20220325 OBEDIENCE IN FAITH IS THE HEART OF SALVATION
25 March, 2022, Friday, The Annunciation of the Lord
First reading |
Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 © |
The maiden is with child
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of David:
are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men
without trying the patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself, therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the maiden is with child
and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Immanuel,
a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 39(40):7-11 © |
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
I have not hidden your justice in my heart
but declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Second reading | Hebrews 10:4-10 © |
God's will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on coming into the world:
You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin,and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn1:14 |
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Word became flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory.
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Gospel | Luke 1:26-38 © |
'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
OBEDIENCE IN FAITH IS THE HEART OF SALVATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 7:10-14,8-10; PS 40:7-11; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38]
What has the Annunciation of the Lord got to do with the Paschal Mystery of which the season of Lent is preparing us to enter into? All the three scripture readings, whilst focusing on the Incarnation, have in mind the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. The letter from Hebrews is an explicit interpretation of the purpose and goal of the incarnation of our Lord. It was written to those Jews who had been converted from Judaism as they were used to offering sacrifices at the Temple, particularly the Jewish priests. They were nostalgic about the old rites they used for the atonement of their sins.
Hence, the letter of Hebrews sought to explain that the sacrifice of Christ, which is once and for all, is even more efficacious in bringing about the forgiveness of sins and our salvation. The truth is that the old rites could not bring about real transformation in the lives of the people. It was but a shadow of the new rite that was to come. In the Old Covenant, the sins of the people were symbolically forgiven through the sacrifice of a calf as a holocaust. It had a pagan connotation of sacrifice whereby offering a gift would appease the wrath of God. But the hearts of the people remained unchanged. This was why those who were rich and powerful were making a show of it by offering sacrifices when they continued to commit evil and injustices in their lives. So much so, the Lord said, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.” (Isa 1:11; Ps 51:16f: Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8) The author of Hebrew wrote, “Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them.”
If Christ’s sacrifice was needed, it was not to appease an angry and demanding God. Rather, it was meant to show us that external offerings alone cannot change us. What is required of us is the offering of oneself to God. This implies doing His will and of course doing good, as the Lord said, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isa 1:16f) This is the intent of the Letter of Hebrews. “Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and that is what Christ said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or obligation, prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin; then you said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book, “God here I am! I am coming to obey your will.”
If Christ’s sacrifice was effective in saving us, it was because He was obedient unto death by offering His entire body and soul to His heavenly Father, doing His will, and showing the unconditional love and mercy of His Father to us. It was His loving obedience that reset the disobedience of humanity started by the sin of Adam. The entire life of our Lord was lived in obedience to His Father from the act of self-emptying of His divinity at His incarnation, through His life on earth and finally, emptying Himself once again at the cross, the perfect expression of His obedience. Indeed, “He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.” Samuel reprimanded Saul for his disobedience when he said, “”Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Sm 15:22f) Indeed, obedience is the only way to be reconciled with God. What we could not do through the ages, Jesus did. As the perfect man, He offered the perfect sacrifice to God because of His perfect obedience to His Father. By so doing, He made it possible for us to do so in union with Him in the Spirit through His passion and resurrection.
Today, we are warned not to fall into the mistake of King Ahaz who was disobedient to God. The prophecy of Isaiah came in 736 BC when King Ahaz of Judah was being attacked by Israel and Syria. As a consequence, he was forced to fend off their attacks by going into alliance with the Assyrian army. Logically, it would seem to be the most expedient action to take. Knowing that he would not be able to win the battle against the combined forces of Syria and Israel, King Ahaz brought into his kingdom the Assyrian army. But Isaiah warned him that an alliance with them would prove disastrous for Judah. Not only would Israel and Syria not win the war against Judah but by making themselves a dependent state on Assyria, they would also bring in pagan worship and foreign intrusions into the nation and corrupt their faith in God.
But King Ahaz was unmoved by Isaiah’s prophecy and warning; simply because he lacked faith in God. But the most hypocritical thing was that he disguised his lack of faith by refusing to ask for a sign. The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign of yourself coming either from depths of Sheol or from the heights above’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered, ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.'” King Ahaz rejected the Word of God, even when God offered to give him a sign. God said, “Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience with men without trying the patience of my God, too?”
The great lesson we can learn from King Ahaz is that we must rely on the Lord and not on human ingenuity. The Lord is the supreme King of the earth, as we read earlier in Isaiah 6, the vision of God’s majesty seated on a throne and His glory filled the whole earth. Chapter 7 elaborated on how God used Egypt and Assyria, the two superpowers of the day, to do His bidding. For this reason, Judah and we must trust in God and rely on Him absolutely. God will protect us. The choice that was given to Ahaz is also given to us as well. “If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.” (Isa 7:9) By not trusting God, Ahaz would destroy his own kingdom.
Like Ahaz, to strengthen our faith, God also gives us a sign as prophesied in Isaiah. “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.” This sign must be understood from the perspective of faith. King Ahaz missed it because he was without faith. God gave Ahaz a chance to repent and to be part of the remnant. This explains why Isaiah was asked to meet Ahaz with his son, ‘Shear-Jashub’ which means ‘a remnant shall repent'”. But he did not take the sign calling for his repentance seriously.
For us this sign would be Mary, who is the woman or the daughter of Zion. She would give birth to our Lord. The angel appeared to Mary and said, “Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.” This son of hers would be called the Emmanuel, God is with us. The virgin conception of Jesus and the virgin birth is a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah. God fulfilled His promise to King David that He would put on His throne a descendant so that his dynasty would never end. The Incarnation and the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord bring these prophecies to fulfilment. Christ by His coming to earth, becoming man, living and dying for us, reveal to us the face and mercy of the Father. His incarnation which is destined for the paschal mystery was prophesied by Simeon at the Temple when he said, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Lk 2:34f)
But all these would not have been possible if not for Mary’s faith and trust in God. She surrendered her life into the hands of God by consenting to be the mother of the Saviour. She put her life at risk and together with Jesus would suffer much for the realization of the promise of God to David that He would establish the dynasty of David forever. In Jesus, God’s kingdom is established because His paschal mystery wins salvation and redemption for us all.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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