20250502 WITNESSING WITH THE POWER OF GOD
02 May 2025, Friday, 2nd Week of Easter
First reading | Acts 5:34-42 |
They were glad to have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name
One member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee called Gamaliel, who was a doctor of the Law and respected by the whole people, stood up and asked to have the apostles taken outside for a time. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin, ‘Men of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people. There was Theudas who became notorious not so long ago. He claimed to be someone important, and he even collected about four hundred followers; but when he was killed, all his followers scattered and that was the end of them. And then there was Judas the Galilean, at the time of the census, who attracted crowds of supporters; but he got killed too, and all his followers dispersed. What I suggest, therefore, is that you leave these men alone and let them go. If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.’
His advice was accepted; and they had the apostles called in, gave orders for them to be flogged, warned them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. And so they left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name.
They preached every day both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of Christ Jesus was never interrupted.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 26(27):1,4,13-14 |
There is one thing I ask of the Lord, to live in the house of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord is my light and my help;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
before whom shall I shrink?
There is one thing I ask of the Lord, to live in the house of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
There is one thing I ask of the Lord,
for this I long,
to live in the house of the Lord,
all the days of my life,
to savour the sweetness of the Lord,
to behold his temple.
There is one thing I ask of the Lord, to live in the house of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope in the Lord!
There is one thing I ask of the Lord, to live in the house of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation |
Alleluia, alleluia!
We know that Christ is truly risen from the dead:
have mercy on us, triumphant King.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt4:4 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 6:1-15 |
The feeding of the five thousand
Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.
Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.
WITNESSING WITH THE POWER OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 5:34-42; PS 27:1,4,13-14; JOHN 6:1-15]
We are called to be missionary disciples. But many of us Catholics are diffident about sharing our faith in Christ with others for various reasons, from fear of rejection to respect for others’ belief. So, we only preach the Good News to those who seek it, leaving out the many who are searching but do not know the Good News about Jesus. Why? Because Christians who have not encountered the Lord deeply enough do not think that the Good News is worth sharing. Indeed, when we do not share the Good News, it means that deep in our hearts we do not believe that it really matters whether they know Jesus or not. So long as they live a good life and if they have their own faith beliefs, it is good enough. In other words, we do not really believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Saviour of the World. He is only a Saviour to a section of the world’s population but not necessarily for all.
But this was not the case for the apostles. They were not intimidated even when threatened with flogging and imprisonment for announcing the name of Jesus. In fact, when arrested by the authorities, and when they were brought before them for trial and judgement, they did not use that occasion to ask for their release. Instead, they used that opportunity to proclaim Jesus as the Saviour. They were not concerned for their lives but about witnessing to Jesus for the salvation of their fellowmen. St Luke said, “And so they left the presence of the Sanhedrin glad to have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the name. They preached every day both in the Temple and in private houses, and their proclamation of the Good News of Christ Jesus was never interrupted.” This was in spite of the fact that orders were given for them “to be flogged, warned them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.”
Maybe, we are too careful, like Gamaliel who advised the Sanhedrin on how to deal with the apostles whose miraculous deed of restoring the cripple back to health could not be disputed. He advised the Sanhedrin to “leave these men alone and let them go. If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.” That seems to be good advice, but it could work both ways. Whilst it is true that if it was of human origin it would not last, it could also be of Satanic origin, deceiving us with half-truths, such as in moral relativism. And even so, it might take a very long time, beyond one’s lifetime, to see the destruction of something that did not originate from God. We might have to wait until the end of time. It seems that Gamaliel was watching whether the Christian movement was from God but he died before he could make a commitment! We must challenge people to make a commitment now, and then they will discover that faith grows from strength to strength.
So, we can keep on delaying and hope that one day they will come to know the truth and about Jesus. But unless, as St Paul wrote to the Romans, “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Rom 10:14f) The truth is that there is no good time to proclaim the Good News. Every occasion is an opportunity to share about Christ, whether at home, in the office, at work, or with our friends. We do not wait for the right time because any time is right. Otherwise, the opportunity might not present itself again. It is not a question of the right time but rather, trusting in the power of God to act through us. It is not our eloquence or preaching but the work of the Holy Spirit who will open the hearts of our listeners. This is why we must not be afraid to announce the name of Jesus explicitly.
We must learn from the lessons that our Lord taught His apostles in today’s gospel. Jesus transformed every situation, even negative ones, into something positive. In this incident, we read that “a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.” Jesus was like Moses who sat on the hill to teach the people and instruct them on the truth. But it was late, and it would not be right for Jesus to send them home, and it would not be consistent with the preaching of Jesus because the gospel is not just nice and inspiring words but it is about charity in concrete action.
“Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.'” The answer of Philip is also our answer when it comes to witnessing for Jesus. We also say, “how to evangelize so many people? How to bring personal conversion to so many thousand Catholics? How to bring so many of our nominal Catholics back to church?” We are pragmatic like Philip. We work like an accountant, dealing with statistics and numbers. This is true when we want to build something or start a program. We worry about financial support. Of course, it is important to be practical, but we must also trust in the power of God to make it happen. We are like Philip who needed visibility to believe. It was Philip who said to the Lord, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” (Jn 14:8) We need proof and numbers before we decide.
Then we make the mistake of Andrew because he could not go beyond his feelings of helplessness. He only relied on himself. He told the Lord, “There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?” At least for Andrew, instead of lamenting like Philip, he looked for a solution and managed to discover a little boy with five loaves and two fishes. Again, like Philip, he was discouraged because looking at their resources, he concluded that there was no way to solve the problem. Neither did any of the other apostles come up with a solution. They all calculated and decided there was no way to possibly feed all those people. Common sense would tell us that. But they only had common sense, which was to send them away into the villages to find food and lodging, as it was already late and they were in the wilderness.
We all feel precisely like the disciples when trying to proclaim Christ to the world and to our own fellow Christians. When we think in this manner, we have forgotten the source of our power, which does not come from us but from Christ Himself. Christ never asked us to do His work by ourselves but always with Him. We should turn to Jesus who would show us the way and make it happen for us if we trust Him. This is possible only if we have first encountered Him in our lives and experienced Him working miracles in our lives personally and that of others. The disciples had forgotten how their master had changed water into wine, how He had healed the nobleman’s son from a distance, how the paralytic lying at the pool was able to walk again, the blind man see. Why did they not conclude that their master could work wonders in their lives?
Today, we need to correct our defective view of Jesus if we are to be His powerful witnesses. We must recognize that Jesus is Lord. Peter and John said to the Sanhedrin, “let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10,12) Indeed, St John in his gospel wants us to recognize that Jesus is the New Moses who was not just a teacher and prophet but He is the one who gives us the Bread of Life. By the multiplication of loaves for the five thousand, Jesus was alluding to the greatest teacher of the Old Testament, Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elisha, who was also a great prophet, a disciple of Elijah. Unless we rely on God’s power and strength, we cannot do His work.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment