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OUR LOVE FOR JESUS WILL DETERMINE OUR FIDELITY TO HIM - stephenkhoo - 04-02-2012 10:23 AM
Scripture Reflections
02 April, 2012, Monday of Holy Week
OUR LOVE FOR JESUS WILL DETERMINE OUR FIDELITY TO HIM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 42:1-7; JN 12:1-11
On Palm Sunday yesterday, we celebrated Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem to accomplish His mission of establishing the Kingdom of God. There, He laid down the final challenge to His people to accept the message of the Kingdom. By doing so, He came into direct confrontation with the leaders of Jerusalem. What is important is that Jesus did the will of His Father to the very end. The challenge posed to us therefore, is whether we too will be faithful to Jesus to the very end, even when we have to carry the cross and face the prospect of death. Will we be like the crowd who rejected Jesus when Jesus did not satisfy their expectations, or like the cowardly disciples and apostles of Jesus who abandoned Him when their fortunes changed?
We might give up on Jesus because we are not ready to share the cross with Him. We find that we are unable to give ourselves completely to Him. Wanting to carry the cross with Jesus for the love of Him, our loved ones and His people is one thing, but to be able to do it is another thing altogether. We all know that we must follow Jesus in being committed to our vocations, in our professional, marriage or priestly/religious lives for the good of the people of God. We know that we must give our lives to those under our care so that they can become the best that they can be. But how many of us are truly faithful to our vocation to love and serve, especially when we are struggling in our marriage, priestly life or in our work? The tendency is to give up when trials set in.
In the final analysis, our fidelity to Jesus and to our vocation will depend on our love for Him and our experience of His love for us. Indeed, this is the basis for Jesus’ ministry. Firstly, He was certain of His call to be the Anointed One of God. He knew what the Father wanted Him to do. Jesus would have certainly applied the words of Isaiah to Himself when the prophet wrote, “I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right; I have taken you by the hand and formed you; I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.” If Jesus was so convinced of His calling to be the Suffering Servant, it was because of His intimate relationship with His Father. Unless we are in touch with the Father in prayer, we cannot share the conviction of what the Father wants of us. The reason why many of us are now living lives of regret is because we have chosen a particular state of life or a profession that we are not called to by the Lord. Instead of asking what the Lord wants of us, we do what we will. As a consequence, we find ourselves a misfit and unhappy in our current state of life. If it were a case of a permanent commitment, then we are now paying the price for the wrong decision we have earlier made, a life of incomplete happiness.
Secondly, it was His love for the Father that motivated Him to go to the very end of dying for the Kingdom of His Father. Of course, this love originates from the Father’s love for Him. The First Suffering Servant Song of Isaiah speaks of Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Historically, the servant here refers to Cyrus, the Persian King who allowed the exiled Israelites to return toIsrael; or it could refer toIsrael collectively as the Servant of God. At any rate, the Suffering Servant theme has been applied to Jesus. As the first reading tells us, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” These words remind us of the baptism of Jesus and His Transfiguration when the Father affirmed His choice of Jesus and His love for Him. More than just His love, the Father has also “given him his spirit … that he may bring true justice to the nations.” Conscious of His Father’s love and election, Jesus was able to give Himself totally to the cause of His Father. In response, Jesus was faithful to His Father’s love. As Isaiah prophesied, “Faithfully he brings true justice; he will neither waver nor be crushed until true justice is established on earth, for the islands are awaiting his law.” Furthermore, we are told in the responsorial psalm that the Lord was His help and light, the stronghold of His life so that His heart might not fear.
So much was He one with the Father’s love that His approach to the world was also that of non-violence and compassion. Indeed, “He does not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame.” Jesus was full of compassion for good and bad alike. When Mary was accused of wastage, He defended her action. When Judas had ulterior motives, Jesus patiently hoped for his repentance and conversion. Throughout His ministry, Jesus employed love, compassion and forgiveness to bring sinners back to God. Like His Father, Jesus demonstrated compassion for all of humanity. His love for us all was symbolized in Mary’s extravagant love for Him for she anointed the body of Jesus with expensive ointment. Love in truth does not count the cost and is not measured in monetary terms. In fact, all values do not have a monetary tag to it. Can we ever repay the sacrifices of love that our parents made for us all these years? Can we ever repay the sacrifices of love that our loved ones suffered for us?
