主題：權力是為了服務
上星期的福音記載了耶穌傳教已差不多三年，門徒也跟隨了他差不多三年。耶穌打算透露祂的救世工程的細節，讓門徒有心理準備。所以他做一個非正式的民意調查，詢問門徒在群眾心目中，他是誰。其實耶穌所關心的，是十二宗徒的觀點，因為十二宗徒是教會將來的基石。其他人的觀點祗是一個切入點。所以當門徒反映民意後，耶穌直指其心，問十二宗徒在他們的心目中，他是誰。那時，伯多祿站出來，代表其餘的宗徒答耶穌是默西亞。答對了，所以耶穌告訴他們默西亞要用受難復活來拯救世界。豈料伯多祿諫責耶穌，想阻止耶穌去受死。耶穌發覺自己高估了十二宗徒的明悟，而且撒殫正借助伯多祿來誘惑祂，游說祂放棄天主定下的救贖計劃。於是耶穌轉身喝令撒殫退下，並教訓伯多祿要思念天主的旨意和明白「必先置諸死地而後生」的道理。你們以為十二宗徒會明白嗎？
門徒不明白的是甚麼呢？就是復活的概念。所以，耶穌帶了十二宗徒的核心小組，即伯多祿，雅各伯和若望三個人上大博爾山，替他們補習，在他們面前顯聖容，讓他們認識到復活後的光榮，希望加強他們的信心，不會害怕死亡。但在門徒的心目，仍有疑慮。「必先置諸死地而後生」的道理，說來動聽。但如果死後復活不了怎麼辦？這是一個考驗信德的問題，並不是純粹憑邏輯思考可以解決的。因為死亡與復活之間的洪溝，祗有靠信德來跨越。我們惟有求天主加強我們的信德，除此之外，恐怕沒有其他辦法了。於是下山後，耶穌再在十二宗徒面前，恢復了一個父親的信德，並從他的兒子身上驅逐了一隻又聾又啞的邪魔。發生了這些事之後，纔到今天的福音，耶穌第二次預言祂的受難。所以，各位兄弟姊妹，如果祗待星期日纔返聖堂聽十分鐘聖經故事，你們所聽到的是支離破碎的片斷，又怎能夠全面認識耶穌呢？所以平日讀聖經，是必要的，不能偷懶。
在瑪竇福音十六章，當伯多祿宣認耶穌是天主子，是默西亞的時候，就在那個場合，耶穌賜伯多祿這個名字給西滿，立他為教會的盤石。耶穌升天後，聖神降臨在120個信徒身上，教會在耶路撒冷誕生了。初時，伯多祿以宗徒之長的身份領導耶路撒冷的團體，後來他被黑落德迫害，被迫離開耶路撒冷，像聖保祿宗徒一樣，開始在外邦人之中傳福音。他到了羅馬，建立了羅馬教會。馬爾谷跟隨伯多祿，就是他為羅馬教會寫成馬爾谷福音。伯多祿在羅馬殉道，以後三百年的羅馬主教，全部都是為主殉道的。後來羅馬凱撒君士旦丁大帝不再迫害教會，容許教會享有宗教自由，入教、崇拜、宣講等可以不受干擾；並捐贈大量物業給羅馬主教，作為信徒聚會之用，使信徒不用再躲在地下墓穴之中舉行彌撒。教會開始由家庭式的教會進化成宮廷式的官方教會。因為她位於羅馬帝國的心臟地帶，所以羅馬教會很容易亦成了各地教會的共融中心。各地教會若有甚麼信理或倫理上的問題，很自然會請求羅馬教會定奪。漸漸地，羅馬主教便成了今天的教宗。後世追認伯多祿為第一任教宗，而今天的羅馬主教，教宗方濟各，就是伯多祿的第266任繼承人。
教宗的地位經常受到挑戰。且看今天的福音。耶穌既已立伯多祿為磐石，但十二門徒仍背著耶穌，彼此爭論誰最大。為甚麼？因為西滿這塊磐石不是一個完美的人。論學問，他祗是一個未受過教育的漁夫，連福音也要靠馬爾谷幫他寫；論性格，他是一個率直衝動的人，在耶穌被捕時，就是他拔劍砍下大司祭僕人的耳。而他一生之中，最大的遺憾，恐怕就是他曾三次否認耶穌。一個這樣的人，誰都有本事挑戰他的領導地位。但天主卻偏偏揀選一個有這麼多缺點的人去領導教會。是否很難理解呢！
在舊約的歷史，直到民長時代，以色列人素來都是由天主所領導。梅瑟，若蘇厄及後來的民長，都祗是天主的代言人。後來，以色列人要求好像其他民族一樣，要有君王。當時的民長撒慕爾曾苦口婆心警告他們，君王會凌駕法律之上，剝削人民，但以色列人仍堅持要君王。我們不要怪責以色列人，因為他們的發展歷史，祗不過在反映出人類歷史的規律。當社會發展到相當繁榮，相當規模的時候，君主制度會自然出現，來調動大量的人口去興建宏偉的建築物和組織龐大的軍隊。通常，開國的君王一般都是賢明的，後來的皇帝就乏善足陳了。在相信有神的時代，還有神明可以制衡君王。但當生活富裕，人心貪婪，人民忘記了天主的時候，君王會擁有不受制衡的絕對權力，任意妄為，變成暴君。結果，官迫民反，人民起義革命，改朝換代，流血收場。這些歷史不斷地重複著。
當大家不願意看見流血收場，又不相信天主的存在，有沒有其他辦法去制衡君王這頭猛獸呢？西方哲學家惟有高舉「理性」來取代天主的地位。他們在社會上鼓吹自由和人權的思想，對抗隨意濫用暴力，各色各樣的「土皇帝」。在政治上他提倡立法、司法及行政三權分立，用以制衡土皇帝的絕對行政權力。政治角力，權力鬥爭變得更複雜、更有趣。以權謀私，官商鉤結幾乎變成理所當然。對於這些角力和鬥爭，我們是不能置身事外的。如果從前我們不喜歡香港的小數派議員在立法會拉布，請看看日本議會的小數派怎樣拉布，企圖制止安倍晉三通過新安保法案，這安保法案是為日本未來投入國際戰爭而鋪路的。原來「拉布」並非想像中的壞。今天我們所見到的這一切，都是人類不願意聽從天主旨意的後果。
二千年前，耶穌教導我們應如可行使權力。權力是為天主服務，為人民服務的。這不是一個口號而是一個心態。當你行使權力時是為有需要的人解決他們的困難時，你正在履行耶穌所教訓的「誰若想做第一個，他就得做眾人中最末的人個，並要做眾人的僕役。」你正是在「收留小孩子」。耶穌向你保証，當你收留、接待、幫助這些有需要的人時，你正在為天主服務。無論你是一個一無是處的伯多祿，或者是一個昏君，或者是一個銳意改革的黨主席，或者是一個特首抑或是一個普通人。當你在你的崗位上運用你的才智，時間或者善意，為有需要的人解決他們的困難時，你是在服務天主。其實，這並不是甚麼高超難懂的政治哲學，而是一種心態。祗因為人貪戀權力和權力所帶來的滿足感，纔拒絕天主的邀請吧了。
這個星期，就讓我們留意自己有沒有濫用權力，滿足自己的操縱慾，而忽略了別人的需要。有沒有在自己的崗位上幫助過有需要的人。下星期回來向天主交代。
天主保祐。
Twenty fifth Ordinary Sunday, (Year B)
Theme: Authority is for Service
