Thirty-third Ordinary Sunday, Year B Theme: Bet Our Hope On Jesus’ Words 把希望押在耶穌的話上
Human beings rely on languages to communicate, be they mathematical languages, musical languages, natural languages, scientific languages and sign languages etc. Yet on a macro level, languages change in time and without exception languages that fail to adapt to changing environments go extinct. Think about ourselves. On a personal level, nobody is able to honour all his pledges. Somehow, there are factors he can blame on for his failing to honour the pledges he made even to his most loved ones. Divorce rates, even among Catholics, point to such a stark reality. Imagine how lovely you once were as infants and the happiness and hope you gave your parents. Where has your loveliness gone nowadays? Whether we like it or not, being human, we grow, develop, mature, age, pass away and cannot arrest the process. Alas! Many ambitious people have been able to gather a large crowd of followers with sweet talks. With a huge following, those charismatic leaders were able to flex mighty political muscles to challenge the ruling class and even overthrow them. However, very few revolutionary coups were able to last long in human history because leaders inevitably die and their successors have other thoughts. Therefore, Jesus was truly bold when He claims in today’s gospel, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). How can a man make such a claim, unless Jesus is more than just a mortal man? Indeed, this is one of the two basic articles of faith in Christianity: namely, that Jesus is both human and divine! Thus, He is eternal. With sufficient time, He is able to achieve anything. Moreover, the Church He builds shall be able to withstand volleys of attack from hell without crumbling (Matthew 16:18)!Then, what are Jesus’ words? What did He say about Himself, His mission and His relations with us? Before we proceed, we should bear in mind the limitations of our understandings because of the finite knowledge we possessed and the prejudices we have developed over the years. The only certainty we can have is that we do not possess all the knowledge we need to understand. Nevertheless, let us move ahead and pray that the merciful Lord will enlighten our finitude.
First of all, while His contemporaries anticipated Him to be their Messiah, a descendant of King David and a military liberator of Jews, Jesus has never claimed Himself to be the Anointed One. He preferred calling Himself a less conspicuous title: the Son of Man (Mark 13:26). However, in the gospel of John, the beloved disciple, we find Him claiming, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus was claiming to be the channel through whom humanity may gain access to God the Father. Previously He told the Jews who believed in Him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32). From this we see that there would be two groups of people: those who believe in Him and those who don’t. Moreover, it is important “to remain in His word”. Otherwise, we will not be true disciples. What does it mean? Let’s assume that “to remain in His word” means to believe and practise Jesus’ teachings. To believe is never sufficient because like any study, one will not attain any knowledge without practising and sooner or later one will even lose their attained knowledge when they don’t put their knowledge into practice. Thus, true Christians are not those who were enrolled into Christianity through baptism but those who obey Jesus’ instructions. Jesus the Son of God promises that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. To a certain extent, Jesus is the anticipated liberator, the Messiah but on a totally different dimension. Instead of fighting a political-military battle against the powerful Roman Empire, Jesus is leading His disciples to fight a spiritual warfare against evil! Due to our limitations, it takes time for us to know the truth. Of course, by “truth” Jesus meant Himself during the revelation in the Last Supper. It takes time for us to know Jesus and thus to build up a meaningful relationship with the Son of God. Once such a relationship is secured, we will be able to attain life because Jesus Himself is the author of life. If we are able to build up a meaningful relationship with Jesus, we will be able to partake in His life which is eternal.
Is it really that difficult to break hell? Surprisingly it is not at all! Once again, it depends on whether you choose to believe in Jesus or not. On the social media, we find many posts offering model answers and tips to questions asked by big companies such as Amazon and Google during their employment interviews. In fact, Jesus has done this two millennia ago in one of His parables. In the Parable of Sheep and Goats, He leaks six “examination questions” He shall ask in the Final Judgment! “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36). These examination questions are fair because if He had asked whether you had attended masses on Sundays, it would have been unfair for people living thousands of years before the establishment of the Church! Moreover, these examination questions are practical and are not difficult to perform. Even the physically disabled are capable of doing. Then why do some people reject Jesus’ teaching?
To answer the first question I posed in the second paragraph above, namely what are Jesus’ words? Simply put, His words are words of love. When He answered the challenge of locating the first commandment among the 631 laws, He quoted the Shema Israel (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Knowing that it is unfair to Gentiles of old and new, Jesus immediately quoted the “love thy neighbour as thyself” commandment (Leviticus 19:18) to put it on a par with the Shema Israel. The beloved disciple makes it clear when he writes, “Whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). The Bible tells us that God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26) and God is love (1 John 4:8). Then who is born without the capability to love? However, some people have picked up a wrong type of value-system so that they have buried/stored away their talent to love (Matthew 25:25; Luke 19:20). Had God asked us to do Herculean endeavours, I am sure many of us would have done it without a second thought. Why do so many people hesitate and even refuse when God simply asks us to love?
God bless!
Picture Credit: runningscience.co.za, stheadline.com
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