The miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish appears in all 4 canonical gospels. We are reading the Johannite version today. John's version includes a unique detail that does not appear in the other three. The 5 loaves and 2 fish came from a boy (John 6:9). I think this detail can dispel the myth that the miracle was NOT a miracle.
In a generation of scientific thinking, people want to do away with miracles and explain them away with scientific explanations instead. Jesus' healing miracles and exorcism were assigned psychosomatic explanations. Jesus became a faith-healer only. When I was a young boy, I heard on a Sunday radio program which explained the 5 loaves 2 fish miracle with the following explanation. The food came from the 5000 people themselves. When they knew that the boy selflessly offered his 5 loaves and 2 fish, they took out their food to share. So, it was not a miracle after all. The altruistic behaviour touched the crowd. This seems a reasonable explanation but a second thought will render it useless.
Consider the size of the crowd. Imagaine how 12 apostles were able to settle the crowd of 5000 to sit down in groups of 50s and 100s (Mark 6:40). How long did it take to pass around the message that a generous boy offered up 5 loaves and 2 fish to share with everybody? Moreover, the other 3 gospels do not mention this boy. Obviously, only a small group near Andrew and Jesus knew where the food came from.
On the contrary, I hypothesize that the boy was not generous but was selling food to the crowd. Why would a boy carry 5 loaves and 2 fish to join the crowd flocking towards Jesus? The food was more than he could consume. Therefore, it was possible then that the boy wanted to do some business with his surplus food. No matter how mundane the original purpose of the food might have been, Jesus made use of it to work a miracle. Yes, God is able to transform our humble and ignoble means into edifiying and sanctifying channels of grace.
Fr. Martin Ip delivered a very good homily today. He focused on our reluctance to cooperate with Christ. In the first reading, we read the story of multiplication of loaves by Elisha (2 Kings 4:42-44). A man from Baal-shalishah brought Elisha 20 loaves of barley. Elisha instructed his servant to give them to 100 men. His servant questioned how 20 loaves of bread would be enough for 100 men. Elisha insisted and the 100 men were fed and there were leftovers. A multiplication of loaves miracle had taken place. This was a pre-figure of Jesus' miracle.
In the Johannite version of the miracle, Philip played a similar role as Elisha's servant with a difference. Unlike the synoptic version in which the apostles asked Jesus to send the crowd away, Jesus took the initiative to test Philip how they were to buy bread to feed the crowd (John 6:5). Philip gave an objective answer (200 denarii) without objecting openly Jesus' intention to feed the crowd. He might think that the sheer size of the problem would be enough to dissuade Jesus from doing the impossible.
Here, Fr. Martin pointed out a common mistake we make in our life as a Christian. Very often, we do not have enough faith in God, forgetting that He loves us and is able to do anything for our good. Very often, we are discouraged by a perceived problem and throw our hands up in the air, forgetting that God is God because He is apt at turning evils into goods.Very often, we think that our capabilities are insignificant, forgetting that Jesus has once multiplied 5 loaves to feed 5000 men. We do not have the faith that Jesus will do the same, multiply our efforts more than 5000 times to achieve a good cause.
Dear Lord, I pray that we do not belittle our meagre and insignificant contribution. May we offer up our unworthy deeds for You to build up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Amen.
Sunday 29 July 2012
Sunday 22 July 2012
Prelude to 5 loaves and 2 fish
If you were a story teller, how would you talk about the life of a supporting character (JB) within the context of the life of the title role (JC)?
I am not a screenwright, but I assume that for a reasonable plot, JB will appear on scene before JC. After introducing JC, JB will retire to the backstage. Perhaps JB will appear once or twice later but JB will never outshine JC.
By now, you probably will have guessed that JB means John the Baptist and JC Jesus Christ. Yes, this is basically how St. Mark handled the roles of JB and JC in his gospel.
Next, telling a story chronologically is a standard method. St. Mark did not deviate too much from it. However, as an author, St. Mark has the full control of the layout of his gospel. For example, he grouped 5 conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish authorities together in ascending order of severity in Mark 2-3. Here, we have no way to prove whether the conflicts really happened in such a sequence. Again, since 12, Jesus visited Jerusalem annually like any other adult Jews did. We have no reason to think that Jesus would deviate from such a custom. Yet, St. Mark compressed the annual visits to Jerusalem by Jesus into one at the end of his public ministry. Therefore, when we read the gospel, we should bear in mind that the Evangelist is not writing history as we understand it. He has something else to tell us.