The gospel reading last week mentioned that Jesus had been preaching for nearly three years. His disciples had also followed him for nearly three years. Jesus intended to reveal them the details of his salvation work, to have them psychologically prepared. So, Jesus conducted a not very valid opinion poll, asking his disciples what the people thought he was. In fact, Jesus cared more about the opinions of his disciples because they would be the foundation stones of the Church in the future. Other people’s opinion was only an entry point. After the disciples had reported the public views, Jesus pointedly asked them what they themselves thought about him. At that time, Peter stood up, representing the rest of the Apostles, to answer that Jesus was the Messiah. Correct! So, Jesus told them that the Messiah was to undergo passion and resurrection to save the world. Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from taking this course of action. Jesus found that he had overestimated the understanding of the Twelve and that Satan was making use of Peter to tempt him, persuading him to reject the salvation plan laid down by God. So, Jesus turned around to scold Satan and taught Peter to think of God’s will and the paradox of “saving one’s life by abandoning life”. Do you think the Twelve would understand?
What did the Twelve fail to understand? The concept of resurrection. Therefore, Jesus brought the core group among the Twelve, i.e. Peter, James and John, up Mount Tabor, to give them an “extra lesson”. In front of them, Jesus transfigured to show them the glory after resurrection, hoping to strengthen their faith so that they would not be afraid of death. But there were still doubts in the hearts of the disciples. “Saving one’s life by abandoning it” is easier talked than done. What if one does not come back to life after death? This is a problem of faith which cannot be resolved by logical reasoning. It is because only through faith can we pass over the gulf between death and resurrection. Praying to God for greater faith is the only way. Other than that, there probably is no alternative. Therefore, after coming down from the Mount, Jesus restored the faith of a father and exorcized a deaf and dumb spirit from his son in front of the Twelve. After all these incidents, we come to the gospel story of today, the second prediction of passion and resurrection by Jesus. Therefore, brethren, if you come back to Church once a week to listen to the gospel, you can only obtain a fragmented picture. How then can you know Jesus fully? Therefore, daily reading of the Bible is indispensable. Don’t be lazy!