What about us? Do we have the extravagant love of Mary or the calculative love of Judas with respect to Jesus? What kind of love did Mary give to Jesus? We are told that her love for Jesus was without limits. She “brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment.” So focused was her love for Jesus, that she was oblivious to the people around her. She was only concerned for Jesus’ needs and was not worried about whether she would make a fool of herself in public. Her love for Jesus was courageous even going to the extent of loosing her hair in public and wiping His feet with her hair. She expressed her love for Jesus shamelessly according to what she felt in her heart. At the same time, she did it with respect for the mystery and the person of Jesus.
Judas’ love for Jesus however, was calculative and insincere. His motives for loving Jesus were dubious. It appeared that he loved Jesus. But the truth is that he was making use of Jesus for his own self-interests. He loved himself more than he loved Jesus. Hence, when Mary showed honour to Jesus, he was not happy with Jesus. Of course, he had his psychological defence to justify his disappointment. He rationalized his lack of love for Jesus by giving the logical reason that the ointment could be “sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” Ironically, he was oblivious to the needs of Jesus and claimed to be attentive to the needs of the poor.
Consequently, today, we are invited to examine our love for Jesus. Do we have a love for Jesus like Mary? Because if we do, then it will be manifested in our commitment to growth in our spiritual life, in cultivating virtues especially in living out the evangelical counsels, being committed to formation and most of all, a greater generosity in service and ministry. Conversely, if we find ourselves making excuses and rationalizing like Judas for not taking our spiritual and prayer lives seriously or that we are lacking generosity in the ministry and in our vocation, then we know that our love for Jesus is shallow. More likely than not, we could be making use of the ministry like Judas to benefit ourselves.
Yes, we are invited to deepen our love for Jesus who is the Beloved of the Father and ours during this last week of Lent. We are called to be like the Prodigal Father, to be extravagant in love for Jesus. Our love for Jesus is prior to the ministry. Indeed, Jesus told Judas, “Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.”
The truth is that unless we love Jesus, we cannot give to the poor, less still to love them or even give ourselves selflessly to our loved ones, especially when they are demanding, unreasonable and ungrateful. Only having loved Jesus, then we can share the love of Jesus with the poor and His people. But once we love Him, then like the suffering servant, we too are called “to serve the cause of right.” We too are appointed to be the “covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.” When we give ourselves selflessly to others in love and service, then we know that we love Jesus.
Let us therefore take heed of Jesus’ warning. We will have the poor with us always, but if we do not have Jesus with us, we cannot serve the poor. We must avoid being calculative when it comes to spending time with Him in prayer or in service. By being generous with our time for Jesus, we can become generous and truly concerned for the needs of His people, especially those who are materially, emotionally and spiritually poor.
Written by Rev. Fr. William Goh
Spiritual Director, Catholic Spirituality Centre (CSC)
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Best Practices of Daily Scripture Reflections – By Fr William Goh
Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
01 April, 2012, Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
JOURNEYING WITH JESUS IN HIS PASSION AND RESURRECTION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: MK 11:1-10 (PROCESSION); ISA 50:4-7; PHIL 2:6-11; MK 14:1-15:47 (MASS)
Today marks the beginning of the most solemn week of the Church’s year. Palm Sunday, or otherwise known as Passion Sunday, commemorates the last days of Jesus in Jerusalem where His work and mission of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom is brought to its fulfillment. Indeed, today, like the contemporaries of Jesus’ time, we welcome with joy the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which is the symbol of the City of God. We recognize that Jesus is our King and our Saviour. It is for this reason that we are giving Him such a glorious welcome, just as the Jews did 2000 years ago.
But the vital question we need to ask ourselves today is, why are we welcoming Jesus? Are we welcoming Jesus because He can deliver to us all the things that we want from Him? If that is so, then we are just like the Jews in the days of Jesus. They, too, expected Jesus to be their earthly and political Saviour. They had seen Him performing works of wonders, like healing the sick, multiplying the bread and raising the dead. With such powers, they thought that Jesus would be their political liberator, manifesting His power and might.
Of course, the way we regard Jesus is how most of us treat our fellowmen, even our family members. How often do we take for granted our parents and our loved ones? We see them as people who provide us the comforts of life, shelter, food and luxuries. Quite often we treat our friends in that manner too. So long as they are of help to us, they are our friends. But when we do not need them or when they no longer have any use for us, we dump them and forget about them completely. Even in man and woman relationship, how often do we make use of each other to satisfy our lust rather than to deepen our love and intimacy with each other in spirit. The sad reality of life is that we manipulate people for our selfish interests and use them to promote and satisfy our needs. So like the contemporaries of Jesus, we will dump them and Jesus as well, if they do not fulfil our desires.