Now, back to JB. In the gospel according to St. Mark, John the Baptist took up the role as a forerunner of Christ. He preached the message of repentance, baptized the people and announced the imminent coming of Christ. After baptizing Jesus, John the Baptist disappeared from the scene only to emerge later in Chapter 6 to be beheaded by Herod Antipas. Why did St. Mark put JB's martyrdom in Chapter 6? The story can stand alone and be inserted reasonably anywhere in the public ministry of Jesus. Well, St. Mark previously sandwiched the raising of Jairus' daughter with the healing of the bleeding woman in order to bring out the importance of faith. Here, the martyrdom of John the Baptist is sandwiched in the sending of the apostles to preach the gospel. I guess St. Mark wanted to say that we Christians should be prepared to embrace martyrdom in preaching the good news of reconciliation. But we will not be alone. We have John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, St. Stephen and a host of martyrs marching ahead of us. We will follow.
After preaching the good news for a while, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught (Mark 6:30). It was time to take a break and had a good rest with Jesus before the next mission. When we relax after hard work, remember to rest with Jesus. However, be prepared to forsake your rest because the task is overwhelming. A huge crowd was awaiting the company.
As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).
Will you throw your hands at the air and stamp your feet on the ground? Well, that is life. However, the compassion of Jesus immediately drove him to teach the crowd, perhaps even to heal their diseases.
Do we have such a compassion for the needy? Do we turn our sight away from them because we are already exhausted and we cannot spare a moment? Don't forget, a miracle is awaiting to happen when we step out of our comfort zone.
Dear Lord, may our compassion for the needy grow day by day. May You be glorified in our charity. Amen.
I am not a screenwright, but I assume that for a reasonable plot, JB will appear on scene before JC. After introducing JC, JB will retire to the backstage. Perhaps JB will appear once or twice later but JB will never outshine JC.
By now, you probably will have guessed that JB means John the Baptist and JC Jesus Christ. Yes, this is basically how St. Mark handled the roles of JB and JC in his gospel.
Next, telling a story chronologically is a standard method. St. Mark did not deviate too much from it. However, as an author, St. Mark has the full control of the layout of his gospel. For example, he grouped 5 conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish authorities together in ascending order of severity in Mark 2-3. Here, we have no way to prove whether the conflicts really happened in such a sequence. Again, since 12, Jesus visited Jerusalem annually like any other adult Jews did. We have no reason to think that Jesus would deviate from such a custom. Yet, St. Mark compressed the annual visits to Jerusalem by Jesus into one at the end of his public ministry. Therefore, when we read the gospel, we should bear in mind that the Evangelist is not writing history as we understand it. He has something else to tell us.
Now, back to JB. In the gospel according to St. Mark, John the Baptist took up the role as a forerunner of Christ. He preached the message of repentance, baptized the people and announced the imminent coming of Christ. After baptizing Jesus, John the Baptist disappeared from the scene only to emerge later in Chapter 6 to be beheaded by Herod Antipas. Why did St. Mark put JB's martyrdom in Chapter 6? The story can stand alone and be inserted reasonably anywhere in the public ministry of Jesus. Well, St. Mark previously sandwiched the raising of Jairus' daughter with the healing of the bleeding woman in order to bring out the importance of faith. Here, the martyrdom of John the Baptist is sandwiched in the sending of the apostles to preach the gospel. I guess St. Mark wanted to say that we Christians should be prepared to embrace martyrdom in preaching the good news of reconciliation. But we will not be alone. We have John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, St. Stephen and a host of martyrs marching ahead of us. We will follow.
After preaching the good news for a while, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught (Mark 6:30). It was time to take a break and had a good rest with Jesus before the next mission. When we relax after hard work, remember to rest with Jesus. However, be prepared to forsake your rest because the task is overwhelming. A huge crowd was awaiting the company.
As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).
Will you throw your hands at the air and stamp your feet on the ground? Well, that is life. However, the compassion of Jesus immediately drove him to teach the crowd, perhaps even to heal their diseases.
Do we have such a compassion for the needy? Do we turn our sight away from them because we are already exhausted and we cannot spare a moment? Don't forget, a miracle is awaiting to happen when we step out of our comfort zone.
Dear Lord, may our compassion for the needy grow day by day. May You be glorified in our charity. Amen.
Sunday 15 July 2012
Primitive Christianity
We can look at the Church in different ways.
