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A RESURRECTED LIFE IS ONE THAT IS LIBERATED AND LIBERATING - stephenkhoo - 05-02-2014 11:27 AM
A RESURRECTED LIFE IS ONE THAT IS LIBERATED AND LIBERATING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 5:34-42; JN 6:1-15
http://www.universalis.com/20140502/mass.htm
Today, the scripture readings provide us another dimension of what the resurrected life is, which is simply this: liberated and liberating. Two groups of people are portrayed in today’s texts, those who are liberated and those who are not.
Let us consider the first group: the liberated ones. In the gospel we find in Jesus a man who was truly liberated. He was liberated for love and compassion. He was not so preoccupied with Himself as to be insensitive to the crowd who followed Him. His freedom can be seen in His generous act of sharing the few loaves and fishes with the multitude. He could have kept them for Himself and His disciples. Indeed, some scholars suggested that it was due to Jesus’ act of sharing that inspired the crowd to take out their own food which they brought along and shared them with others as well. Finally, we see in Jesus a truly liberated man when He refused to allow the crowd to make Him a king or a hero. He was liberated from the craving for power and popularity.
This Risen Spirit of Christ’s liberating power was also found in the apostles. The reading from the Acts of the Apostles these few days always speak of their courage in witnessing to Christ. As the reading of today tells us, they were even grateful and joyous for being judged worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the gospel. They were not angry or resentful of the Sanhedrin for what they had done to them. Indeed, the responsorial psalm reflects the fearlessness and peace of the Apostles.
But what about those who are not liberated? Here, we have the crowd and the Sanhedrin who represent those who are not liberated. The reason why the crowd came to Jesus was because they were impressed by Jesus’ ability to perform acts of healing. They did not come to be liberated by Jesus. What they wanted was for Jesus to satisfy their material needs. Yes, they were slaves of their desires and fears. And because they were not liberated, they wanted to imprison and enslave others as well. Hence, they tried to take Jesus by force to make Him king for ulterior and selfish motives. The members of the Sanhedrin, except for Gamaliel, were not liberated either. They were fearful of the preaching of the disciples; so fearful that they had to imprison them, flog them and threaten them.
What conclusions can we draw from today’s scripture readings? Firstly, those who are liberated are also liberating. Those who are free, allow others to be free as well and help others to be free. But more than that, the truly free do not even need to be free. Even when others try to impose their restrictions on them, as was the case for Jesus and the apostles, they remain free. So physically, they might be restricted, but their hearts remain free and no physical force can compel them to be otherwise, for their obedience is only to God. Secondly, those who are not liberated from their fears, desires and insecurity cannot liberate others. In fact, they would try to suppress and stifle others in their growth. Very often too, they would have to use authority, their office and power to get things done or to command respect and obedience from others. They cannot let others be, and naturally want to impose their will on them. That is why even the compulsion to liberate others is ironically an indication of the lack of freedom in us. Very often, champions of social justice and freedom fighters turn out to be the most unjust people.
Today, we should take the advice of the wise Gamaliel. He was the only enlightened one in the Sanhedrin. He knew that God is the source of life and always in control. Thus, if anything is from God, it will endure; if anything comes from the selfishness of man, it will not endure. What is important is that we must be free from our fears and insecurities that imprison us. Especially for leaders of the Church, we cannot talk about liberating others if we are not free ourselves. No, the truly free person therefore is one who is free from himself and free from even the need to be free; and lastly free from the need to force others to be free. In a nutshell, the resurrected life is to live freely and let others be free as well. It is simply to live and let live.
Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore
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