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CHRISTIAN FAITH IS A COMMITMENT TO A PERSON - stephenkhoo - 01-14-2013 11:19 AM
Monday, 14 January, 2013, 1st Week, Ordinary Time
CHRISTIAN FAITH IS A COMMITMENT TO A PERSON
SCRIPTURE READINGS: HEB 1:1-6; MARK 1:14-20
What is distinctive about Christianity is the claim that God has come in the flesh. Our faith is not simply in a God who cares for us, or speaks to us through His intermediaries like the prophets and the priests. Nay, as the first reading tells us, “At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son, the Son that he has appointed to inherit everything and through whom he made everything there is.” Indeed, Christ is the perfect visible expression of God because “He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature.”
The implication for us therefore is that we are called to commit ourselves to a person. Faith is not simply an intellectual or even a personal assent to the Word of God. Christian faith goes beyond the Word to the Word made flesh. Our commitment ultimately is to a person and not to the bible. We do not worship the bible, but Christ who is the Word of God made flesh. The Good News is not simply the Word of God but Jesus Himself, who is the Word in person. Thus, when Jesus proclaimed, “The time has come and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News”, He is identifying Himself as the Good News. Thus, in the call of the apostles, the words Jesus used in summoning them are “follow me.” He is not telling them to come and study about God under His tutelage. The call is to follow Him as a person.
For this reason, being the personal presence of God, when He called Simon and Andrew to follow Him, “at once they left their nets and followed him.” Being the voice of God and the personal presence of God, Jesus’ words are understood as imperative, not simply an invitation. As such, vis-à-vis the Word of God, the response is complete, unconditional and immediate. This is brought out in the response of the disciples. They left their nets at once and even their loved ones, to follow Jesus. Only God can demand such a break from all human ties. With God, our obedience must be given without reservation and immediately.
At the same time, the call involves a task. When God calls us, He never calls us simply for ourselves. He calls us to be at the service of the kingdom. So when Jesus called the disciples, He told them, “Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.” The purpose of being chosen by the Lord and following Him is in order that we might bring more people to God. Whatever the Lord has given to us, it is never for ourselves alone, but for the purpose of glorifying Him and leading people to Him. Having just celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, when we were reminded of our own identity as the sons and daughters of God and our mission of making known Jesus to the world and be a light of Christ to all nations, we must therefore take this calling to be His witnesses responsibly. Every Christian therefore is a missionary by virtue of his or her baptism. We are called to undertake the mission of the Church in the proclamation of the Good News.
But before we can be convicted witnesses of our Lord, we must first reflect on our relationship with the Lord. Is our faith in Jesus simply a cerebral faith or truly a personal attachment to the Lord? If we claim that we are surrendering our lives to Jesus, then we must reflect on how much we know about Jesus and how much we are personally in love with Him. Do we know Him as a friend, a shepherd and as the Son of God? Have we encountered Jesus as the Good News in person, that in Jesus, we are loved by God unconditionally and forgiven for all the sins we have committed; and that through Him alone we know the love of the Father in the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts at our baptism? Unless, we come to that level of faith, we can never be shepherds after His own heart, or even have a heart for the mission of Christ and Church. Hence, let us take to heart the words of Jesus, “Repent and believe in the Good News.” Believing that Jesus is our Saviour because He is truly the Son of God, the revelation of the Father’s love through His passion and death, is ultimately the gist of what this Good News is all about.