20240905 HUMILITY IN FAITH AS A PRE-REQUISITE FOR GOD’S SERVANT
05 September 2024, Thursday, 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
1 Corinthians 3:18-23 |
The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God
Make no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 23(24):1-6 |
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.2Thess2:14 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Through the Good News God called us
to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt4:19 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Follow me, says the Lord,
and I will make you into fishers of men.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 5:1-11 |
They left everything and followed him
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
HUMILITY IN FAITH AS A PRE-REQUISITE FOR GOD’S SERVANT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 CORINTHIANS 3:18-23; LUKE 5:1-11]
What does it take for one to be considered a good leader? The ways of the world are different from the ways of God. When we choose people for leadership, the most important criterion is his academic achievements, knowledge, skills, eloquence and achievements. Look at the world today – world leaders and corporate leaders are hardly chosen for their virtues of integrity, and least of all, their humility. Today, we need to boast of how great we are if we are to vie for positions of leadership. We need to let the world know our achievements so that they will think well of us. But few people care whether we live an honest and humble life, whether we are faithful to our spouse or a good father to our children, or whether we care for our subordinates. So long as we can deliver the results, which is normally measured in terms of economic growth, and we can make money for the organization or our supporters and investors, we are considered great leaders.
But for those with a faith perspective, the most important virtue for godly leadership is humility. If we examine all the great leaders in the bible and in history, humility is what shines through them. Mary the mother of our Lord is a shining example of humility when called upon by the Lord to be the mother of the Saviour. Moses, Gideon, Isaiah and Jeremiah all confessed that they were not ready or capable to undertake the mission that God entrusted them. They were reluctant leaders, not because they were not generous but they were very much conscious of their limitations. They were never boastful or over-confident of themselves. They knew that they depended very much on divine assistance and His intervention. They never relied on themselves.
So too we see in St Paul in today’s scripture reading. He knew that his background disqualified him to be chosen as an apostle of Christ. He wrote, “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 1:12-14) This explains why in today’s scripture readings, St Paul reminded the Christian leaders not to compare themselves with other leaders, and the community not to worship or idolize the leaders because they were all servants of God, chosen by Him, and not because they were deserving of leadership. “So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.”
Indeed, the way of God is different from the ways of the world. “Make no mistake about it: if anyone thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts. He knows how useless they are. Or again, God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise.” The Crucified Christ is the most illogical instrument of salvation from God. As St Paul wrote earlier on, “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:23-25) No one would ever think that Christ the Son of God could become so humble to the extent of being a servant who suffered a shameful death on the cross. And that through His death, a greater miracle could happen, namely, His resurrection. This is the most concrete demonstration of God’s power in human weakness, that through the death of Christ, sin and death are conquered. Who could ever imagine that this would be the way in which God would reveal to us His love and mercy; and through the cross, win salvation for us!
This is why a man of God must act differently from the worldly wise. He must be a man of faith. But one cannot submit in faith without humility. The worldly-wise people want to control. Everything must be proven to their satisfaction. They believe in hard work, knowledge and power as summed up in science and technology. They think that they can find a solution to everything in life. It is just a matter of life. Faith, for them, is naivety and an insult to their intelligence and knowledge. This is how humanists feel and hence they do not believe that God is necessary for us to live our lives meaningfully and fully.
This was the case of Simon in today’s gospel as well. He trusted in himself and his knowledge. He was overly confident of himself when the Lord asked him to “put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.” Simon replied “Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.” His reply is ambiguous. On one hand, it could be interpreted as an act of humble faith in Christ because even though he did not believe that any catch would take place, he did it in obedience to the Lord. But at this stage, we are not too sure how confident he was of a catch. His humility was expressed in his obedience to the Lord’s call.
So what is required of humility is firstly obedience to His word even if we cannot understand or agree that it would be possible. Just submitting to His Word is what is required of us. This is a very necessary expression of faith in today’s world. The truth is that people in the world can no longer submit in obedience to the Word of God like Peter because they no longer believe that the Word of God is true or valid in their times. They want to rewrite the Word of God but since that would not be possible, they seek to reinterpret the Word of God in their human and worldly thinking, reducing the Word of God and compromising the Word to suit the world and its lifestyle. Deep in our hearts, we no longer rely on the Word of God and believe it as God’s word. We believe in ourselves.
But if we dare to take the leap of faith, then we would be surprised by what God can do in our lives. Surrendering ourselves to the Word of God not only requires faith but courage. To be able to surrender ourselves totally to Him even when we doubt or disagree with what is said requires abject humility. In the case of Mary, even though she could not understand how a virgin could conceive a child, and the explanation of the angel that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and she would conceive a child, requires faith in the impossible. But we are dealing precisely with the impossible, as in the case of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Hence, the angel said to Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Lk 1:37) With that Mary replied, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) So too, we are called to be like Peter and Mary who said “yes” to the Lord even though we might not be able to understand fully how it would be possible. And true enough, we read in the gospel, “And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.”
It is said that the reward of faith is greater faith. “When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners.” Faith grows through faith when we see the power of God at work in our lives. This is why, we grow from faith to faith. St Paul wrote, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” (Rom 1:17)
Only with this faith are we ready for mission. “Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.” When we are ready to surrender in faith to the Lord, in humility and trust, God will do great things with us and for us. He will work wonders through our cooperation with Him. This is what great missionaries and servants of God must do; never to rely on ourselves and our ingenuity but to trust in the grace and power of God at work in us through prayer.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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