As a community, Christians share more or less the same set of beliefs (the Nicene Creed), allowing for differences in opinions as long as these opinions do not split the Church. Nowadays, we see many different brands of Christianity not all of which are orthodox. To a certain extent, these are outgrowth of the organized churches. The Church is still one.
As a sacrament, the Church is a visible sign to guide people to receive the salvation of Jesus. Within the Church, there are good people and bad. Together, they invite God to transform them into saints. The Church is holy. Her mission is to make people holy and she herself will become holy, at the end of the world.
As a social movement started 20 centuries ago, this Church has reached a stage such that the lives of many people on this globe are touched by her actions. The Church excludes nobody, not even homosexuals and transsexuals. The Church is catholic (i.e. universal).
As an institution, you see believers organized into a hierarchy of popes, bishops, priests/pastors, deacons and ordinary faithful. The line of authority is clearly defined and can be traced all the way back to the first apostles personally chosen by Jesus. The Church is apostolic.
The four points above have been a general self-understanding of the Church. After Vatican II, there arise in the Church, among theologians, many insightful self-reflections and great developments in Ecclesiology, the theology of the Church.
In the gospel reading today, we are able to take a glimpse at Christianity before the Church. Jesus chose 12 Apostles and sent them out to preach the good news of reconciliation with God. The 12 Apostles are the foundation of the Church and here is the beginning.
He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics (Mark 6:8-9).
Evangelization relies on God and not on material abundance. The Church does not rely on riches to turn people's hearts to God. As long as the missionaries are working with God, good harvest is guaranteed.
One of the many obstacles in the history of the Church is the State intervention into Church affairs. The activities of the Church are not political but inevitably, because of the majority of people involved, the Church comes into interaction with politics. The persecution of the Chinese Catholic Church from the Communists in the last six decades is a good example. The Communists systematically drive away foreign missionaries and local Church leaders. Chinese bishops and priests are imprisoned and church buildings are confiscated. Seminaries are closed. With the grace of God, Chinese Catholics bear witness to the risen Jesus in a heroic manner.
In March 1957, the then Congregation of Propaganda Fidei granted broader supervisory power to diocesan priests in the absence of bishops. This did not extend to consecration of bishops without papal approval. The extreme leftist movements in 1950's Communist China stirred up a 3-self movement in the Chinese Catholic Church: self-administrating, self-supporting and self-propagating. In July 1957, the Chinese Catholic's Patriotic Association was formally established to begin a new stage of struggles against the imperialists and their running dogs. It was chaired by an Archbishop with a number of bishops, vicar generals, priest and laymen as vice chairmen. In December 1957, they started consecrating bishops to fill the vacancies in different dioceses. Vatican immediately banned them. The division in the Chinese Church began. There were bishops who refused to consecrate new bishops without Papal mandate. They were immediately imprisoned. There were bishops who thought that Vatican did not understand the apostolic needs in China. They went ahead with the consecration of new but illegitimate bishops. Hopefully, in the future, they would gain papal approval when the situation improved.
Situation did not improve but turned worse. Both patriotic and papal clergy were caught unprepared in the Cultural Revolution. Many people suffered, except for those already imprisoned. They suffered less and their faith strengthened whereas many of those who had previously cooperated with the Communists were disillusioned. Many patriotic priests surrendered to the situation and got married ...
In 1979, Bishop Fan Xueyan范學淹主教 was released from prison. In 1981, he was 74 and secretly consecrated 3 priests as bishops. Gaining Vatican approval, he continued consecrating bishops until he was imprisoned again in 1983. Later, some of these bishops took office in the open church. The Catholics in China are not quite divided into open church and underground church. The married priests and bishops of the open church were targets of dissatisfaction. Father Ma Ji馬驥, who was ordained in 1949 and was imprisoned several times. In 1987, he consented and was consecrated bishop of the open church. In1988, he announced that he was leaving all organizations of the Patriotic Association. There were married bishops and priests. They were not in communion with the Pope and church property was not returned to the people.
Vatican has been trying to establish dialogue with the Communist government. When she has sufficient information about the quality of a bishop candidate chosen by the Patriotic Association, she would approve so that Chinese Catholics might lead a decent religious life. Still, the Patriotic Association continues to create new dioceses and consecrate new bishops. Today, the Communists are playing a more subtle game. They bundle the consecration of Vatican approved and disapproved bishops together! When a Vatican approved active member of the Patriotic Association, Fr. Thaddeus Ma Daqin馬達欽 openly announced after consecration on July 7, 2012 that he quited the Patriotic Association, the Public Security Bureau simply puts him under house arrest.
