What makes idolatory attractive?
Many of the hand-made idols look monstrous and scary. Shouldn't idolatory be repulsive? Many of these cults engage in morally debasing practices such as sexual orgies and even human sacrifices. We find in history and archeology, records of temple prostitutes and King Ahaz burned his children after Canaan deities (2 Chronicles 28:3). Shouldn't idolatory be despised?
I think idolatory meets the human needs of security and autonomy. That explains why it is wide-spread even though it is repulsive.
Mother nature is unpredictable and our God is elusive. Therefore, we cannot blame ancient people for engaging in idolatory because those deities were more controllable and manageable than our God. Those fertility deities appear to answer our needs, give us abundant harvest though the harvest comes from God.
On the other hand, deep down in man's psyche, there has always been a denial of his being a creature. Man wants to take full control over his destiny. He wants autonomy. That is why man works hard to drive God out of his world and wants to become a god himself.
Well, like it or not, it is a price God and man must pay to honour the free will God gives us. God does not want to force man to worship HIm. He paid a heavy price by sending His Son to die on the cross for us. Man is free to choose. He pays a heavy price if he chooses the wrong way of life. This cosmic game is played out in human history, in the salvation history recorded in the Bible.
God helped man by making his life more manageable and controllable. Through Moses, God lay down the rules of the game: keep the commandments and do not worship idols.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:
the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day,
and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).
Nothing can be simpler. But why then did man continue to turn to idols? Were the commandments too difficult to observe? Men were able to do more challenging and heroic feats. So, what's wrong with man?
Man has created a new kind of idols. God intended man to turn to Him through keeping the law. However, man went to the extreme and wrongly believed that by working hard himself in keeping the law, he would be blameless and justified before God. He turned the law into idols and forgot his Creator. St. Paul pointed out that this was an illusion. Justification is not achieved through hard work. Rather, it is through our faith in Jesus, in his death and resurrection.
they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Romans 3:24-25a).
Many were not convinced. They still cling to something tangible. They are insecure and need to hold on to something more concrete. They hang on to the idols they create. Miserable, isn't it?
If Paul's message has not driven home, Jesus' stunning words should.
On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'(Matthew 7:22-23)
Working miracles, driving out demons and prophesying in Jesus' name. Aren't these what every Christian should be envy of? Yet, Jesus called them evildoers! What's wrong with these miraculous works? Without God's blessing, who could do these feats? Yet, Jesus called them evildoers! What is missing?
Jesus does not want these spectacular and popular feats. He wants something else.
Well, we need to know the context. The gospel reading today is the summary of the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, when Jesus told his listeners to put what they had heard into practice (Matthew 7:24), it was putting the whole of chapters 5 to 7 of St. Matthew into practice. We cannot be selective and do things that are convenient, those that make us look good in front of the others. Often, the Sermon on the Mount turns the ethical positions upside down. It is a very demanding way of life, a life of those who are strengthened with God's grace, whose life has been touched by God's love. Otherwise, it would be too easy to resign into impossibility.
Dear Lord, for Your greater glory, give us the grace to practise what we have heard from You. Amen.
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