The study of theology is not about gaining more knowledge or understanding of God. Rather it sharpens our awareness of the tension within what we believe about God. For example, God is supposed to be omnipotent, to be almighty. To quote Jesus, "... with God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26b). Yet, surely there is one thing God is unable to do. He respects our autonomy. Therefore, He is unable to force us to believe in Him. We are free to choose between heaven and hell. If some of us prefer hell to heaven, God cannot kidnap us into heaven. This is the beauty of Christianity. God does not condemn us. Only we and we alone can condemn ourselves. We are fully responsible for our fate.
People may question the Christian teaching of the "Original Sin". Why are men born with "Original Sin"? Why are men responsible for the sins of Adam & Eve? Theologians have a better understanding nowadays. Sin is understood negatively as a lack of grace. Therefore, "Original Sin" is not a sin of commission. Rather it is an omission of grace, an absence of grace as the consequence of the disobedience of Adam & Eve. After Adam, men have been born into an environment which lacks grace, an environment which is contaminated with sins. Unfortunately, this concept of an absence of grace has been handed down to us through a misleading label, the "Original Sin".
From this doctrine of the "Original Sin", we logically move on to the next topic: Salvation. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity incarnated to save us.
When we think about why the Son incarnated, taking up our flesh and dwelled among us, there are two different schools of thoughts. One school holds that the Son came down to redeem us. Immediately, people would challenge them with a hypothetical question which they cannot decline. What if Adam & Eve had not eaten the forbidden fruit, would the Son come down to redeem us? According to their reasoning, they would say no. But something seems to be wrong and they are uncomfortable to say that the Son of God would not incarnate.
Another school comes to their rescue. They hold that the purpose of Incarnation is not so much for the redemption of men. Rather, God wants to upgrade our human nature to share His divinity. So, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity incarnated to take up our flesh to raise its nature to a higher level etc.
Enough of theological speculations. Let us return to the gospel message today (Matthew 21:33-46).
Jesus modified the famous Vineyard Song in Isaiah 5:1-7 to warn the Jewish leaders. If the Israelites are the Chosen People, they are chosen to stand before all nations as an example of encounter with God. They are our models. Among them, there have been successful people, great prophets, great kings, great poets and great apostles, leaving behind great cultural heritage of beautiful legends, literature and liturgy for the future generations. However, there have also been stiff-necked people who refused to respond to the invitation of God. They believed that they were on the right and Jesus was a subversive, a trouble-maker. In the end, they handed Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion. I don't think they had ever regretted what they had done. The gospel of Matthew has been accused of being anti-Semite in particular. For example, Matthew 27:25. Today, we find another piece of anti-Semitic saying. In contrast to the Markan version of the same story, Matthew had the Jewish leaders passed judgment on themselves (Matthew 21:41). They were willing to eat the cake they baked.
Therefore, when Fr. Martin Ip talked about regret during mass, it did not ring a bit in my mind. Of course, I agree with him that we should seize the moment and live fully our life today. I only dismiss the idea of regret. In my view, regret is useless unless there is still a second chance. But no two situations are identical. There will not be any second chance. You miss a train and you miss it. You may never step on that train again. Surely you may catch the next train but the next train will carry a different group of passengers. Our story would have been totally different if we had taken the previous train. So, there is no point regretting. So have the Jews been. The Jews have no regret killing Jesus and have no remorse suffering the consequences. They continue to walk tall on the surface of this planet, continue to produce geniuses in many varied fields of endeavour. God has made a good choice.
This was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes (Matthew 21:42b).
No doubt, God wills all men to be saved. He invites all to share His eternal life. Yet, we respond in different manners. Some are eager, some are slow and some even downright reject the invitation. Still, nobody knows how it will end. We should not jump into condemnation too soon, too quickly. Learn to take a long, long look into the future with God's eyes. We should not be discouraged by the evils we experience today.
As for me, I have no regret failing to follow the call of Christ earlier, much earlier. It is a different type of cake God allows me to bake and I savour every mouthful of it. I have travelled a much longer trek to this day and have collected a different set of gems. The Lord's doing is marvellous in my eyes.
Dear Lord, adjust my course of activities so that I can do Your will more properly. Amen.
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