The above is only a brief sketch of modern history of the Catholic Church in China. I believe that nothing can take place without God's approval. The music must continue till the end comes.
Dear Lord, we are blessed because we are worthy of persecutions. May You grant us sufficient grace to embrace these sufferings cheerfully with You. Amen.
As a community, Christians share more or less the same set of beliefs (the Nicene Creed), allowing for differences in opinions as long as these opinions do not split the Church. Nowadays, we see many different brands of Christianity not all of which are orthodox. To a certain extent, these are outgrowth of the organized churches. The Church is still one.
As a sacrament, the Church is a visible sign to guide people to receive the salvation of Jesus. Within the Church, there are good people and bad. Together, they invite God to transform them into saints. The Church is holy. Her mission is to make people holy and she herself will become holy, at the end of the world.
As a social movement started 20 centuries ago, this Church has reached a stage such that the lives of many people on this globe are touched by her actions. The Church excludes nobody, not even homosexuals and transsexuals. The Church is catholic (i.e. universal).
As an institution, you see believers organized into a hierarchy of popes, bishops, priests/pastors, deacons and ordinary faithful. The line of authority is clearly defined and can be traced all the way back to the first apostles personally chosen by Jesus. The Church is apostolic.
The four points above have been a general self-understanding of the Church. After Vatican II, there arise in the Church, among theologians, many insightful self-reflections and great developments in Ecclesiology, the theology of the Church.
In the gospel reading today, we are able to take a glimpse at Christianity before the Church. Jesus chose 12 Apostles and sent them out to preach the good news of reconciliation with God. The 12 Apostles are the foundation of the Church and here is the beginning.
He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics (Mark 6:8-9).
Evangelization relies on God and not on material abundance. The Church does not rely on riches to turn people's hearts to God. As long as the missionaries are working with God, good harvest is guaranteed.
One of the many obstacles in the history of the Church is the State intervention into Church affairs. The activities of the Church are not political but inevitably, because of the majority of people involved, the Church comes into interaction with politics. The persecution of the Chinese Catholic Church from the Communists in the last six decades is a good example. The Communists systematically drive away foreign missionaries and local Church leaders. Chinese bishops and priests are imprisoned and church buildings are confiscated. Seminaries are closed. With the grace of God, Chinese Catholics bear witness to the risen Jesus in a heroic manner.
In March 1957, the then Congregation of Propaganda Fidei granted broader supervisory power to diocesan priests in the absence of bishops. This did not extend to consecration of bishops without papal approval. The extreme leftist movements in 1950's Communist China stirred up a 3-self movement in the Chinese Catholic Church: self-administrating, self-supporting and self-propagating. In July 1957, the Chinese Catholic's Patriotic Association was formally established to begin a new stage of struggles against the imperialists and their running dogs. It was chaired by an Archbishop with a number of bishops, vicar generals, priest and laymen as vice chairmen. In December 1957, they started consecrating bishops to fill the vacancies in different dioceses. Vatican immediately banned them. The division in the Chinese Church began. There were bishops who refused to consecrate new bishops without Papal mandate. They were immediately imprisoned. There were bishops who thought that Vatican did not understand the apostolic needs in China. They went ahead with the consecration of new but illegitimate bishops. Hopefully, in the future, they would gain papal approval when the situation improved.
Situation did not improve but turned worse. Both patriotic and papal clergy were caught unprepared in the Cultural Revolution. Many people suffered, except for those already imprisoned. They suffered less and their faith strengthened whereas many of those who had previously cooperated with the Communists were disillusioned. Many patriotic priests surrendered to the situation and got married ...
In 1979, Bishop Fan Xueyan范學淹主教 was released from prison. In 1981, he was 74 and secretly consecrated 3 priests as bishops. Gaining Vatican approval, he continued consecrating bishops until he was imprisoned again in 1983. Later, some of these bishops took office in the open church. The Catholics in China are not quite divided into open church and underground church. The married priests and bishops of the open church were targets of dissatisfaction. Father Ma Ji馬驥, who was ordained in 1949 and was imprisoned several times. In 1987, he consented and was consecrated bishop of the open church. In1988, he announced that he was leaving all organizations of the Patriotic Association. There were married bishops and priests. They were not in communion with the Pope and church property was not returned to the people.
