20150527
GOD IS PATIENT IN HELPING US TO PURIFY OUR MOTIVES
IN SERVING HIM
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Ecclesiasticus
36:1-2,5-7,13-19 ©
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Have mercy on us,
Master, Lord of all, and look on us,
cast the
fear of yourself over every nation.
Let them acknowledge
you, just as we have acknowledged
that
there is no God but you, Lord.
Send new portents, do
fresh wonders,
win glory
for your hand and your right arm.
Gather together all
the tribes of Jacob,
restore
them their inheritance as in the beginning.
Have mercy, Lord, on
the people who have invoked your name,
on Israel
whom you have treated as a first-born.
Show compassion on
your holy city,
on
Jerusalem the place of your rest.
Fill Zion with songs
of your praise,
and your
sanctuary with your glory.
Bear witness to those
you created in the beginning,
and bring
about what has been prophesied in your name.
Give those who wait
for you their reward,
and let
your prophets be proved worthy of belief.
Grant, Lord, the prayer
of your servants,
in
accordance with Aaron’s blessing on your people,
so that all the
earth’s inhabitants may acknowledge
that you
are the Lord, the everlasting God.
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Psalm
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Psalm
78:8-9,11,13 ©
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Have mercy on us,
Lord, and look on us.
Do not hold the guilt
of our fathers against us.
Let your
compassion hasten to meet us;
we are
left in the depths of distress.
Have mercy on us,
Lord, and look on us.
O God our saviour,
come to our help.
Come for
the sake of the glory of your name.
O Lord our God,
forgive us our sins;
rescue us
for the sake of your name.
Have mercy on us,
Lord, and look on us.
Let the groans of the
prisoners come before you;
let your
strong arm reprieve those condemned to die.
But we, your people,
the flock of your pasture,
will give
you thanks for ever and ever.
We will
tell your praise from age to age.
Have mercy on us,
Lord, and look on us.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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1Jn2:5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Whenever anyone obeys
what Christ has said,
God’s love comes to
perfection in him.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mk10:45
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Son of Man came
to serve,
and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 10:32-45 ©
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The disciples were on
the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were
in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive. Once more taking the
Twelve aside he began to tell them what was going to happen to him: ‘Now we are
going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the
chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him
over to the pagans, who will mock him and spit at him and scourge him and put
him to death; and after three days he will rise again.’
James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him. ‘Master,’ they said to him ‘we want
you to do us a favour.’ He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for
you?’ They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other
at your left in your glory.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus said
to them. ‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the
baptism with which I must be baptised?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to
them, ‘The cup that I must drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with
which I must be baptised you shall be baptised, but as for seats at my right
hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they
have been allotted.’
When the
other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John, so Jesus
called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that among the pagans their
so-called rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority
felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to become great
among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must
be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’
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GOD
IS PATIENT IN HELPING US TO PURIFY OUR MOTIVES IN SERVING HIM
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On
Monday the gospel made it clear that happiness is ours only if we love the Lord
with all our mind, heart, soul and strength. When the rich man heard it,
he went away sad because of his attachment to his wealth. He managed to
observe all the Ten Commandments by avoiding sin. However, eternal life
and joy is more than just not falling into sin, but living a life of selfless
love in freedom. This vocation to live a life of freedom in love was
elaborated in yesterday’s gospel as a call to sacrifice. However, it is
not sufficient just to offer sacrifices unless these are given from a pure and
loving heart.
Ironically,
neither the rich man nor the disciples could find the courage to surrender
their desire for wealth and power. Indeed, the disciples’ response was
very calculative. Peter asked Jesus, “What about us who have left
everything to follow you?” Following Jesus was seen in terms of an
investment. It was not purely done out of joy and love. So absorbed
were they in their pursuit of wealth and power that they were completely
insensitive to the sentiments of Jesus. Instead of taking the somber
prophecy of His imminent death with sympathy, they reacted as if they did not
hear what Jesus said about His impending suffering and death in Jerusalem.
As the
evangelist noted, “they were in a daze, and those who followed were
apprehensive.” Indeed, until the very last days of their master’s life on
earth, they were ignorant of what Jesus wanted to impart to them about
authentic and life-giving service. Today we see their thoughtlessness to Jesus’
emotional state, for they continued to squabble over power, position and glory,
even after hearing about His coming tragic death. If we were Jesus, we
would have been so terribly hurt. What if you were in pain and dying, and
you see your children fighting over your wealth instead of caring for you?
So,
before we reproach James and John for seeking glory and status, we must realize
that we, too, are no better than them. We must realize that the ego of
the human person is extremely subtle. Man basically is an insecure and
proud animal. He is always anxious about his future and wealth, which he
mistakes for his security to live. At the same time, he is very proud of
himself and desperately seeks recognition, which he mistakes as love.
