Listen To Him 你們要聽從祂

Second Lenten Sunday, Year B
Theme: Listen To Him 你們要聽從祂

We have entered the annual Lenten Season for ten days. It is always good for us to review how much progress we have made in coming closer to our Lord who is almighty and unfathomable. Yet, for our sake, He downgrades Himself and reaches down to us by establishing a covenant with us. In doing so, He restrains His power to do earth-shattering miracles; turns on His mercy to forgive our iniquities and showers us with abundant graces. God is eternal and His covenant with humanity is one and everlasting. However, human beings are finite creatures living in history. So God renews and unfolds His covenant with the descendants of our First Parents in history. The Sinai Covenant marks the zenith of revelation in the first stage and we call it the Old Testament. Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection marks the zenith of the final stage and we call it the New Testament. Unlike the Old Testament in which Moses, a mere mortal acted as the mediator of the covenant, the New Testament is the final and everlasting covenant because the Son of God took the mediator role in this covenant. Last week, we meditated on the theme of entering into a covenant with God, our Creator. This week, we turn our attention to an indispensable element in keeping an ongoing covenant, viz. listening and obeying.

Before we obey, we must find out what to obey. As Christians, we should obey the will of God. So today we meditate on the importance of listening to the Word of God in order to know the will of God. As Christians who take our faith seriously enough, we always find it difficult to discern the will of God in our communication with Him in prayers. Have we chosen the wrong medium/channel of communication? Don’t worry. There is another medium/channel. Studying the Bible. It is an essential practice because the Bible contains the Word of God. The Bible is the embodiment of the Word of God. It is the source of all branches of Christian theology and holy writings of Church Fathers. All of them are only footnotes of the Bible. There are 73 books in the Catholic Bible and they are not of equal importance. Ultimately, it is Jesus Christ whose words and deeds we should study in depth because John the Evangelist explicitly portrays Jesus Christ as the Word of God in the gospel which bears his name. In other words, Jesus Christ is the personification of the Word of God. The Gospel is not simply a biography of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Gospel! Now, let us turn to the readings today.

The well-known story of Abraham offering up Isaac as a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord God is the first reading today. This story is both disturbing and challenging because the Lord God instructed Abraham to do so in order to test him. “Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test and said to him: Abraham! ‘Here I am!’ he replied” （Genesis 22:1）. My ex-colleague found it difficult to teach the story to Form One kids. He was unable to convince himself to tell the story of an almighty, omniscient and loving God that abused an old man of over a hundred years old! Of course, there were many apologetic explanations. For example, it was a story to abolish human sacrifice practices found in idolatry; or God is omniscient but Abraham was not. God tested Abraham in order to make Abraham know how far he could believe in Him; or Isaac was a pre-figure of Jesus Christ because he carried the wood of sacrifice just as Jesus carried the cross to Mount Calvary; or God was actually putting Himself to the test. If Abraham passed the test, how could He be God if He refused to let His only begotten Son to die for humanity etc. If my colleague bothered to search, he would not have had his conscience tortured for so many years. Regrettably, it was the pre-Google era! Well even without the Internet, had my ex-colleague studied sufficient Bible, he would have found an answer in the book of Hebrews which reads, “By faith Abraham when put to the test offered up Isaac … He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back …” （Hebrews 11:17-19）. Beloved brethren. I quote his case to encourage you to study the Bible to draw ever-running water to put your restless mind to the rest. Keep one thing in mind. God’s call is personal. He calls us by names as shown in the Abraham story above. Therefore, God’s will is tailor-made and the most appropriate for you.

In fact, the Lord God also laments how we do not listen to Him and walk His path. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth that I may fill it. But my people did not listen to my words; Israel would not submit to me. So I thrust them away to the hardness of their hearts; Let them walk in their own machinations” （Psalms 81:11-13）. The Lord God continues to warn, “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the desert. There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works. Forty years I loathed that generation; I said: ‘This people’s heart goes astray; they do not know my ways. Therefore I swore in my anger: They shall never enter my rest’” （95:8-11）. The Lord God warns the Jews not to repeat the mistakes of those ancestors who died in the wilderness and failed to enter the Promised Land. [Note: The failure of Moses to enter the Promised Land keeps bugging me. As far as I have read, no answer puts my mind to rest. Obviously, I am no better than my ex-colleague is!] The book of Hebrews also meditates on the importance of listening to and obeying God’s commands as the Psalter teaches in this excerpt of Psalms （Hebrews 3:7-19）. Once again, it is important to study the Bible to learn from these God-chosen authors of the books collected in the Bible. Their writings help strengthen our faith in God. Thus, I recommend my beloved brethren to read the verses themselves to establish your stance.

In the Transfiguration story, what did the three apostles hear? The conversation among Jesus, Moses and Elijah （Mark 9:4） and the Father’s testimony, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him” （9:7c）. The gospel of Mark does not mention the contents of the conversation. Luke does （Luke 9:31）. This part is too obvious. Let’s focus on what the Father meant when He says, “Listen to Him”. What had Jesus told the apostles to kick-start this Transfiguration? It was the first prediction of His Passion in Jerusalem （Mark 8:31） during which Peter tried to stop Jesus （8:32）. Then Jesus knew that probably He had over-estimated the potentials of the apostles, in particular Peter’s, to carry on His mission after His ascension. He needed to reinforce their faith and perhaps the Transfiguration would do the job. Peter’s performance on the spot was less than desirable but was expected. Peter says, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us …” （9:5）. Perhaps Peter had previously says, “Rabbi, it is good that we follow you! Let us continue to follow you. So you should not die in Jerusalem.” Peter and the rest of the disciples failed to listen to Jesus. Each one of them harboured their unique anticipation on the Messiah. Perhaps this pre-occupation with a better tomorrow prevented them from listening to the Son of God, thus knowing the will of God.

Beloved brethren! Are we able to empty all the anticipations/personal ambitions/pre-occupations/ in our hearts in order to discern God’s will? Are we able to listen to Jesus in prayers and Bible study? Don’t forget, we have a third channel, viz. one of these least brothers of Jesus （Matthew 25:40）.
God bless!

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2021 Reflection
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