Have Faith in the Master 對主懷有信心

Nineteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: Have Faith in the Master 對主懷有信心

Faith is a thread that runs through all the readings today. Let me start from the second reading.
“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, NAB) The word “realization” is one of the many choices of rendering the Greek word “ὑπόστασις”. KJV renders it “substance” while RSV “assurance” and NIV “confidence” etc. Similarly, the word “evidence ἔλεγχος” is rendered “assurance” in NIV and “conviction” in RSV. Thus, the choice of word reflects the theology advocated by the translators. Therefore, the margin in an understanding of a word in a particular context can be wide. Let’s take an everyday dictionary meaning of “faith” to mean “trust and confidence” in order to continue with our meditation.

We have experience of the things we know. There is no need of having faith or putting faith in them at all. We are even able to chart their courses of development. For example, we know and have experience of sunrise. We don’t need to have faith in the sun for it to rise tomorrow. We simply wait and we are even able to countdown for the first light of the morning to burst forth. For things which we are less familiar, we still don’t need faith in them in order to chart their course of development. It is because we have experiences with similar things and we are able to generalize the experiences and apply the generalization to similar situations. For example, in general clergy keep promises; policemen protect the lives and property of citizens; sooner or later, gamblers will lose all their money, unpunished corrupt officials will fall with their governments and plurality survives longer than uniformity etc. Of course, there are always exceptions to these rules of thumb but the hit-rate is good enough and we feel comfortable to embrace these generalizations. When the proportion of uncertainties increases, the role of faith becomes more prominent.

It is in unfamiliar or even unknown situations that we need faith to maintain our composure because we have nothing in hand to refer to. For example, in one-on-one competitions such as chess, boxing and tennis etc., competitors would study the performance of rivals and draw up plans of engagement. They try to eliminate as many uncertainties as possible. But there are always unheard of “dark-horses” and “giant-killers”. In the end, players can only rely on faith in their own skills in order not to make too many mistakes. In situations never seen before, people can only rely on their faith in God.

Take the example of the first reading today from the book of Wisdom, chapter 18. Starting from chapter 11, the author wrote a commentary on the story of Exodus. In the particular excerpt today, the author comments on the last plague and the Passover. “That night was known beforehand to our ancestors, so that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.” (Wisdom 18:6) The Israelites had settled in Egypt for more than 400 years. Egypt was fertile and conducive to their growth in population. Yet the Egyptian environment was filled with idols which provided easy solutions to different aspects of social needs such as fertility, health, agriculture and warfare etc. Yahweh worship failed to take root and to occupy a significant presence in this piece of alien land. Yahweh had become an unknown deity for the Israelites. They had lost their cultural identity as God’s Chosen People. So, when God revealed Himself to Moses, God says, “I am the God of your father, He continued, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6) Had any Israelites ever seen any of those remote ancestors before? They had absolutely no experience of them, not to mention the God whom those Patriarchs worshipped. It was a miracle indeed for Moses to be accepted as a liberator sent from a God of their ancestors by those Hebrew slaves! In the mind of the author of the book of Wisdom, the Hebrew slaves had only one thing to rely on: namely, the promises/oaths God had made with their ancestor Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, 15:5, 17:4-8). Either they believed in Moses and followed his Passover instructions or rejected them. As the story unfolds, it pays to have faith in God!

If you have faith in an idea, you would start digging up evidence to substantiate the idea. Otherwise, you can only keep it open. Let’s take another example. Many people buy the idea that men evolved from chimpanzees. But the evidences are sketchy at best. There are simply too many “missing-links” in evolution. To these days, the choice between creationism and evolutionism is no more than a matter of faith/conviction! In the case of Christianity, all those who had once lived with Jesus Christ have died. Nowadays, no Christian has any concrete experience of their Lord Jesus Christ, except for a handful of mystics whom God has granted the privilege of private revelations. What about the majority of us who are simple ordinary followers? Where and how do we dig up evidence to substantiate our faith in Jesus Christ? Most of us can only experience Jesus Christ through sacraments of Eucharist and Penance. Through those visible signs, Catholics receive invisible graces which are supposed to enhance their relationship with God.

Alas, doesn’t the priest announce, “The Mystery of Faith” after the consecration of the Eucharist during mass? Isn’t it tautological for faith to substantiate faith? We’re back to square one. Perhaps we need to turn elsewhere. Jesus makes a bold pledge at the end of one of the Synoptic gospels. He says, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Do we have faith in this promise? Luckily, Jesus leaves us two clues to discover His presence. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (18:20) and “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (25:40) That is to say, we’ll be able to substantiate our faith in the gatherings of the community of Christians, e.g. prayer meetings and joining Sunday masses. Furthermore, helping the needy and the disadvantaged in the society is an opportunity to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. The latter is echoed in the gospel passage today. “Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven … For where your treasure is, there also will your hearts be” (Luke 12:33-34) Not only is alms-giving a philosophy of Christian financial management, but it is also a way to substantiate our faith in Jesus and enrich it.

Of course, our faith guides our actions and a lack of actions reflects a deficiency of faith. When we know the teachings of Jesus but do not put them into practice, it signals a lack of our faith in Him. No wonder Jesus says this when He continues to exhort us to be vigilant. “That servant’s master … will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely.” (12:46-47) Optimistically, this warning is directed towards Jesus’ servants, viz. the clergy of the Church. When the clergy are abusing their ministry, Jesus would punish them severely and assign them a place with the “unfaithful”. Hopeful, it means they will be our target of evangelization to turn them into faithful gain!
Brethren! Faith is a theological virtue. As a virtue, we can work hard on it to bring it to perfection. As it is also theological, it is bestowed by God. So to enhance our faith in the Lord, let us meet more in Church and go out more to serve the marginalized of the society.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: christian.art