Thus,
it would be extremely naive of us to think that service to the Lord is always
done out of pure motives. The truth is that even when serving the Lord,
we have different motives, some basically for our own interest. Even the
disciples initially followed Jesus and served Him for some prospective earthly
reward. So if we search deeply into ourselves at the services we
render to others, and with humility aided by the revelation of God who lights
up all things that are in darkness, we will come to realize that our motives in
serving the Lord, our commitment to Church ministries, or helping the poor, are
at best, ambiguous. In some ways, too, we expect some reward, if not
tangible, at least, we hope for some recognition and appreciation.
So,
even in service and good works, whether within or without the Church, the
desire and temptation for recognition, power, glory and wealth are still latent
in our hearts. The old Adam still lives in us, dormant, even if he does
not reign in us. So let us not think that our love is so pure and
unconditional. We must therefore always be alert and conscious of the
origin of our good works.
The
irony is that if we are searching for the real kingdom of love, joy and
freedom, then the truth is that no one, not even Jesus Himself, can give us the
earthly kingdom that we seek in life. That is why Jesus told the
disciples, “But sitting at my right or my left is not mine to give; that is for
those whom it has been reserved.” Why is that so? Jesus did
not come to give us worldly happiness, which is an illusion. The greatest
power is not to rule over others and dominate them. If power is not used
for selfless service and the promotion of justice, peace and unity, then we
would be destroyed by such power, as we can see in current political
developments where dictators are being overthrown by popular uprising.
So why
are people not responding to the real kingdom that Jesus is preparing for
us? The answer is simple: because people are too blind to see what the
real kingdom is. For Jesus, the real kingdom does not lie in gaining more
power, wealth and glory. The kingdoms of this world cannot give us real
joy and meaning in life because they only bring emptiness and isolation.
A person who has power, wealth and glory is always afraid to lose them.
Such people can never enter the kingdom. They will be miserable from the
beginning till the end, because of fear. That is why Jesus remarked that
whichever way the disciples choose, they would surely drink the cup that He has
to drink, and be baptized in the same bath of pain as Him. The only
difference is that some suffer on account of their own folly whilst others
suffer for the sake of humanity.
However,
those who choose freely to drink the cup and be baptized with Him in the same
bath of pain, sharing His love for humanity and for God, would surely sit at
His right and left when He enters into His glory. This is the only way to
the kingdom. Jesus made it clear that He was going up to Jerusalem to be
killed. In Mark’s theology, Jerusalem would be the place where the
kingdom of God would be established. In other words, for Jesus, He has
attained the real kingdom in His heart, for He has already conquered the fear
of even His own death. He knew that His death would be the final and
decisive testimony to His love for the Father and for us.
Of
course, most of us would not be ready to surrender ourselves completely to
Jesus unto death just yet. We might be ready to take up the cross
but not yet ready to be crucified. Still, this invitation to the cross
and death would be an essential condition for entry into the kingdom.
This invitation to death for most of us would necessarily be exercised in
selfless love and service for others. But that is not all.
This service has to be given with humility. We are not here to lord over
others, or, as Jesus said, to exercise our authority in such a way that we make
our importance felt. Nay, we are called to put others always before us,
knowing that our first priority is to serve the needs of others. If
authority and power is not used for the good of others, there is no reason why
we should desire to hold on to an office that causes more harm, destruction and
disunity simply because of our pride and ego. We recall the words of
Jesus, “No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the
Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many.’
But we
need not despair in acknowledging how imperfect we are in serving Him
completely; limited as we are in our capacity to love. The Good news is
that He is patient with us, teaching us slowly to let go. He accepts
whatever deficient motives or love we can give to Him. But that does not
mean that we resign ourselves to the state we are in. Rather, we need to
take serious steps to purify our motives further through self awareness and
prayer; and expand our capacity to love more by growing in generosity and
compassion. Through our own personal struggles, we will gradually die to
ourselves and become wiser and more enlightened, as the apostles did after the
resurrection of Christ, so that we can truly see that the real kingdom does not
lie in a worldly life but in a simple and self-forgetful life of love and
service.
So in
humility we make the prayer from the book of Sirach ours, asking God to help
us, just as He helped the people in the post-Exilic time who were struggling
with the oppressions and trials in their lives from their enemies. Like
the psalmist we pray, “Show us, O Lord, the light of your kindness. Remember
not against us the iniquities of the past; may your compassion quickly come to
us, for we are brought very low.” And we can be confident that God is
merciful towards us. We can be confident in His grace at work in our
lives. Like Sirach, we ask, “Send new portents, do fresh wonders, win
glory for your hand and your right arm. Grant, Lord, the prayer of your
servants … so that all the earth’s inhabitants may acknowledge that you are the
Lord, the everlasting God.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