With such worldly and self-centered expectations, of course they were going to be disappointed by Jesus. For the truth is that the kingship that Jesus brought with Him is a kingship in terms of human lowliness, love and service. Jesus came as a poor king, riding on a donkey; not in glorious splendour. Jesus came to serve and to empty Himself for others. The only power that He knew is the power of love, not of might and strength. The only riches that He knew were to be rich in love and compassion. The only status that he knew was the status of a servant or a slave for others. Precisely, Jesus came into Jerusalem by riding on an ass. It was St Mark’s way of correcting the wrong understanding of Jesus’ Messiahship of the crowd. By coming on a donkey, Jesus was foreshadowing the humiliation of the cross that was to come. Indeed, Jesus did not give them the riches and the glory of the world that they thought He could give as their Messiah. Jesus did not set them free from their occupiers, the Romans, but came to set them free from their sins. Jesus did not give them a political kingdom but the Kingdom of God. Jesus did not give them any territory, for the only kingdom is that of the heart where God dwells in the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus has come to give us a peace and joy that the world cannot give. It is a joy that comes from selfless and humble service, even to the extent of dying to oneself so that others might live. It is a life of kenosis, the total emptying of self, of one’s convenience, pleasure, comfort and security for others.
This theme of Jesus’ kenosis in St Mark is reiterated in the second reading when St Paul wrote about Jesus’ self-emptying. Jesus was a suffering servant but Jesus’ death was more than just an instance of a great heroic example of a good and righteous man who suffered innocently for the good of others. Rather, as the gospel of Mark shows, Jesus’ passion demonstrates the conflict between the power of darkness and light. Indeed, the mocked trial of Jesus was practically carried out through the night. But what is important is that Jesus was ultimately victorious over the power of darkness, as seen in the loud cry at His exaltation on the cross when “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a son of God.’” This triumph of Jesus over sin, evil and death is aptly captured by St Paul when he spoke of the Christus Victor who, precisely in and through His obedient suffering on the cross, brought about His exaltation.So the question is, are we interested to welcome such a king into our lives? For when His fellow Jews came to realize that this was the kingdom that Jesus was offering them, they turned their back on Him a few days later. They welcomed Jesus, but only according to their own selfish expectations. Hence, from the cries of Hosanna, it became the cries of “Crucify him.” Yes, these same people who welcomed Jesus with great triumphant joy became the very people who would reject and condemn Him and deliver Him into the hands of the chief priests and Pilate. What about us? Will we condemn this Jesus whom we so enthusiastically welcome today? Will you honour Him only because He attends to your pursuits of material success and worldly gains? Or will you follow Him to be a servant, rich in love and service? Only when we are ready to empty our lives for others and for the Kingdom, can we then truly be worthy to journey with Jesus in His passion and follow Him even unto death. Are we ready to embrace the cross of our life like Jesus and be obedient to the Father’s will unto death? If we fail to comprehend the meaning of the cross as the key to victory and fullness of life, then we would have missed out the theological intent of this Sunday’s liturgy.
But the good news and promise remain: if we are willing, then eternal life is ours, the life of the resurrection will be ours. If we go through the passion of emptying ourselves, we too will also find the resurrection. Let there be no doubt that eternal life is ours. The joy of conquering ourselves and the world is the greatest liberation anyone can find in this world. When we have conquered ourselves, we have conquered the world. Indeed, this new life of the Resurrection is awaiting us. Life is ours. It is so near. It only takes an act of the will. But first, like Jesus, we must go through the passion. It is through the passion of love that new life is ours. There is no resurrection with the cross; and there is no cross without the resurrection. Resurrection without the cross is escapism; the cross without the resurrection would be a tragedy. For this reason, the Church is inviting us to journey with Jesus right through this Holy Week, those last days with Jesus, so that we can share in His resurrection.
This procession into the Church is a symbolic way of our entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem where we will find death and life. It is to accept Jesus’ final challenge to us all that final salvation is found in Him alone. Like the contemporaries of Jesus, we must decide which side of the battle are we on. If we accept Christ and His message, then we must be ready to be purified and cleansed, the way Jesus cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem after entering the Holy City. So, “let us run to accompany him as he hastens toward his passion, and imitate those who met him then, not by covering his path with garments, olive branches or palms, but by doing all we can to prostrate ourselves before him by being humble and by trying to live as he would wish. Then we shall be able to receive the Word at his coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us. So let us spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptised into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of his victory. Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children’s holy song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.” (St Andrew of Crete) But most of all, to participate in this process means that we want to be identified with Jesus in His message, in His life, in His passion and resurrection. Let us not give up along the way like Judas, Peter and the apostles but let us truly crucify ourselves with Him knowing that “Yahweh comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults.” Christ the Suffering Servant is also the Christus Victor.