Vatican has been trying to establish dialogue with the Communist government. When she has sufficient information about the quality of a bishop candidate chosen by the Patriotic Association, she would approve so that Chinese Catholics might lead a decent religious life. Still, the Patriotic Association continues to create new dioceses and consecrate new bishops. Today, the Communists are playing a more subtle game. They bundle the consecration of Vatican approved and disapproved bishops together! When a Vatican approved active member of the Patriotic Association, Fr. Thaddeus Ma Daqin馬達欽 openly announced after consecration on July 7, 2012 that he quited the Patriotic Association, the Public Security Bureau simply puts him under house arrest.
The above is only a brief sketch of modern history of the Catholic Church in China. I believe that nothing can take place without God's approval. The music must continue till the end comes.
Dear Lord, we are blessed because we are worthy of persecutions. May You grant us sufficient grace to embrace these sufferings cheerfully with You. Amen.
Sunday 8 July 2012
The Prophet
I studied sciences in my secondary education. This made me a rather logical, rational man. I did not know that my verbal skills were not weak at all. In fact, I won solo verse reading and speech making competitions.
I remember vividly the first time I came across The Prophet written by Khalil Gibran, I was very much impressed. How could people in the world have such beautiful ideas expressed in such a beautiful prose! I had accidentally bumped onto a treasure trove of wisdom. Therefore, I typed up the whole book so that I might be able to read it again and again. Remember, in those ages, personal computers and the Internet were not yet born. Thanks to the convenience provided by the Information Technology, I could see the photo of the young handsome Khalil Gibran with just a few keyboard strokes and an ordinary search engine.
I learned, for the first time, a different meaning of the word "prophet" from the book. A prophet was not a fortune-teller or a seer of the future which was my first understanding. Instead, he was not just a man of wisdom but a wisdom master because he had a group of disciples and followers. How romantic! Of course, this second meaning of the word "prophet" was formed in my mind before I became a Catholic. The Bible has prophets of a different meaning.
In the context of the Bible, prophets were men of God. Abraham was a prophet (Genesis 20:7). Aaron, Miriam and Moses were prophets (Exodus 7:1, 15:20; Deuteronomy 18:15). Joshua, Deborah and of course Samuel were prophets before the kings. When Israel had their kings, there were court prophets. Nathan worked for David. After the first Temple was built and the administration became established, prophets were chosen by God to be His spokesmen to stand up against corrupt kings and officials. They became the conscience of the people, the fighters of social justice. Elijah, Amos and Isaiah came to mind. Elijah had chosen Elisha to be his successor and Isaiah was known to have many disciples.
Being prophets before Israel had their kings was good in the sense that they were able to command people's awe and respect. In those days, God was their king. However, when kings arose to rule in God's stead, most of them failed their jobs because they worshipped idols. The role of prophets as God's spokesmen clashed directly with that of kings. Naturally, most of the prophets suffered and some even died violently as martyrs. When the hearts of the people turned to idols, prophets became unpopular. Thus, being prophets was not a good thing at all.
In the gospel reading today, Jesus was rejected by his own people. They had known him for thirty years and suddenly when he returned after a brief absence, he became a prophet and had followers. Here is what Jesus said.
And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." (Mark 6:4)
Fr. Milanese is a biblical scholar. In his homily, he explained a few tricky points in the text. He even gave a new understanding of the phrase "the son of Mary" (Mark 6:3) which I have never thought about before. I usually explained that perhaps Joseph was already dead and therefore people knew Jesus as the son of Mary. However, Fr. Milanese explained that it was Mark who wanted to emphasize the divine origin of Jesus. Good point.
However, there was still a puzzling element in the story.
And he (Jesus) marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:6).
What made Jesus marvel, wonder? Jesus is God and God is all-knowing. Nothing on earth would surprise Jesus. Didn't Jesus know the secret thoughts in the hearts of men (Mark 2:8)? Of course Jesus knew and therefore the unbelief of his people was not unexpected. Therefore, "because of their unbelief" should not be interpreted literally. Rather, Jesus should marvel at the consequences of their unbelief. Jesus had worked many miracles. Perhaps this was the first time during his public ministry when Jesus experienced the limitations of the range of his power. Jesus' power should know no limit but due to his respect of man's freedom, he was willing not to impose his power over us. Of course God wants all of us to be saved but we can choose hell for ourselves. We can choose not to love God. It would be our free choices.
In the early history of the Church, there were apostles and prophets (1 Corinthians 12:28). Apostles are succeeded by bishops but the office of prophets has disappeared. I learn that when the Church grows, there is a rising need of organization. Bishops are resident and stay with the local people whereas prophets are charismatic and travel around. Prophets were unstable and even unsettling elements in the Church. They were not able to integrate into the Church as an institution. But do we still have prophets nowadays? Yes, we do.
