Don’t Throw Away the Pearl 不要買櫝還珠

Thirtieth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Don’t Throw Away the Pearl 不要買櫝還珠

I thank the merciful Lord for permitting me to teach a five-lesson course on the Pentateuch so that I may refresh my knowledge on the topic as well as deepening my relationship with Him. Throughout the weeks of preparation and presentation, I could feel the accompaniment of the Lord who fed me with ideas which I needed desperately. I acquired a better understanding of the significance of the Law and how Jesus came, not to abolish but to fulfil them.

When we study the Old Testament, we always fall into the trap of measuring their values against ours and we obtain an impression that their morals were irrelevant, outdated and even savage! Jesus’ word is a good reminder which we should constantly bear in mind in full, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all thing have taken place” (Matthew 5:17-18). How dare you, hypocrites, to lift a piece of text out of context to achieve your agenda and ignore the less convenient or even embarrassing ones!

Nowadays, we enjoy reading the books of Genesis and the first half of Exodus because they are juicy. Most of us skip the portions of laws in the second half of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus and the first half of Numbers. Few have the patience to read through the farewell speeches of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. However, if readers know that during the 40-day temptation in the wilderness, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy to defeat Satan, they should be able to appreciate the importance of the Law in the salvation project of God! Indeed, the Torah is like a piece of sandwich for the Jews. The juicy stories in Genesis, Exodus and Numbers are like the pieces of wrapper bread of the sandwich. They are only containers of more valuable “pearls”. Modern readers buy the containers but throw away the pearls! Brethren! Try to put on a Jewish hat and find out why those boring, outdated and tedious laws are “pearls” for the Jews!

Simply put, the Law defines the Israelite identity as the Chosen People of God! Moses says, “For how can it be known that I and your people have found favour with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the surface of the earth” (Exodus 33:16). While pagans continued to do business and feasting on Sabbath, Israelites kept it holy. That was the reason why they chased after and persecuted Jesus and his disciples for working miracles on Sabbath! While it was not a Gentile custom to circumcise, Israelites were ordered to kill the uncircumcised males in their community (Genesis 17:14). God would not spare even Moses or the son of Moses (Exodus 4:24-26). That was the obstacle the early Church needed to overcome in order to evangelize and to admit Gentiles into the community of the redeemed People of God. The book of Leviticus was important because it teaches the Israelites how being sinners, they were able to approach God safely without getting harmed or killed. From Leviticus, the Israelites learnt that they might pacify God’s wrath with sacrifices. The priests might be deployed as middle men to pass on their oaths, vows and intentions to God without exposing themselves to the hazard of God’s glory and lastly, by keeping themselves clean, they might come to visit God whenever they feel pure and without blemish!

With this background knowledge in mind, let us meditate what the gospel passage today teaches.
When a teacher of the Law challenged Jesus which commandment in the Mosaic Law is the greatest (Matthew 22:36), he was talking about the Torah, namely the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, and not the “613 mitzvot” which was an intellectual construct by Maimonides in the 12^th century. To be sure, the Pharisees had been working along similar lines to extract precepts, regulations, rules and traditions in the big fat book of Torah in order to make them accessible for commoners to follow and observe. Maimonides might be the one who systematized them into 613 mitzvot. In order to appreciate the scale of the challenge, before the time the 613 mitzvot came into existence, let us consider the following statistics¹ . These five books, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, consist of 187 chapters, 5844 verses and 79847 Hebrew words. Beware of the error of asynchronicity². However, don’t be fooled by numbers because one of the laws prescribes that all Jews should recite the Shema, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with you whole being, and with your whole strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) at least twice a day “Recite them … when you lie down and when you get up” (6:7b). That is to say, all Jews were required to recite the Shema before they went to bed and after they got up in the morning! How could they not know this commandment in the book of Deuteronomy? Jesus must have known this book by heart from cover to cover because He quoted it to ward off Satan’s temptations (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). However, it would take a God, who so loved the world as to surrender His only beloved Son to die for all humanity (John 3:16), to institute the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18)! A distant and lofty God would not be able to do so.