In Matthew 16, in the occasion when Peter declared that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus gave Simon the name Peter and upon this “Peter/Rock”, Jesus would build his Church. After the ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came down to the 120 believers to mark the birth of the Church in Jerusalem. At first, Peter led the Jerusalem community in the capacity of the Prefect of the Twelve. Later, Herod tried to kill him and he fled Jerusalem, began his preaching among Gentiles like St. Paul. He reached Rome and set up the Church in Rome. Mark followed Peter and wrote the gospel of Mark for the Romans. Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome. All the subsequent bishops in Rome suffered martyrdom too for the next 300 years. Later, Constantine Cæsar stopped persecuting the Church, allowed them religious freedom. Conversion, worship and preaching would never be interfered anymore. Furthermore, he gave the Roman bishop many buildings for Christian assemblies so that they no longer needed to celebrate masses in the catacombs. The Church evolved from “domestic churches” to “regal churches”. Since she was located at the heart of the Empire, the Roman Church naturally became the centre of communion among local churches. Whenever they had any doctrinal or moral issues, the local churches would seek resolutions from the Roman pontiff. Gradually, the Roman pontiff became the pope today. We made Peter the first Pope and the Roman Pontiff, Pope Francis is the 266th successor of Peter.
The status of the Pope has been challenged all the times. Take a look at the gospel reading today. Now that Jesus has made Peter the rock of the Church, but behind Jesus, the Twelve still argued about who was the greatest. Why? It is because this Simon Rock was not a perfect man. As for his training, he was an uneducated fisherman. He even had to rely on Mark to write the gospel. As for his character, he was impulsive. When Jesus was arrested, it was Peter who struck off the left ear of the High Priest’s servant with a sword. The greatest regret in his life perhaps was his three denials of the Lord. Anybody could challenge the status of such a man. But why did God deliberately choose such a man with so many flaws to lead the Church? It is truly a mystery!
In the history of the Old Testament, God had been leading the Israelites until the era of Judges. Moses, Joshua and later Judges were only spokesmen of God. Later, the Israelites demanded to have kings like other peoples. When Samuel advised them earnestly not to install kings who would place themselves above the Torah to exploit the people, the Israelites refused to listen. We should not blame the Israelites because their history only reflects the general laws of human history. When a society becomes prosperous, has grown to a certain size, monarchy will naturally appear to mobilize a large number of people to build gigantic structures and build up a large army. Usually, the first few kings were good and subsequent ones lacked any merits. In an age when people believe in deities, people still have gods to counterbalance kings. When life becomes rich, men become greedy. When people forget God, kings would possess unchallenged absolute powers, doing whatever at their pleasures and become tyrants. Consequently, people are forced to revolt. Revolutions overthrow the existing dynasty which is ended in bloodsheds. This cycle of events repeats itself unceasingly in human history.
When people do not want to see empires end up in bloodsheds and do not believe in the existence of God, is there any other way to restrain this wild beast? Western philosophers uphold ‘rationality’ to replace God. They drum up the ideas of freedom and human rights in the society to counteract the arbitrary abuses of power of all kinds of local tyrants. In politics, they promote the independence of legislative, judicial and executive powers to counteract the absolute executive power of local tyrants. Political tussles and power struggles become more complicated and interesting. People take abusing public office for personal gain and government-business collusion for granted. We cannot be exempted from these tussles and struggles. If we did not like filibustering of the minority legislators in the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, we should take a look at how the minority in the Japanese parliamentary tried to delay the passing of the new Abe security bill, which paths the way for Japan to take part in international wars, by filibustering. After all, filibustering is not that bad. All of these that we see today are the result of humanity’s reluctance to obey God’s will.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus taught us how to exercise authority. Authority is for the service of God and of men. It is not a slogan but an attitude. When you exercise your power to help the needy to solve their problems, you are doing what Jesus taught about “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” and you are “receiving one such child”. Jesus guarantees that when you receive and help the needy, you are serving God. Whether you were a worthless Peter, or an idiot king, or a reformer party chairman, an SAR chief executive or just an ordinary man, when in your station of life, you exercise you talent, time and good will to help the needy solve their problems, you are serving God. In fact, this is not some mysterious political philosophy but simply an attitude. Men reject God’s invitation only because they are power-happy and are addicted to the satisfaction of manipulating others.
This week, let us pay attention whether we have abused authority to satisfy our manipulation complex and ignore the needs of others, whether we have helped the needy in our stations of life. Come back to settle the score with God next Sunday.
God bless.
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