When we are baptized, we are baptized into 3 offices of king, prophet and priest which are the offices of Jesus. Like Jesus, we are kings to carry out God's will. Like Jesus, we are spokesmen of God to spread His messages of salvation in our daily life. Like Jesus, we are priests to offer up our daily life and even our lives as sacrifices to God and to worship Him. We do not do it just for ourselves but also for those who do not know God, do not believe in God.
However, from the story of Jesus, we should expect oppositions when we carry out our office as a prophet. We should be prepared to be rejected and become unpopular. But we believe that with God's help, our efforts to build up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will prevail.
Dear Lord, we are weak and worthless. May our meagre efforts be able to transform the world into a better place for our children and our children's children. Amen.
I remember vividly the first time I came across The Prophet written by Khalil Gibran, I was very much impressed. How could people in the world have such beautiful ideas expressed in such a beautiful prose! I had accidentally bumped onto a treasure trove of wisdom. Therefore, I typed up the whole book so that I might be able to read it again and again. Remember, in those ages, personal computers and the Internet were not yet born. Thanks to the convenience provided by the Information Technology, I could see the photo of the young handsome Khalil Gibran with just a few keyboard strokes and an ordinary search engine.
I learned, for the first time, a different meaning of the word "prophet" from the book. A prophet was not a fortune-teller or a seer of the future which was my first understanding. Instead, he was not just a man of wisdom but a wisdom master because he had a group of disciples and followers. How romantic! Of course, this second meaning of the word "prophet" was formed in my mind before I became a Catholic. The Bible has prophets of a different meaning.
In the context of the Bible, prophets were men of God. Abraham was a prophet (Genesis 20:7). Aaron, Miriam and Moses were prophets (Exodus 7:1, 15:20; Deuteronomy 18:15). Joshua, Deborah and of course Samuel were prophets before the kings. When Israel had their kings, there were court prophets. Nathan worked for David. After the first Temple was built and the administration became established, prophets were chosen by God to be His spokesmen to stand up against corrupt kings and officials. They became the conscience of the people, the fighters of social justice. Elijah, Amos and Isaiah came to mind. Elijah had chosen Elisha to be his successor and Isaiah was known to have many disciples.
Being prophets before Israel had their kings was good in the sense that they were able to command people's awe and respect. In those days, God was their king. However, when kings arose to rule in God's stead, most of them failed their jobs because they worshipped idols. The role of prophets as God's spokesmen clashed directly with that of kings. Naturally, most of the prophets suffered and some even died violently as martyrs. When the hearts of the people turned to idols, prophets became unpopular. Thus, being prophets was not a good thing at all.
In the gospel reading today, Jesus was rejected by his own people. They had known him for thirty years and suddenly when he returned after a brief absence, he became a prophet and had followers. Here is what Jesus said.
And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." (Mark 6:4)
Fr. Milanese is a biblical scholar. In his homily, he explained a few tricky points in the text. He even gave a new understanding of the phrase "the son of Mary" (Mark 6:3) which I have never thought about before. I usually explained that perhaps Joseph was already dead and therefore people knew Jesus as the son of Mary. However, Fr. Milanese explained that it was Mark who wanted to emphasize the divine origin of Jesus. Good point.
However, there was still a puzzling element in the story.
And he (Jesus) marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:6).
What made Jesus marvel, wonder? Jesus is God and God is all-knowing. Nothing on earth would surprise Jesus. Didn't Jesus know the secret thoughts in the hearts of men (Mark 2:8)? Of course Jesus knew and therefore the unbelief of his people was not unexpected. Therefore, "because of their unbelief" should not be interpreted literally. Rather, Jesus should marvel at the consequences of their unbelief. Jesus had worked many miracles. Perhaps this was the first time during his public ministry when Jesus experienced the limitations of the range of his power. Jesus' power should know no limit but due to his respect of man's freedom, he was willing not to impose his power over us. Of course God wants all of us to be saved but we can choose hell for ourselves. We can choose not to love God. It would be our free choices.
In the early history of the Church, there were apostles and prophets (1 Corinthians 12:28). Apostles are succeeded by bishops but the office of prophets has disappeared. I learn that when the Church grows, there is a rising need of organization. Bishops are resident and stay with the local people whereas prophets are charismatic and travel around. Prophets were unstable and even unsettling elements in the Church. They were not able to integrate into the Church as an institution. But do we still have prophets nowadays? Yes, we do.
