33]
Both scripture readings in today’s Mass are hard to accept, and even more difficult to put into practice. Although we may be Christians, many of us are still very worldly. We believe in Christ, but many of us are still far from living the kind of lifestyle that our Lord and the apostles invite us to live. This is true with respect to the way we see and judge people. The truth is that we are in the world and unfortunately also still very much of the world. We find it difficult not to adopt the way the world judges people because we are conditioned by the culture we live in, more so in a country where our religion is a minority.
The egalitarian spirituality of Christianity is by far the most difficult to observe. Clearly, in the gospel, Jesus came to restore the dignity of every human person and His mission was in the line of the Prophetic Jubilee Sabbatical Tradition when all debts were forgiven. Moses commanded that on the fiftieth year, “the year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property.” (Lev 25:13) Hence, Jesus following the prophetic tradition began His ministry by citing from Isaiah, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Isa 61:1f) His Sermon on the Mount began with the Beatitudes, His blueprint for the New World which calls for a reversal of values so valued by the world. (Mt 5:1-11)
The early Christians of which many were poor, uneducated, belonging to the lower strata of society, some of whom were even slaves, were marginalized by society but accepted by the apostles and the early Church leaders. However, eventually there were also rich, educated and people of status who found faith in Christ. Hence, the Church had two classes of people, the rich and the poor, those with high status and those with low status. We find this not only in St James’ community when he observed the different kinds of treatment given to the rich and the poor but also in St Paul’s community in Corinth as well when he reprimanded the rich for not waiting for the poor to have the Lord’s supper together. (1 Cor 11:17-22) In the primitive Church in Jerusalem, we already read of the discrimination between the treatment of the Hebrew widows and the Greek widows.
This is understandable because how many of our churches, whether Catholic or Protestant, or even other religions treat all their members equally regardless of status, wealth and their attire? What happened in St James’ community still exist today in our Christian communities in different degrees. We cannot truly say that we treat everyone the same way regardless of status, wealth and even colour in our Christian community. Sometimes even Church leaders will fawn on the rich and the powerful because they need their financial support and political influence to help them get things done. Whereas those who do all the hard work in the church, quietly working behind the scenes, are not given the due recognition, making them feel that their contribution is not important. Indeed, many of our parishioners are put off by the way the rich and influential are treated, especially on special occasions when they are given privileged seating just because they have contributed money to the church. Such discrimination and favouritism will only divide the community.
St James’ exhortation is clear when he wrote, “My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people.” The Lord is glorified in the poor. He Himself has reminded His apostles, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.” (Mt 20:25-27)
St James is clear, that we must be faithful to the scriptures. “Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme law of scripture: you must love your neighbour as yourself; but as you make distinctions between classes of people, you are committing sin, and under condemnation for breaking the Law.” When we discriminate, St James says, we are judging wrongly. “Can’t you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that?” This was the same judgment that our Lord said of Peter when he remonstrated against Him after His prophecy about His passion. “But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.” Peter was tempting our Lord just as Satan did at the beginning of His ministry to take the easy way of victory through the abuse of power and strength.
We must therefore look at the world through the eyes of faith. St James said, “Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. In spite of this, you have no respect for anybody who is poor. Isn’t it always the rich who are against you? Aren’t they the ones who insult the honourable name to which you have been dedicated?” God loves the poor because they are conscious that they depend on Him alone. They have reverence for God because they are aware of their inadequacy. But the rich, not just materially rich but intellectually rich, they are often arrogant and self-reliant. Many do not have moral principles but use their wealth and power to exalt and enrich themselves by cheating the poor and robbing them of their wealth.
However, we must be clear that St James was not condemning the rich. We can be sure that there were many rich members in the early Church but they were humble and selfless. They contributed greatly to the Christian community and did not expect special treatment and recognition. They knew that what they had come from God and they were just returning to the community to give glory to our Lord. So the rich too are included in the work of salvation. Indeed, the Church too need the rich, the talented and the influential to help spread the gospel. They are also treated with respect like the rest. To discriminate the rich would be an inverted form of discrimination as well. Regardless who we are, all must be treated equally because we are all members of God’s family, and all are heirs to eternal life.
How could these two groups of people live together in love and unity? This was already the same challenge the apostles faced when the Lord picked a very diverse group of personalities to be numbered among the Twelve. The only way they could stick together and accommodate each other’s eccentricities was because of their common love for the Lord. Indeed, when we love the Lord, for the sake of Him, we will love all those He loves. And the Lord reminded us, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Mt 25:40) So it is our love for the Lord that helps us to respect each other and treat each other as brothers and sisters, without discrimination and favouritism.
Today, the Lord is inviting us to put on a new mind. In His passion prophecy, He indicated that the way to life is through suffering and death. God wants to surprise us and help us to evaluate what truly can bring us happiness in life. It is when we live as brothers and sisters in the Lord, caring for each other in the community, each one bringing his or her talents and resources to the community that makes life worth living. When everyone is appreciated and given recognition for their contribution to the community, then we will all feel a sense of belonging. Until we have transcended a worldly assessment of an individual based on his dressing, his place of residence, his wealth and his academic degrees, we are not judging as God judges. God judges us by how much we love each other, how inclusive our love is, and most of all, how we treat our fellowmen. When we regard our brothers and sisters with respect no matter what their social status is, and we are courteous, polite and charitable in our words and deeds, upholding the dignity of every individual, then we are truly Christ-like.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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