20230112 CONFIDENCE IN JESUS WHO LEADS US TO THE DAY OF REST
12 January 2023 Thursday, Week 1 in Ordinary Time
First reading | Hebrews 3:7-14 © |
Keep encouraging one another
The Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts, as happened in the Rebellion, on the Day of Temptation in the wilderness, when your ancestors challenged me and tested me, though they had seen what I could do for forty years. That was why I was angry with that generation and said: How unreliable these people who refuse to grasp my ways! And so, in anger, I swore that not one would reach the place of rest I had for them. Take care, brothers, that there is not in any one of your community a wicked mind, so unbelieving as to turn away from the living God. Every day, as long as this ‘today’ lasts, keep encouraging one another so that none of you is hardened by the lure of sin, because we shall remain co-heirs with Christ only if we keep a grasp on our first confidence right to the end.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 94(95):6-11 © |
O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’
Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us:
for he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.
O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’
For forty years I was wearied of these people
and I said: “Their hearts are astray,
these people do not know my ways.”
Then I took an oath in my anger:
“Never shall they enter my rest.”’
O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:88 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love give me life,
and I will do your will.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.Mt4:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 1:40-45 © |
The leprosy left the man at once, and he was cured
A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’ The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him.
CONFIDENCE IN JESUS WHO LEADS US TO THE DAY OF REST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Heb 3:7-14; Mk 1:40-45]
It is often said, “Call no man happy until he is dead!” Hence, when someone dies, we pray, “Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord.” When we speak of rest, we mean that we do not find peace and rest in this life. We are beset with all kinds of problems. We live in fear and anxiety over our life, our jobs, our health, our food, and the safety our family and our children, etc. Besides contending with the struggles of daily living, we also have to face our own personal difficulties in life, such as our emotional, spiritual or moral life. We do not know how to manage our emotional, sexual, physical and spiritual needs. As a result, we find ourselves trapped in our sins. So how can we find peace or rest? How can we find confidence in the promise of God that we can find rest today, here and now and not tomorrow?
Firstly, we must begin by asking what is it that prevents us from enjoying the rest promised to us? The hindrance to rest is implied in the first reading, “The Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts, as happened in the Rebellion, on the Day of Temptation in the wilderness.” Yes, we fail to listen because we have hardened our hearts.
And because we do not listen, we do not believe in Him. When we do not listen to others in dialogue, we create mistrust and misunderstanding. If this is true of human relationship, it is also true with regard to our relationship with the Lord. As the letter to the Hebrews warns us, “Take care, brothers, that there is not in any one of your community a wicked mind, so unbelieving as to turn away from the living God.” We lack trust in God. Hence, we do not have faith that living the life of God is better; nor are we willing to exchange our sinful way of life for the ways of God.
So the lack of listening and belief naturally leads to disobedience and sin. We find the lure of sin more attractive and tempting. Because of our stubbornness of heart, we prefer to choose our way of life, which is the way of sin. We continue to engage in living licentious, dishonest, self-centred and a materialistic life. Like the Israelites, we fail to grasp the ways of God. By so doing, we commit the same sin that led humanity to destruction, the sin of disobedience. It is the sin of Adam and Eve and that of the Israelites.
In contrast, we have the example of the leper in today’s gospel. He “came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.'” For him to approach Jesus, in the first place, he had to recognize his sinful condition. Leprosy, as understood by the Israelites, is more than simply a medical condition. Rather it is a symbol of sin and the consequence of sin. As a symbol, leprosy illustrates the contagious and infectious nature of sin. What is significant is that leprosy develops slowly and gradually; often not noticed immediately until the whole body rots. Sin is to be understood in this manner, for one sin leads to another until the whole person is finally contaminated and perishes. Sin however does not only destroy the individual but it alienates him from the community as well. So a leper is put out of the community and he suffers tremendous isolation and humiliation. A sinner, like a leper, is often ostracized, broken and rejected by others. So great was the suffering and pain that resulted from leprosy that in the days of old, to be a leper was as good as to be dead. He was practically living the life of a dead man.
Hence, before we can be healed and forgiven, we must recognize the sinful condition we are in; the pain we are going through in our lives; the sufferings we are causing to ourselves because of our stubborn and ignorant ways; the hurts we cause to others, especially our loved ones; and the impending disasters that will befall us if we do not seek repentance.
Secondly, we are told that the leper had faith in Jesus. He implored Jesus, “‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.'” So faith and confidence in Jesus is a prerequisite for healing and restoration. Without this confidence in Jesus, we would not be able to find rest as we continue to live anxious, suspicious and unenlightened lives.
Thirdly, we have many good reasons to place our full confidence in Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews speaks of Jesus as the revelation of God, as the ultimate prophet of God who comes to us as man even though He was the Son of God! As man, He shares in our humanity, our struggles, including our temptations, except sin. Thus, we can be confident to approach Him as the throne of mercy for He is our “compassionate and trustworthy high priest … able to atone for human sins.”
But most of all, we can have great confidence in Jesus because not only does He understand our human struggles but also because “he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted.” Indeed, “as it was his purpose to bring a great many of his sons into glory, it was appropriate that God, for whom everything exists and through whom everything exists, should make perfect, through suffering, the leader who would take them to their salvation.” So Jesus is our leader in sanctity, since as man He has overcome sin and most of all, the power of death, for “by his death he could take away all the power of the devil … set free all those who has been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.”
If we do not want to repeat the folly of Israel, then the author of Hebrews invites us to “…listen to him today; do not harden your hearts”. We must imitate Jesus, in spite of His busy schedule and hectic ministry, He would “in the morning, long before dawn …got up … left the house … and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.” It was important for Jesus, although He was God, to speak to His Father and, most of all, to listen to Him. If not, He could have easily been distracted from His mission of preaching the Good News to everyone and not just to those people who were seeking out for Him to make Him king.
Secondly, to find rest in our souls, we must begin anew by celebrating the Sacrament of reconciliation. Once we recognize our sinfulness, we need healing and confirmation of God’s love. Thus, Jesus instructed the leper, “go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.”
For this reason, the Church invites repentant sinners to celebrate the Sacrament of reconciliation. It is not because God cannot forgive us if we do not confess before His ordained minister, but because we need to be assured of His forgiveness and hear the pronouncement of being forgiven. At the same time, we are received into the community of saints since we have alienated ourselves from that community by our sinful action.
Thirdly, even after reconciliation, the writer to the Hebrews urges the Christians to care for each other and encourage one another. Yes, we need the support of the Christian community if we are to remain faithful to the voice of God. Concretely, this means that we must be inserted into the Christian community, listening and celebrating the Word of God and the sacraments together; joining each other in Christian worship and fellowship. It is this constant and mutual spiritual support from each other that we can remain focused, keeping our eyes on Jesus and growing in confidence in Him “right to the end.”
Finally, to find rest we must witness to Jesus and be proactive by reaching out as evangelizers of the Good News. When we are reconciled or healed, the emphasis and focus is on Jesus who is not only our healer, but our saviour and our Lord who leads us to the Promised Land, the Rest that God wants to give us, here and hereafter, whether we are sick or healthy; rich or poor.
Yes, in the final analysis, as the second reading reminds us, the real rest comes when we are “co-heirs with Christ”. What can truly give us peace and rest is to know that we are sharing in the life and the inheritance of Christ. Jesus, who is our brother and the Son of the Father, has given us a share of His sonship and His glory, which is to share the life of God. This is the rest that will assuage all our thirst and hunger.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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