When we are baptized, we are baptized into 3 offices of king, prophet and priest which are the offices of Jesus. Like Jesus, we are kings to carry out God's will. Like Jesus, we are spokesmen of God to spread His messages of salvation in our daily life. Like Jesus, we are priests to offer up our daily life and even our lives as sacrifices to God and to worship Him. We do not do it just for ourselves but also for those who do not know God, do not believe in God.
However, from the story of Jesus, we should expect oppositions when we carry out our office as a prophet. We should be prepared to be rejected and become unpopular. But we believe that with God's help, our efforts to build up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will prevail.
Dear Lord, we are weak and worthless. May our meagre efforts be able to transform the world into a better place for our children and our children's children. Amen.
Sunday 1 July 2012
God has His own schedule
The bible readings today are very encouraging. There is a very important verse in the first reading which is taken from the Book of Wisdom. It is unfortunate for Martin Luther to reject this book and removed it from the canon of the Bible because the book was written in Greek. This book is not found in Protestant Bibles. Therefore, some important revelations are missing. In short, the Protestant Bible is incomplete.
The important verse I mentioned above is important because it tells us that God does not want us, not even a single one of us, to perish. Thus, we derive the confidence that God will save us all, even the worst sinners among mankind. It reads,
Do not invite death by the error of your life, nor bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living (Wisdom 1:12-13).
We are held responsible for whatever we do. In the beginning, death was not in the original plan of God. Ever since sins entered the scene, death and destruction entered as well. They are the consequences of our "error of life". We are held responsible for our own errors. We will receive punishment, but God will not let us die, not even one of us. But isn't death a certainty for all human? True, but there is a worse death than the death of our physical body, viz. spiritual death which could take place even before our physical death. We may not understand how God will deliver us from spiritual death but we are confident that God will.
The Gospel reading today is even more encouraging. Fr. Martin helped us realize our own attitude towards our spiritual life and in particular, our prayers. Do we pray for our needs or for God's will? We should be able to draw the appropriate answer from the twin miracles in the gospel today.
A bleeding woman had suffered for twelve years. Just think about it, what would her prayers be in these twelve years? Common sense would tell us that she must have been praying for her recovery which probably would be the only thing she prayed for. Was not such a humble request a reasonable one? How could God not make her recover. Therefore, for twelve years, God had not answered her, had disappointed her. Yet, she kept praying. How great her faith was! And yet, God has His own schedule.
Suppose this miracle happened during Jesus' first year of ministry. Which means the bleeding woman started praying for her recovery when Jesus was only 18. Jesus must have heard her prayers and have compassion for her suffering. Jesus might even be able to experience her pains. Yet, the only thing Jesus could do was to wait patiently for 12 more years before helping her. To quote John, his hour has not yet come (John 2:4c). God has His own schedule.
In fact, the bleeding woman was not suffering the longest. According to John, Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years (John 5:5). This long duration of torture had probably eroded the faith of this man or his friends such that nobody was at his side to help him into Bethzatha, a pool in Jerusalem, to be healed. He did not need to go into the pool. Jesus healed him. God has His own schedule.
It has been 23 years since the June 4 crackdown in 1989. Perhaps Hong Kong is the only remaining Chinese city in the world in which memorial service is still held annually. I have not heard of reports of such memorial services for quite a number of years in USA or Europe to where most of the students dissidents have fled. In recent years, there are an increasing number of mainlanders coming to Hong Kong to join the memorial service. Moreover, many participants are teenagers. These are encouraging signs. I am sure God has His own schedule to terminate one-party dictatorship in Communist China.
The twin miracles in the gospel reading today were in fact sandwich miracles. Before the bleeding woman appeared, Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came to beg Jesus to heal his daughter who was dying. Jesus went along but was delayed by the bleeding woman. Consequently, he arrived too late. The girl had died. How devastated would Jairus be! Had the bleeding woman not appeared, Jesus would have had enough time to heal his daughter who would not have died! God had not heard his prayer and disappointed him. Most probably Jairus was a Pharisee because he was a ruler of the synagogue. He had to put away the official Pharisee line, his enmity against Jesus. He had to put down his dignity to kneel before Jesus. All his efforts were wasted. How frustrating! But God would not serve the first one who came. God has His own schedule. What is more, God would not let the girl die! God is not God of the dead, but of the living (Mark 12:27a). From this story, I am more confident that God shall not give up even a single one of us. He shall not allow us to die spiritually.
If God shall bring us to eternal life whatever we do, then why should we do good? Why not indulge ourselves in sins and enjoy?
I would say that acting morally in itself is good. God has given each one of us enough grace to do good things. We should not waste it in making errors of life.
For how many times has God not heard our prayers and frustrated us? Keep in mind that God has His own schedule. There is a time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Therefore, pray to seek the will of God, not our needs. With the confident hope in eternal life, we continue to make good use of the talentum that God gives us to enrich ourselves on earth.
Dear Lord, Your will be done on earth. Amen.
The important verse I mentioned above is important because it tells us that God does not want us, not even a single one of us, to perish. Thus, we derive the confidence that God will save us all, even the worst sinners among mankind. It reads,
Do not invite death by the error of your life, nor bring on destruction by the works of your hands;
because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living (Wisdom 1:12-13).
We are held responsible for whatever we do. In the beginning, death was not in the original plan of God. Ever since sins entered the scene, death and destruction entered as well. They are the consequences of our "error of life". We are held responsible for our own errors. We will receive punishment, but God will not let us die, not even one of us. But isn't death a certainty for all human? True, but there is a worse death than the death of our physical body, viz. spiritual death which could take place even before our physical death. We may not understand how God will deliver us from spiritual death but we are confident that God will.
The Gospel reading today is even more encouraging. Fr. Martin helped us realize our own attitude towards our spiritual life and in particular, our prayers. Do we pray for our needs or for God's will? We should be able to draw the appropriate answer from the twin miracles in the gospel today.
A bleeding woman had suffered for twelve years. Just think about it, what would her prayers be in these twelve years? Common sense would tell us that she must have been praying for her recovery which probably would be the only thing she prayed for. Was not such a humble request a reasonable one? How could God not make her recover. Therefore, for twelve years, God had not answered her, had disappointed her. Yet, she kept praying. How great her faith was! And yet, God has His own schedule.
Suppose this miracle happened during Jesus' first year of ministry. Which means the bleeding woman started praying for her recovery when Jesus was only 18. Jesus must have heard her prayers and have compassion for her suffering. Jesus might even be able to experience her pains. Yet, the only thing Jesus could do was to wait patiently for 12 more years before helping her. To quote John, his hour has not yet come (John 2:4c). God has His own schedule.
In fact, the bleeding woman was not suffering the longest. According to John, Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years (John 5:5). This long duration of torture had probably eroded the faith of this man or his friends such that nobody was at his side to help him into Bethzatha, a pool in Jerusalem, to be healed. He did not need to go into the pool. Jesus healed him. God has His own schedule.
It has been 23 years since the June 4 crackdown in 1989. Perhaps Hong Kong is the only remaining Chinese city in the world in which memorial service is still held annually. I have not heard of reports of such memorial services for quite a number of years in USA or Europe to where most of the students dissidents have fled. In recent years, there are an increasing number of mainlanders coming to Hong Kong to join the memorial service. Moreover, many participants are teenagers. These are encouraging signs. I am sure God has His own schedule to terminate one-party dictatorship in Communist China.
The twin miracles in the gospel reading today were in fact sandwich miracles. Before the bleeding woman appeared, Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came to beg Jesus to heal his daughter who was dying. Jesus went along but was delayed by the bleeding woman. Consequently, he arrived too late. The girl had died. How devastated would Jairus be! Had the bleeding woman not appeared, Jesus would have had enough time to heal his daughter who would not have died! God had not heard his prayer and disappointed him. Most probably Jairus was a Pharisee because he was a ruler of the synagogue. He had to put away the official Pharisee line, his enmity against Jesus. He had to put down his dignity to kneel before Jesus. All his efforts were wasted. How frustrating! But God would not serve the first one who came. God has His own schedule. What is more, God would not let the girl die! God is not God of the dead, but of the living (Mark 12:27a). From this story, I am more confident that God shall not give up even a single one of us. He shall not allow us to die spiritually.
If God shall bring us to eternal life whatever we do, then why should we do good? Why not indulge ourselves in sins and enjoy?
I would say that acting morally in itself is good. God has given each one of us enough grace to do good things. We should not waste it in making errors of life.
For how many times has God not heard our prayers and frustrated us? Keep in mind that God has His own schedule. There is a time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Therefore, pray to seek the will of God, not our needs. With the confident hope in eternal life, we continue to make good use of the talentum that God gives us to enrich ourselves on earth.
Dear Lord, Your will be done on earth. Amen.
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