20220406 DISTINGUISHING BAPTIZED CATHOLICS FROM DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
06 April, 2022, Wednesday, 5th Week of Lent
First reading |
Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28 © |
God has sent his angel to rescue his servants
King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.’ These words infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was very different now as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers, ‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.’
Responsorial Psalm | Daniel 3:52-56 © |
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
Blest your glorious holy name.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest in the temple of your glory.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest who gaze into the depths.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
You are blest in the firmament of heaven.
To you glory and praise for evermore.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt4:4 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | cf.Lk8:15 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | John 8:31-42 © |
If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed
To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:
‘If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.’
They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
everyone who commits sin is a slave.
Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,
but the son’s place is assured.
So if the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.
I know that you are descended from Abraham;
but in spite of that you want to kill me
because nothing I say has penetrated into you.
What I, for my part, speak of
is what I have seen with my Father;
but you, you put into action
the lessons learnt from your father.’
They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:
‘If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do as Abraham did.
As it is, you want to kill me
when I tell you the truth
as I have learnt it from God;
that is not what Abraham did.
What you are doing is what your father does.’
‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:
‘If God were your father, you would love me,
since I have come here from God;
yes, I have come from him;
not that I came because I chose,
no, I was sent, and by him.’
DISTINGUISHING BAPTIZED CATHOLICS FROM DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [DANIEL 3:14-20,24-25,28; JOHN 8:31-42]
Right from the outset, the address of Jesus was given to those Jews who believed in Him. “To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: ‘If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free’.” At one point of time, many were leaving Him after His discourse on the Eucharist. (cf Jn 6:60-69) However, the tide seemed to changed and an increasing number of followers started to come to Him. This is true for the Church as well. We have many people who claim to believe in Jesus and are baptized. We have 383,000 baptized Catholics in our archdiocese and there are 1.2 billion in the world. But how many are really disciples of Jesus? This is the question that the scripture readings are asking of us. Indeed, Jesus is not interested in having followers but He wants disciples. At the commissioning, the Lord said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:19f)
Who are simply followers of Jesus and who are disciples? Followers are those who claim affinity with Jesus based on the fact that they are baptized Catholics. There are many Catholics who are nominal Catholics. They were baptized simply because they belong to a line of generation of Catholic ancestors before them. Some are even proud to be known as Catholics like their forefathers. Some of course could not even be bothered whether they are Catholics or otherwise. This was the case of the followers of Jesus. They said, “we are descended from Abraham” and “Our father is Abraham”. They thought that simply because they belonged to the tribe of Abraham, they automatically were children of Abraham and therefore children of God. Isn’t this the case of many of us who are baptized as well? Just because we are baptized, we think that we are children of God and therefore earn the right to go to heaven and the right to call God as our Father.
Who are the disciples of Christ? Firstly, we must ask ourselves whether we are slaves or sons and daughters of God. The irony is that the Jews claimed that they were free and they had “never been the slaves of anyone.” In a certain sense, it is not true because they were under the dominion of Egypt, Philistine, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and the Romans. But in another sense, it is true because they were able to reject any integration into the culture of their conquerors. Regardless, Jesus’ notion of freedom is not tied to any nationalistic identity or even racial identity but whether we are free to love and walk in truth. So long as we are addicted to our sins, pornography, lust, gluttony, drinking, gambling, avarice, envy, anger and pride, we are slaves of Satan. That was why the Lord said, “I tell you most solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a slave.”
But there is another form of slavery, it is to rituals, laws and self-righteousness. Jesus warned us, “Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured, but the son’s place is assured.” There are some Catholics who pride themselves as good Catholics because they pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily, meditate on the scriptures, are involved in Church ministries, attend services regularly and give to the poor. They do all these things out of fear of God’s punishment or to gain the glory and recognition of man. We can obey the laws like the Pharisees, and observe them meticulously, but we end up being legalistic, judgmental and fault-finding. We are set free from obvious sins but we fall into pride and self-righteousness. We are not free in loving God.
