A John and Paul Duet 若望保祿二重唱

Mission Sunday, Year C
Theme: A John and Paul Duet 若望保祿二重唱

For most of us, God is theologically almighty, all-knowing, majestic, and glorious etc. But after a life-long meditation, the beloved disciple of the Son of God came to a different conclusion, a relational one. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), he says and love is outreaching. Out of love, God created human beings in His own image (Genesis 1:26) and had prepared for us the known universe to grow and develop the potentials He has given to each one of us. Regrettably, “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). Consequently, “Darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds, the peoples.” (Isaiah 60:2) But God so loves His Creation that nothing can stop God from pouring out His love (John 3:16). In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) to make Himself visible. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) So, His glorious light is revealed. This light is the Word of God that brings life (1:4) and the Word took flesh, becoming more visible and dwelling among us (1:14).

This “Word took flesh” has been a Jewish carpenter rabbi, Jesus ben Joseph of Nazareth who revealed Himself, not in an abstract manner but concretely, by calling twelve Jews to be His disciples. The beloved disciple summarizes it well, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life --- for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it …” (1 John 1:1-2). To carry out His mission, Jesus Christ lived with the Twelve and trained them for three years to proclaim the good news of reconciliation to different parts of the world. Near the end of His public ministry, the Son of God was crucified, died and was buried. He rose again on the third day and forty days later, He returned to His Father in heaven. Before He left for heaven, the risen Lord commissioned the disciples to continue His mission. Later, those communities of the faithful would expand and form a universal Church to continue the mission until the end of the world. But they need to convince themselves why the Son of God must die to redeem the world. Isn’t it more efficient simply to defeat and destroy the Devil?

When a person is unable to find meaning or purpose in life, he is in grave danger of committing suicide because there is nothing left for his continued existence to cling to. Similarly, a group of people would disband if they are unable to agree upon their raison d'être. So, what is the raison d'être of the Church? It is the last and great commission Jesus Christ gave His disciples before He ascended into heaven. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations …” (Matthew 28:19); “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15); “You will receive power from the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) This is the raison d'être of the community of disciples. The mission Christ gave the Church is not a simple one. It can’t be accomplished within a generation. Thus, to order to continue coming together as a group to accomplish the task, the disciples need to enrol new members and make them disciples. But what does it mean “to proclaim the gospel” and “to be my witness”?

What is the gospel? What makes the news a good one? The gospel is not simply a biography of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. Paul says, “God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Thus, “to be witnesses of Christ” is to discharge the ministry of reconciliation. What’re the trespasses? It is the deprivation of the glory of God mentioned above (Romans 3:23). So, the good news is that God does not count our sins against us in Christ. What does “not count our sins against us in Christ” mean? It means we don’t have to repay the debts of our sins anymore. First of all, we’re unable to pay. Why are we not able to repay? Paul continues to say, “For the wage of sin is death” (6:23a) but we only live once. Then who pays? Out of love, the Son of God took the initiative to die for us. He takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) by dying on the cross for us, paying all the debts of the world. Therefore, the good news is that we are able to continue to lead our lives because God does not count our sins against us in Christ. By the way, who is this Paul? He is not among the Twelve, isn’t he?
No, he is not. It was after His ascension, Jesus Christ the Son of God also appeared to and called a Pharisee to proclaim His gospel to the Gentiles and to systematize the articles of beliefs. Paul, the converted Pharisee continues to elaborate that whoever confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead will be saved (Romans 10:9). For Paul, to be saved is to have one’s broken life restored and preserved. More than that, whoever is saved is to partake in the eternal life of God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (6:23)

What is “eternal life in Christ”? Does it mean immortality? Not exactly! John says, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) Don’t belittle the word “to know” because for Jews, “to know יָדַע” may refer to something very intimate. For example, Genesis 4:1 and Luke 1:34. Thus, to partake in the eternal life of God is to know Him and to become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:18) with Him. John also uses this “one flesh” language when he talks about the mystery of Incarnation (John 1:14) and Christ’s relation with the disciples (15:5). Paul does so when he discusses the Mystical Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12). In other words, our salvation is more than God not counting our sins against us, but God enables us to partake in His eternal life, to become one flesh with Him. In His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus says, “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us …” (17:20-21) So, not only were the disciples handpicked by the Son of God, but all of us will also return to our Creator and become one flesh with Him again!

Will our sinful past “dilute” God’s glory when we become one flesh with Him? Of course not! God is an infinite being. Subtracting a finite amount from an infinite amount still renders an infinity. Similarly, one infinite Father plus one infinite Son plus one infinite Holy Spirit will render, not three, but one infinity! This “infinity” jargon is as powerful as the “one flesh” language.

Brethren! On this Mission Sunday, let’s bear in mind not only the whole humanity but also the whole creation which is groaning with us (Romans 8:19-23). Paul mentions “creation” 4 times within these 5 verses! Why does the whole creation groans? In ancient times, the Psalmist says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the works of His hands.” (Psalms 19:2). But we have been irresponsible and contaminated our environment heavily. Woe to us, we’re suffering extreme weathers and outbursts of pandemics. We can no longer afford to ignore the sustainability of our environment anymore. Amen.
God bless!
2019 Reflection
Picture Credit: bishopandchristian.com