Should we throw away the Old Testament whose God was wrathful, “You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If you ever wrong them … my wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans” (Exodus 22:21-23)? Of course not! The Old Testament is the root of the New Testament. Without the Old Testament, our Sacraments would be bland and magical instead of being reasonable channels to convey God’s grace. Furthermore, are you able to read the righteousness of God in His threats of wrath? Even if you do not appreciate the social justice conveyed in the first reading, you should at least listen to what the Responsorial Psalm sings today, “My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!” (Psalms 18:3) Jesus Christ, my God, is my shield and covers me from the Father’s wrath. Indeed, Christ bore the brunt of God’s wrath for all of us obediently on the cross. This is how the Father wants to save us. When will God’s wrath arrive? The threat in Exodus does not mention the time. But it is not a threat without substance because telling lies or fear-mongering are not His modus operandi. He leaves the time open and there can only be one logical candidate --- the Judgment Day. But I’m confident that Christ the King will be our shield to cover us from the Father’s wrath just as He has loved us on the cross. There shouldn’t be any more room for the doubt of God’s love of sinners and all those unlovable ones.

We thank the apostles for their handing down of Christ’s teaching to us. On our own, we’ll never be able to bring the Sacraments down from heaven to nourish ourselves. Most likely, human nature dictates that we would do without Sacraments! We won’t be able to understand why Jesus gave two commandments (Matthew 22:40) when the Pharisees demanded only one (22:36)! Indeed, the greatest and the first commandment (22:37; Deuteronomy 6:5) would be incomplete without the second one. It is because on its own, the greatest commandment is empty without any tangible substance. Alas! We are human and humble creatures. How can we, including the doer himself, know for certain that we love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind? Can people, including we ourselves, see our own hearts or others’ hearts, souls and minds? No way! Only God alone is able to see, hear, touch and judge our conscience. But we are able to see our neighbour. John the beloved disciple of Jesus explains well, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). In other words, loving the needy gives substance to loving God. Without the second commandment, the first can at most be empty talks. Of course, the King of the Universe makes it explicit and concrete when He teaches later, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

Beloved brethren! Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth (1 John 3:18). For we know that this is the way, and the truth and the life (John 14:6). Only then can we enter into God’s repose (Psalms 95:11). Amen.

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¹ https://biblequestions.info/2019/04/27/what-are-some-statistics-about-the-torah/
²The system of dividing Christian Bible texts into chapters and verses came in 1557 AD, and the Hebrew Scriptures at around 10^thcentury AD! Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: whctwh.org

Let Us Be Mobile Fountains of Blessing 讓我們成為流動的福泉

Mission Sunday, Year A
Theme: Let Us Be Mobile Fountains of Blessing 讓我們成為流動的福泉

Out of love, the Lord God created the known universe for His images to flourish and develop. Furthermore, He delegated to us who were created in His image, the stewardship to manage the universe and all its inhabitants (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:15b) in His stead. The Creation was a masterpiece in His eyes until we abused the free will He gave us. In His foresight to contain the spread of damages, the Lord God set up a safety valve, namely death, when He gave the man the second instruction, namely not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (2:16-17). Consequently, the Creation was contaminated and infested with sins. Our human nature was tarnished and seeing that we’re unable to cleanse up the mess, the Lord God took the initiative to send His only begotten Son and with Him the Holy Spirit to heal and to renew the Creation. Since our First Parents were the culprits, shouldn’t we take up at least a portion of the responsibility to assist the Lord God to cleanse up the mess?

First of all, we need to know His plan or in theological jargon, the will of God. To cater for our lack of wisdom and probably to hide His plan from the Devil as well, the Lord God reveals His salvation scheme gradually. To start with, He announced the proto-gospel in the form of an enigma. The Lord God told the Serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel” (3:15). Notice that a dialogue went on between God and our First Parents while He denied the Serpent the opportunity to defend itself! Thus, the Devil is in constant lookout for this offspring of the woman and tries to destroy him or her before it is too late. On the other hand, humanity has been complacent and indulged in idolatry. Many of them are not aware of the ongoing spiritual war! They hide themselves inside their comfort zones and reinforce them with a false sense of security with idolatry of various kinds, such as accumulation of wealth and power, enhancement of their health and social connections or simply waste away their lives in substance abuses, gambling, pornography or the virtual reality provided by information technology etc. We should thank the Lord God who sees and will provide (22:8a). He does not abandon us but works unceasingly to further enlighten us of His will.

The Lord God visited many civilizations to look for a suitable candidate to kick-start the salvation project and at last, He met and befriended an Abraham in the city of Ur in Babylon in around 1,800 BCE. When Abraham was 75, rich and secure, God told him to leave his comfort zone behind for another piece of land. Furthermore, God promised to make him a great nation and a source of blessings for all the peoples on earth (12:1-3). The Lord God renewed His vows with the offspring of Abraham, viz. Isaac and Jacob who was the father of twelve sons and one daughter born of four women. The family migrated to Egypt and stayed there for more than four centuries to grow and to learn. Then God made Moses the leader liberating the Israelites from Egypt and they spent forty years in the wilderness to travel to and settle down in the Promised Land, Canaan. I am sure they had once set foot on Gaza, the war-torn zone today where the Lord God had driven away the inhabitants to make room for them. Later, the Israelites became a kingdom and was conquered in succession by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and lastly the Romans under whose colonial rule, the Son of God took flesh and became man, known as Jesus of Nazareth. He travelled around and preached in the Holy Land for three years and was arrested and condemned to death for inciting rebellion against the Roman Empire. He was crucified but came back to life on the third day. The rest is history.

In the gospel reading today, we read of the Great Commission in which before His ascension into heavens and returning to His heavenly Father, the risen Christ sent the eleven apostles to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19a). Indeed, when we read of the gospel passage today, the risen Lord is also sending us to do likewise, viz. to become mobile fountains of blessings to all the peoples on earth. Are we ready to take this mission up with joy?

Most Catholics doubt their own capabilities to become missionaries. We magnify our frailties, personality flaws and incompetence! Perhaps we should look the other way at the Patriarchs and examine their lives carefully. When we do, we can easily find faults with them and discover our superiority over them. For example, both Abraham and Isaac told lies about their relationship with their wives in order to save their own skin (Genesis 12:12-13, 26:7). Jacob had cheated both his father Isaac (27:19) and his father-in-law Laban (30:31-43) to obtain his riches. His wife Rachel had stolen Laban’s household images before the family returned to Canaan (31:19)! His sons, Simeon and Levi, took revenge and massacred all the males in the city of Shechem (34:25). Then the other sons, except Benjamin who was not yet born, followed up the slaughter and sacked the city (34:27) etc. I’m sure we won’t do such morally appalling things and yet the Lord God elected them as fountains of blessings to all nations!

Like the Sadducees, we do not know the scriptures and the power of God well enough (Matthew 22:29). For one, God shows His power not just in working ground shaking miracles but also in turning bad things into good ones! For example, out of greed, Caesar Augustus ordered a census of the entire Empire (Luke 2:1) without which, the pregnant BVM would not go south with St. Joseph her spouse to Bethlehem to register. With this census, Caesar Augustus helped fulfil the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6; Micah 5:1). Similarly, God’s power and in fact His mercy is shown in electing sinners instead of saints to carry out His plan. Sinners become God’s helpers and ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) to proclaim reconciliation. In so doing, God is transforming sinners into saints and making them fountains of blessings like Abraham and his offspring. It is none of their merits but God’s grace given to all who answer God’s call. St. Paul puts it well, “A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due” (Romans 4:4). We have not done anything worth rewarding. God does not owe us anything. Instead, we have committed many sins. Therefore, God’s forgiveness is a gift and is not something we earn. It is only in proclaiming the gospel of reconciliation to others that we start earning our wages because “The labour deserves his keep” (Matthew 10:10b). But shouldn’t we be grateful to be given the opportunity to show our love and care for the wellbeing of the souls of our neighbour/brothers whom we are keepers (Genesis 4:9)?

Now, what wages do we expect to earn? It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Love! The good Lord Jesus Christ tells us that the Father in heaven is eager to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13). On one hand, when we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. To be candid, very few people understand these gifts, not to mention making good use of them. But when we are bold enough to proclaim the gospel, we will be making good use of these gifts. When we proclaim the gospel of reconciliation we don’t need to worry about our eloquence because it is the Holy Spirit who speaks, not us (Matthew 10:20). Actually, people will not be convinced by our eloquence because few of us possess the eloquence of St. John Chrysostom and our not so elegant eloquence will only invite challenges and arguments instead of conversion which only love is able to achieve. Who else has this power to convince and to convert if not the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love? When people hear Him speak, their hearts will burn within (Luke 24:32). The words of the Holy Spirit cut to their hearts (Acts 2:37). Meanwhile, we’ll be learning from the Holy Spirit as a fringe benefit when we proclaim the good news. The master of the vineyard is looking for just such produce in vintage time (Matthew 21:34, gospel reading last Sunday)!

Beloved brethren! Shouldn’t we be elated when we are able to help the Lord God cleanse up at least some mess left behind by our fallen First Parents? Shouldn’t we rejoice like the Lord God when the wicked turn from their evil way and live (Ezekiel 18:23)? Let’s boost up our courage to insist on reconciliation and making peace instead of resorting to violence. Amen.
God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: drivethruhistoryadventures.com

How To Avoid Expulsion 如何保住一席位？

Twenty-Eighth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: How To Avoid Expulsion 如何保住一席位？

I am sure most people on earth paid most of their attention on the conflict between Israel and Hamas during the past week. Many were caught unprepared and were shocked hearing the unsubstantiated atrocities on civilians, in particular on children. Some of them quickly think of the imminence of the end of the world in their flight of fantasies and post them on Youtube. Is the end of the world just around the corner? God knows (Mark 13:32)! In fact, they are not alone in imbuing their minds with such fantasies. Even the spokesmen of God sometimes did similar things, with a difference.

The first reading today is taken from one of the many series of oracles in the book of Isaiah, known as the Apocalypse of Isaiah, chapters 24-27, which biblical scholars believe reflect the situation of the southern Judah Kingdom during the 8^th century B.C. Isaiah 24 paints a gruesome end-of-the-world scene. But readers need not be gloomy because a proper understanding of end time prophecies should also include what follows the catastrophes leading to the end. Today, we read of the joy and peace after the destruction of many, both the righteous as well as the wicked.

Before we delve into details, may I remind you of God’s style of revelation. To cater for our lack of intelligence and understanding, God starts vaguely and makes His messages clearer and clearer in steps. For example, the Lord God promised to make Abraham a great nation (Genesis 12:2a) when he did not even have a son! Later, the Lord God made His promise clearer, “I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth” (13:16). Then the Lord God made His promise even clearer. He took Abraham outside his tent and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so will your descendants be” (15:5). To give more substance to His pledge, the Lord God made a covenant with Abraham (15:9-17). But a nation with a large population is not necessarily a great nation. Finally, the Lord God promised that kings would stem from him and his wife Sarah (17:6, 16). Perhaps God intends “the great nation” to be something even bigger and revelation does not stop there. Who knows? Therefore, don’t expect the Lord God to be very specific in details about the end of the world. He will surely remain vague for a long time to come. Moreover, it is stupid of you Christians to lift a single verse out of context to prove your point. You do not respect the Lord your God when you do not follow His way of doing things. Quote more fully and extensively when you want to prove your knowledge of the Bible.

Prophets speak in poetry. Therefore, the language is vague and laced with symbols. For example, the first line of the first reading today reads, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples” (Isaiah 25:6a). “This mountain” refers to Mount Zion which is, in itself, a symbol of the kingdom of heaven. Catholics interpret “Mount Zion” to mean the Catholic Church which is catholic in admitting all peoples into her fold. Though some clergy are harsh and traditional in outlook, others are more liberal and merciful. Thus, we should expect meeting a mix of both fervent and non-practising parishioners in the Church. But the kingdom of heaven symbolizes even bigger things as well. It can also refer to the blissful life in the Paradise. Narrated in decorative symbolic language, the Lord God throws a banquet of “rich food and choice wines” (25:6b).

Further down, we meet yet another symbol. The oracle continues, “On this mountain He will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations” (25:7). Here, the veil cannot be any ordinary face masks we put on these days. It must be something big enough to cover all peoples! Knowing that poetry employs “repetition” as one of its many techniques and if we cannot figure out the meaning of a symbol immediately, read on! The poet will further embellish his point until the readers understand. In fact, the very next verse gives the answer, “He will destroy death forever” (25:8a). “Veil” and “web” symbolize different aspects of “death”. There is yet another beautiful image which appears again in the last book of the Bible, “The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces” (25:8b). Christians, you should not feel gloomy reading news about the end of the world and mislead people on Youtube. You should welcome and embrace such news because you are supposed to be able to see what lies beyond death! Otherwise, I doubt very much whether you’ll NOT be kicked out even if you were baptized in the name of the Blessed Trinity.

The gospel passages in the past few weeks are related and heading towards an end, the Last Judgment! In the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard on the 25^th Sunday, at the end of the day, the landowner paid the workers. The smell of Apocalypse was not obvious but is definitely there: reward at the end [of the world]. In the parable of Two Sons on the 26th Sunday, a judgment is passed. The smell of Apocalypse was stronger. It was even stronger in the parable of Wicked Tenants last Sunday. Not only a judgment was passed but a sentence was also mentioned. Today in the Parable of the Wedding Feast, we hear of “The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (Matthew 22:7) and “Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (22:13). A total of two punishments are mentioned for two different groups of people! Obviously, the wicked are and should be destroyed and sentenced to hell after death! The Judgment Day is revealed gradually. It is definite and not a metaphor. Such is the signature of God’s modus operandi!

The Israelites/Jews were those invited first. They were the Chosen People who had entered into a covenant with the Lord God. By the merit of Abraham, their ancestor, they have secured their advantage over all other peoples on earth. Yet, some ignored the guarantee/covenant. Some were annoyed by the prophets whom the Lord God sent to remind them. They murdered the messengers who carried the reconciliation message! Thus, they deserved to suffer under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and finally the Romans. Notice that the Lord God had only “destroyed” the murderers, but not those who ignored the invitation. Moreover, He had not “annihilated” the murderers “For I find no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies --- oracle of the Lord God. Turn back and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32) Jews continue to wait for their Messiah up to this day!

What about us Gentiles, who were invited after the first batch had failed to respond? Again, don’t be self-righteous and eager to see the wicked punished! Be humble and ask ourselves where you have laid your “wedding garment” around! Remember, if you do not put on your wedding garment, you show no respect to the host and deserve punishment! Yes, God invites you to salvation and you have responded positively. You acknowledge Jesus Christ to be your Saviour and were baptized and admitted into the Church which embraces “bad and good alike” (22:10a). Of course, you congratulate yourselves because unlike other sinners who ignore God’s invitation and some who even do a lot of evil things, you enter the Church and practise your faith regularly praying, going to mass, receiving sacraments and studying the Bible etc. Are you sure you are one of the justified ones as well? Or are you sure you do not become bad later in your life before the king comes to inspect? Are you certain that “your good work” mentioned above is the “wedding garment” God demands? Of course, I am in no position to pass judgment on your “wedding garment”. The Lord God is. I am only an annoying servant going around to remind people who care to listen.

In order to prevent you from claiming ignorance, I would like to quote the second reading for your sake. Paul wrote to the Philippians who had supported his missions abundantly. Throughout his mission, Paul had his days of abundance and of scarcity, of being well fed and of going hungry, of successes and of failures (Philippians 4:12). I was touched by his words to the Philippians, “It was kind of you to share in my distress” (4:14). Christians, here is your wedding garment, viz. sharing the distress of the people you meet, namely the rich, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the ignorant and what not. In doing so, we follow Christ’s new commandment, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you should love one another” (John 13:34). Note that it is not something only Christians can do. Everyone has the capability to love one another. The Lord God is fair to everyone, the good as well as the wicked, the baptized and the unbaptized! Christians have the only advantage of knowing this commandment before the unbaptized.

Beloved brethren! The Lord God is merciful. Even when He punished Cain for murdering Abel, He protected him from being killed by people he happened to meet (Genesis 4:15). The famous Shepherd Psalm we sing in the Responsorial Psalm today is consoling even to the wicked, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalms 23:4). What can prevent God from accompanying the condemned in hell? Christians, have no fear to share the distress of your neighbour. Even in your failures, the merciful Lord God will accompany you in the darkness you will be in! Will you make good use of the advantage of your knowledge to prevent yourselves from being thrown to the darkness outside?
God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: joyintruth.com

What Has God Not Done? 天主還有甚麼沒做到？

The Twenty-Seventh Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: What Has God Not Done? 天主還有甚麼沒做到？

When I meditate the Gospel passage today, I am much relieved and grateful to hear that “Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit” (Matthew 21:43). Don’t be simplistic. Jesus’ warning to the chief priests and the elders of the people was not a simple dichotomy of people in authority against commoners or Jews against Gentiles. Rather, it is a warning against those who produce good fruit against those who don’t. As I am a permanent deacon, I naturally identify myself with the chief priests and the elders to whom this message directs. I am relieved and grateful because God has not yet passed judgment on me. I still have time to repent. Yet, I should not be complacent. Like what the prophet said two weeks ago, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6), I should repent whenever opportunity permits.

Firstly, all of us should be grateful because the kingdom of God has been given us already. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to take it away if we had not possessed it in the first place. Moreover, it also indicates that we are unable to attain or keep the kingdom of God permanently. We may lose it before we leave this world. Simply put, somewhere along the timeline of our stay on earth, God has given us His kingdom either by admitting us into His Church or infusing His grace in our hearts. Either way, God has elevated our creature status (Genesis 1:27) to being His children (Romans 8:21). However, we are living in a world contaminated by our sins collectively. In such an adverse environment, we might doubt God’s love for us; or might be unable to persevere to the end in times of difficulties and lastly have not loved our neighbour adequately. Doubt confuses us in our decision-making so that we make bad choices. Loss of hope stops us short before the finishing line. Consequently, we fail to produce good fruit when our hearts are so hardened that we are unable to love our neighbour as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39).

Were the chief priests and the elders of the people dumbbells who knew nothing? Of course they were not! After hearing Jesus’ parable, they were able to pass a sensible and reasonable judgment, though they might not be aware that they were actually passing judgment on themselves. “He (the owner of the vineyard) will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times” (21:41). Thus, the chief priests and the elders could not evade their moral responsibilities. God held them accountable for their rebellions against Him and they deserved their punishments even more if they refused to repent because they were not mentally deficient.

Once more Jesus shows His mercy in this incident. Jesus refrained from condemning the chief priests and the elders directly because He knows that as the Son of God, His condemnation would be irrevocable. Like what Nathan the prophet had done to expose the sins of David (2 Samuel 12:5-6), Jesus told them a modified “Vineyard Song” and made use of their self-righteousness like David’s, to pass judgment on themselves. Their judgment is not eternal! For the past few weeks, we have seen enough the eagerness of self-righteous people to see their perceived justice prevail, namely the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:28), the first batch of workers (20:12) and today the chief priests and the elders in the shadow of King David!

Let’s take a look at Isaiah’s “Vineyard Song” which is really a master piece. To start with, Isaiah spoke as a third person stating the facts in an objective manner (Isaiah 5:1-2). Of course, we know that his friend is no ordinary person. His so-called “friend” is God. Just imagine how sweet it is for us who partake in the prophetic ministry of Jesus since our baptism to be counted among God’s friends. Then Isaiah shows the true colour of prophets as spokesmen of God when the song switches to the first person, viz. God (5:3-6). God speaks through Isaiah, “What more could be done for my vineyard that I did not do?” (5:4) Who on earth would be able to stand up to accuse God of failing to do some good things? I am sure not even Satan, the greatest ever Accuser is able to! Then the song switches back to the third person to tell us what God expects of the House of Israel: judgment and justice (5:7). “God’s Judgment” means discerning and doing the will of God while “God’s justice” means uplifting and liberating the needy. The chief priests and the elders knew this song well. They might not have learnt the lesson though their fathers had gone through the fulfilment of the prophecy in the Babylonian Captivity. Though life under Roman colonialism was tense, they managed to play politics well to lead a secure and privileged life, forgetting the painful lessons of their ancestors.

Now how did Jesus modify the “Vineyard Song”? He begins, “There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower” (Matthew 21:33b; Isaiah 5:1b-2). With a few broad strokes, Jesus was able to summarize and set up a link with the “Vineyard Song” of Isaiah. Instead of identifying the House of Israel as the vineyard (5:7a), the Son of God put the Jews in their proper positions, “Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey” (Matthew 21:33c). They are the stewards of God’s vineyard, not the vineyard! Like the Son of Man, they “did not come to be served but to serve” (20:28a). Indeed, all of us are stewards of what the Lord has given us when He created us. Now, the landowner could rightfully demand, “Have you made good use of the talents I gave you to do your job properly?” God holds all of us accountable for whether we have made good use of the talents He has given us. Here we have a foretaste of the parable of Talents in Matthew 25.

On the other hand, after seeing the tenants ill-treating the servants he sent earlier, wasn’t the owner of the vineyard stupid to risk the life of his own son and expected that the tenants would respect his son instead (21:37)? We understand that “the servants” symbolize the prophets God sent to the House of Israel (21:34-36). Most of them, say Isaiah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist etc., did not work miracles but Jesus did. Therefore, it was reasonable for God to expect the rulers in the House of Israel to respect Jesus. So once more, the ball was in the court of the Jewish religious authority. Why did the chief priests and the elders reject Jesus and subsequently handed Him over to the Romans for execution after seeing or hearing of His miracles? Actually in the gospel of Matthew, only the scribes, Pharisees (12:38) and Sadducees (16:1) demanded Jesus to perform miracles to prove Himself. Perhaps miracles were irrelevant when the chief priests and the elders rejected Jesus. In fact, it is wrong to expect people to believe or to increase their faith in God after seeing miracles. Such kind of faith can easily be misplaced because miracles encourage people to cling to tangible things and prevent them from coming closer to an invisible and intangible God!

Instead, we should remember what St. Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all, how will He not also give us everything else along with Him?” (Romans 8:31b-32) Since prophets, including Moses, were not able to persuade the House of Israel to repent, God sent His Son, knowing very well that the House of Israel would kill, in order to deliver them from the bondage of sins. In other words, God intends to acquit us, to deliver us and to bring us back to Him through the death of His only begotten Son.
Beloved brethren! I hear “What more could be done for my vineyard that I did not do?” (Isaiah 5:4) drumming in my ears. Do you? God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: biblecartoons.co.uk

What Prevents Us From Doing God’s Will?甚麼阻止我們承行主旨？

Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: What Prevents Us From Doing God’s Will?甚麼阻止我們承行主旨？

Life in modern societies demands us to be multi-tasking. Our schedules are filled up and we engage ouorselves in doing several tasks at the same time. Some tasks demand less attention and efforts while others demand more. We have to be able to allocate our own resources in a flexible way to deal with all kinds of contingencies. We are able to achieve this life style thanks to the advances in Information Technology. With a mobile phone in hand, we are able to chair work meetings, to do financial transactions, to rectify legal deals and to write up business proposals on the go! It is not a fairy tale but is actually happening these days in a commercial city like Hong Kong. We would feel unfulfilled if we are not assigned challenging tasks to outperform our colleagues. Now, will you question the dedication and loyalty of those multi-taskers? No, you won’t and surely bosses admire and value their efficiency too. But what about our God, the ultimate boss?

Superficially, God is also a multi-tasker. Doesn’t He need to hear the prayers of millions of people at the same moment? But our God is free from time-constrains because He moves around freely in the time dimension! Therefore by nature, God is a perfect multi-tasker! For us humanity, we are confined within a certain span of time and space, in short, we exist in history. Since the Fall of our First Parents, we’ve lost our Original Graces and have to struggle to survive in this world which is contaminated by our sins. Since we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), we are by nature multi-taskers as well. The problem is we are doing a lot of contradictory things at the same time, viz. we try to persevere in pursuing the salvation of our souls but at the same time, we continue to commit sins. In the word of St. Paul, “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Further down he continues, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (7:15)! Seeing that we are incapable of pulling ourselves up again, instead of wiping us out, God decides to redeem us. He took the initiative to save us and reveals His loving intention throughout the history of a Chosen People which is an amazing story. Yes, He befriended Abraham and his offsprings to channel His saving graces to all peoples on earth. To show His fidelity, He established covenants with the offsprings of Abraham and renewed those covenants at different times to extend their validity. Later, kings were assigned to be custodians of those covenants. When kings failed, God spoke through the prophets.

Before the Incarnation of the Son of God, the most crucial covenant was the Sinai Covenant in which God gave the Chosen People the Ten Commandments. God says in the First Commandment, “For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5b). Therefore deep down the psyche of the Israelites, there was a conviction that children would be punished for the sins committed by parents. For example, in the story of Jesus’ healing of the man born blind, the disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2) We should not blame the Israelites for not paying attention to the whole context of the First Commandment. They ignore the following statement, namely, “but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6)! It is well-known that there is no sentence structure in the Hebrew language to express comparison. Israelites used opposites to express comparison. Instead of saying “A is bigger than B”, Israelites would say, “B is small and A is big”. Similarly, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Of course God and money are both essential for our survival, growth, development as well as salvation. Our attitude towards them is a matter of “loving” them to different degrees and not some hate/love dichotomy.

Reading the First Commandment in this light, we will understand that the loving God would reveal less of His love to those who love Him less and more to the righteous who love Him more. His so called “punishments” are meant to turn sinners back to the right path. He only needs three to four generations to accomplish this task of adjustment. In the story of the Great Deluge, God showed that He is willing to give humanity a second chance. In subsequent stories of Patriarchs, Judges and kings of the Chosen People, the merciful Lord demonstrated that He is willing to give humanity a third chance, a fourth and a fifth etc. But doesn’t this sound too complicated? In fact it is. To make this complex idea more easily accessible, religious authorities simplify the revelation of the First Commandment to describe a righteous God who punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. Common people can understand this easily. Furthermore, on a pedagogical level, the way the First Commandment is phrased exhorts parents to act righteously because their children would also be punished for their sins! It is a good strategy to warn people to avoid commiting sins! However, such an oversimplification brings in one drawback, namely people would easily become self-righteous. It is easy to find faults with others but not oneself. Worse, self-righteous people are eager to see justice done, namely to ensure that those “sinners” in their eyes, such as tax-collectors and prostitutes were condemned instead of being forgiven!

But life cannot be as simple as such. Oversimplication is self-defeating on a logical level as well. If God punishes a child who is innocent, then God is not righteous because He punishes the guilty as well as the innocent indiscriminately. Since God is righteous, He will not punish a child who is innocent. Then, God would not be able to honour His pledge in the Sinai Covenant that He would punish evildoers to the third and fourth generation! In other words, God puts Himself in a dilemma because His word could not be trusted. He would not be faithful as He claims in the Bible! Alas! We have to wait until a Saint Paul to state that no child is innocent since all have lost the glory of God (Romans 3:23)! It is genuinely not easy to harmonize the mercy of God with His righteousness. In fact, if we read the word of God literally, we are looking for trouble!

In order to rectify the misguided understanding of the Jews, God spoke through Ezekiel to confirm again that He is merciful. Previously, the prophet says, “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked --- oracle of the Lord God? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23) Based on their oversimplified understanding of God’s righteousness, the Israelites complained. In today’s first reading, it is eye-catching to read that God challenges the Israelites twice, “Is it my way that is unfair/not fair? Are not your ways unfair/not fair?” (18:25, 29) What is the “your ways” that God challenged? It is the oversimplified version of righteousness, namely self-righteousness and eagerness to see sinners condemned and punished. Further down, the merciful Lord warns them, “Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, all of you according to your ways --- oracle of the Lord God” (18:30a)! Had God really followed the Israelite way of fairness to ensure that sinners are condemned and punished, none of the self-righteous would have stood a chance. What they needed is God’s mercy and forgiveness so that they might turn from their evil way and live!

Indeed, the readings of the past few weeks follow a theme of humility. Why do we find it impossible to forgive people seventy times seven? It is because of our self-righteousness. We are not humble enough to confess our shortcomings. Why do we find the landowner unfair to pay all workers the same wage? It is because of our self-righteousness and vainglory. We are not humble enough to “regard others as more important than ourselves” (Philippians 2:3b). In this second reading today, St. Paul exhorts us to follow the exemplar set up by the merciful Lord Jesus Christ.

Beloved brethren! Let us follow Christ’s exemplar to empty ourselves and be humble (2:7-8). Otherwise, we’ll not be able to obey and do the Father’s will as the second son illustrated (Matthew 21:30)! Amen and God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: rapidstartleadership.com