But if we are sons of God, then we will act differently. A true child of God is not a slave to sin. “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1 Jn 5:18f) So long as we are under the bondage of sin, we are slaves of the Evil One. A true child of God is capable of love for all including sinners. St John wrote, “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.” (1 Jn 5:2-4)
Secondly, we know that we are children of God if we recognize God as our Father. They said, “We were not born of prostitution but we have one father: God.” If God were our Father, then we would love Him and obey His commandments, seen in our love for our brothers and sisters. When the Jews denied that they were born of prostitution, they were denying that they were unchaste. But they contradicted themselves by their betrayal in their relationship with God. In the bible, our relationship with God is always illustrated with the imagery of marriage. Idolatry is the worship of anything other than God, which includes spirits and the worship of self.
However, to recognise God as Father also implies that we accept His Son whom He has sent to reveal Him. Although the Jews claimed to have descended from Abraham and God was their Father, they contradicted themselves by rejecting Jesus, since Jesus came from God. Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, since I have come here from God; yes, I have come from him; not that I came because I chose, no, I was sent, and by him.” Indeed, accepting Jesus and loving Him is a condition in loving God since Jesus is the personal representative of His Father. Instead of accepting Jesus, they wanted to kill Him. Jesus said, “I know that you are descended from Abraham; but in spite of that you want to kill me because nothing I say has penetrated into you. What I, for my part, speak of is what I have seen with my Father; but you, you put into action the lessons learnt from your father.” Instead of imitating Abraham, they copied the ways of their corrupt ancestors, committing evil and betrayed the Covenant. Hence, Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. As it is, you want to kill me when I tell you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did. What you are doing is what your father does.”
How, then, can we become sons of our heavenly Father and live a life of freedom? We must have faith in His Son. Jesus said, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus has come to set us free from our sins and our slavery by making us sons and daughters of God at our baptism, when we die to our sins and rise to a new life in Him. Only Jesus who is the Son of God, the revealer of the Father, can set us free from our sins, by dying to death and conquering sin and hatred by rising from the dead. Jesus wanted His followers to ground their faith in Him so that they could remain strong even when they could not understand fully what He was saying and doing. The truth is that Jesus comes from above and our finite mind cannot fully grasp what the Lord is telling us. This is true especially when it comes to the truths that Jesus came to reveal to us. Without having faith in Him, we will find the teachings of the bible difficult to accept, teachings such as the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, indissolubility of marriage, marriage as between a man and a woman, no taking of human life, and the dignity of the human person. But if we have faith in Jesus as the Son of God, we can take Him at His word, as St Peter said when the Lord asked him, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (cf Jn 6:67-69) Being receptive to the Lord and trusting in Him is the hallmark of discipleship. We believe not because we understand but because He said so. This requires docility, loyalty and trust. When we reject Jesus, we cannot at the same time not reject the Father because He speaks to us through His Son.
Only those who accept Jesus as the Son of God can follow Him unto death, like the three men who died for their faith in God. They told the King, “Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.” Such was the faith also of the apostles when under persecution and instruction not to proclaim the name of Jesus, declared, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19f) And again, later on before the Sanhedrin, they said, “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32)
To have faith in Jesus entails that we allow His Word to dwell in us. Jesus said, “If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.” We cannot know the truth unless we come to Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (cf Jn 14:6) Abiding in Jesus, we come to know the truth. But more than just knowing what is right or wrong, we are able to do what is right as well. The freedom that comes from knowing the truth is more than intellectual knowledge but the freedom to love and to be freed from our sinful inclination so that we can do good and share in the life and love of God. It is a freedom that comes from our union with the Father and the Son. Hence, remaining in the Son is the way to remain in the Father and to remain in truth and love. Enjoying true freedom, we can truly say we are sons and daughters of God.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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