Too Good To Be True 無咁大隻蛤乸隨街跳

Fourteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year B
Theme: Too Good To Be True 無咁大隻蛤乸隨街跳

It is hard for modern people to believe in God. Not only have they been baptized by STEAM curriculum, they enjoy feeding on fake news, rumours and secular values which are flooding the social media in the present age. But modern people are not stupid. In order to protect themselves from scams, they adopt a cynical attitude towards everything. They don’t believe that there is free lunch in this world. There must be strings attached in every offer, there is no commitment in relationships and job security is a myth etc. It is not easy to loosen their prejudices and to earn their trust. Indeed, it is more difficult to convince them to believe in Jesus nowadays than in earlier ages. If calling out to God is any indicator of faith in the Lord, no wonder Jesus lamented, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)

Let us begin our meditation with the first reading today taken from the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been a priest before the Babylonians suppressed the Judean rebellion in 597 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king deported the Judean king and his family, members of the upper class, priests and able-bodied males to Babylon to minimize the opportunity of future rebellions. This was the first exile and ten years later came the Babylonian Captivity before which, God called Ezekiel to become a prophet in Babylon and we read of his call today in the first reading. His prophetic ministry was not popular because during this period of time, he was rebuking the idolatry and unfaithfulness of the Israelites. For example, the slaughter of idolaters in Ezekiel 9. When Judah was totally conquered and exiled, Ezekiel changed his tone and began delivering prophecies of consolation, for example the vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37.

Like the call of Isaiah, the call of Ezekiel began with visions of the glory of God (Ezekiel 1) from which the Swiss author, Eric Von Däniken drew inspiration to write his 1968 best-seller “Chariots of the Gods”. In the text we read today, God brings us down to earth! Don’t assume that my glory and my authority would make your job as my spokesman any easier! I respect the autonomy of rebellious people because without freedom, men would not be able to actualize their potential. “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 heart; Let them walk in their own machinations” (Psalms 81:12-13). In other words, I would not force them to believe in you and thus believe in me. I am not ambitious. You don’t need to be eloquent or convincing. You simply add, “Thus says the LORD God” (Ezekiel 2:4b) at the end of your proclamation and you have done your job! I simply want them to know that I have kept my promise and have sent spokesmen to them, “And whether they hear or resist --- they are a rebellious house --- they shall know that a prophet has been among them” (2:5). When they are condemned on the Judgment Day, they only have themselves to blame! Don’t be discouraged if they don’t heed your exhortations. “You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king” (1 Samuel 8:7b). Of course, God would also make use of Gentile nations to chasten them so as to ensure that at least a remnant would care about their relationship with Him.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth with His disciples, His folks had already heard of the miracles He had previously performed, viz. exorcisms and healings but not the miracle of five loaves and two fish. In short, Jesus was already famous among his fellow kindred. The gang of disciples would definitely boost His image among His folks in Nazareth. Therefore, when Jesus began to teach in the synagogue, many were astonished and said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty needs are wrought by his hands” (Mark 6:2b)! As the aphorism goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt”. They took offence at Him when people of Nazareth recalled, “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” (6:3) For some old folks who had seen Him grow up from infancy, they thought they had known Jesus through and through. What good could one expect from a carpenter? His siblings had not been outstanding nor had become some powerful celebrities themselves; nor had had connections with princes! What a big contrast there was with the story of the bleeding woman we read of last week! How could we blame them for their lack of faith? Even Jesus’ own first disciples questioned whether anything good could come from Nazareth (John 1:16). To a certain extent, when the people of Nazareth took offence at Jesus, they were only reflecting their own self-image: Nothing good/great could come from Nazareth! We should feel sorry for them instead of blaming them. Because of their lack of faith, Jesus was not able to perform any mighty deed there and He was amazed at their lack of faith (Mark 6:5-6)! In other words, Jesus was amazed at His inability to work miracles!

Similar things are happening for a totally different reason. As the aphorism goes, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It was true that many of them were corrupt and self-fattening in the Middle Age. During the Reformation, Protestants rejected the clergy because popes, bishops and even priests enjoyed unrestrained authority. Protestants reformed their hierarchy by removing the office of priests whose main duty was to offer sacrifices but retained the pastoral role of ministers instead. Without priests, Protestants gave up consecrating bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus to offer up as a sacrifice to the Father. Therefore, their theology insisted on the memorial aspect of the Holy Communion and rejected the real presence of the Son of God in it by quoting “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19c). In defence, Catholic theologians insisted on the first half of the same verse, “This is my body, which will be given for you …” (22:19b). The Catholic Church believes that Jesus is the Son of God. He speaks and things come into existence. If we reject Jesus’ presence in the bread, we doubt His divinity. Then, we cannot claim to be Christians.

Alas! Their zeal of reformation to remove corruption had blinded the Protestants of the importance of faith in God over man’s integrity and virtues. They rejected the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and moral. Instead, Protestants claimed that all believers were equal in authority because of the Holy Spirit. Every believer was able to interpret the Bible, not needing the Magisterium to approve. Therefore, they insisted on “Sola Scriptura” to reject the teaching office of the Catholic Church! They also insisted on “Sola Fide” to reject works of mercy for justification and therefore selling indulgence was wrong.
How can they uphold “Sola Fide” when they failed to accept the words of Jesus to make bread as His body and wine His blood! Jesus would be very much amazed at their lack of faith in His divinity and their inconsistence in reasoning. We should feel sorry for them because without priests, Protestant churches do not have sacraments except Baptism and Matrimony which do not need ecclesiastic ministers. Without the real presence of Jesus in their Holy Communion, Eucharistic miracles would never happen there!

In 1905, Max Weber was able to trace the rise of the spirit of Capitalism to Protestant ethics. I am afraid they are also the breeding ground of modern Scientism which demystifies all articles of faith. There would be no need of a God in rendering truth about reality and the world! It is too good to be true for God to reconcile sinners to Himself in Christ, not counting our trespasses against us (2 Corinthians 5:19)! In ridding the Church of corruption, Protestants shut God out as well. Instead of strengthening faith in the Lord, Reformation ushered in cynicism. Martin Luther and the other reformists had successfully thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
Beloved brethren! God has sent prophets among us to tell us the message of reconciliation. It is a sign of God’s love towards humanity. Don’t hesitate! Embrace it! Amen.
God bless!

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