[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Wednesday, 04 January, 2012, Weekday of Christmas Time
THE CAUSE OF OUR CELEBRATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 JOHN 3:7-10; JOHN 1:35-42

Why do people celebrate the New Year? Why are they so happy to welcome the New Year? We wish each other, “Happy New Year. But will it be happy? Does it mean that all our problems will be gone when the New Year arrives? Is there a guarantee that our lives will be different and better in the New Year? Will the New Year bring about change in our circumstances? In truth, the last day of the year is not much different from the first day of the New Year. So why do we celebrate? What did you celebrate?

So what is the cause for our celebration as Christians? It is significant that the scripture readings in these first few days of the year speak of the beginning. On 1st January we read in Galatians about a new beginning in time when St Paul wrote, “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. (Gal 4;4). On 2nd January, the first lesson reads, “Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you, and then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. (1 Jn 2:24) And then on 3rd January, the gospel speaks of one who exists before time. John said, “Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me.” (Jn 1:30) And today, St John once again mentions the fact that “the devil was a sinner from the beginning.” (1 Jn 3:8)

It is therefore appropriate for us to reflect on the importance of knowing the “beginning”. Every beginning spells hope for the future, just like the birth of a little infant. When we begin a new job, a new chapter in life or a new relationship, there is always the hope that the new beginning will bring something to enrich our lives. Most of us wish that we did not have a history, especially a broken history. Yet, we cannot run away from the fact that we all have our skeletons in the cupboards of our past. We want to erase our past and brokenness. We cannot forgive our mistakes that caused a failed relationship. We cannot forgive our addictions to lust or drugs or drinks that caused the family to break up. We cannot forgive God or those who took our loved ones away. We continue to cling to our loved ones who have left us. We cannot let go. We live in nostalgia about the good and happy events of the past on one hand, but in deep remorse for the wrongs we had done. We want to start on a clean slate. We desire a new beginning. Unfortunately, our enemies and those we have hurt will not allow us to forget our past and move on. We are stuck in the same rut. Although the year may be new, our minds and hearts are still old!

Secondly, because the end is not known, this hope is fraught with all kinds of possibilities, good or evil. To ensure that the new beginning will end well, we need to consider what our beginning was that resulted in disastrous consequences for us. Understanding and remembering our beginnings will make us wiser and more discerning in how we begin new beginnings.

What then is the cause of a bad beginning? St John clearly pinpoints that it was the Devil who tempted our first parents to sin right from the very start of creation. St John said that “to lead a sinful life is to belong to the devil, since the devil was a sinner from the beginning.” Jesus in the gospel similarly called the Devil, the Father of lies. He told the Jews, “You are from your father the devil, and you chose to do your father’s desires.” (Jn 8:44) As a consequence, we share in the effects of their sins, both on the personal and social dimension. We are born into the community of sinners. And that is why, sharing in Adam’s fallen nature, we continue to perpetuate sin in the world.

This is precisely why Jesus came in order to redeem us from the bondage of the Evil One. St John wrote, “It was to undo all that the devil has done that the Son of God appeared.” He came to give us back our freedom as sons and daughters of God. St John says, “In this way we distinguish the children of God from the children of the devil: anybody not living a holy life and not loving his brother is no child of God’s.” We distinguish ourselves from being children of Satan by living our lives as the children of God. Living a life of holiness, a life of Christ, is the way to become once again the sons and daughters of God the way that Jesus lived His life. “No one who has been begotten by God sins; because God’s seed remains inside him, he cannot sin when he has been begotten by God.”

How did the coming of Christ empower us to live as children of God? By giving us a new beginning! He does it by taking upon our humanity so that He could lead the way and become for us our leader in salvation. Christ who is truly human and shares in all our human limitations and constraints lived a life of love, compassion and obedience to the Father’s will, even unto death, using purely His human will to obey and surrender. In complete trust and surrender to His Father, He showed that if we are in union with the Father in the same Spirit, we can also overcome sin and death as we no longer need to live in fear of death.

But Jesus not only shows us the way, He also calls us to share in His life. Andrew and Simon were called to be His apostles purely by election not of any merit of their own. To them who inquired after Him, He simply said, “Come and See.” This is the way of the master. He simply invites us to come with open hearts to see how He lives His life and what He is convinced about. This experience with Jesus must have been so radical and memorable that the apostles remembered exactly the time it happened. The evangelist wrote, “Jesus turned round, saw them following and said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see,’ he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the tenth hour.” Jesus taught by example and by His very lifestyle.

After staying with Him, Jesus gave them a new calling and purpose. This is signified in His giving Simon a new name, Cephas or Peter. To be called to follow Jesus and be given a new name means that we now have a purpose in the plan of God. We know what God wants of us and our role in this world. But this role presupposes that we are aware of our identity, since all doing, if genuine, must flow from being. We are all looking for purpose and meaning at the end of the day, not wealth, power or status. These cannot bring real happiness; only meaning, love and service can. Without knowing our purpose in life, we live like condemned prisoners just drifting through life, killing time rather than living a life that enriches others and ourselves. So radical is this calling that Jesus even gives us a purpose to die for what we believe, just as He died for the cause of God. For He knows that to live one must die for others.

Jesus also gives us a new beginning by affirming our goodness and giving us hope. In St Peter, Jesus was able to see his sincerity, notwithstanding his rashness and impulsiveness. It is equally true in the way He selected the rest of the apostles. None of them by human reckoning was fit to be Christ’s apostle, much less to be a saint. Yet in each and every one of them, Jesus saw more than what they or others could see. This is the way He regards sinners and the marginalized. Jesus was always able to bring out that little fire or light of truth and love even in the most hated of all peoples, the tax collectors and the most despised of all peoples, the prostitutes. To all these people, Jesus inspires hope, confidence, trust and respect.

Most of all, Jesus gives us a new beginning by underscoring that we are forgiven of all our sins. He is after all, as St John says, “the Lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world. He has paid the price for our sins and has atoned on our behalf. All we need to accept now is the forgiveness of God freely and humbly as a gift from the Father. By His death, He wanted us to know that the Father loves us too much to want to punish us or destroy us. He only wants to restore to us our dignity as His children. If we believe that we are always forgiven the moment we repent of our sins and are contrite, then we should never be living in the past but pick ourselves up immediately every time we fall into sin.

Consequently, in the light of the New Beginning God has given us in Christ, we must now be determined to live the life of Christ as sons and daughters of the Father by loving God and loving our brothers. We too must learn to give others a new beginning by not harping on the past and reminding them of their past mistakes. We must free them from the past by affirming them in their goodness, strengthening them in their virtues, encouraging them in their efforts, consoling them in their failures and most of all, forgiving them when they fall. In this way they will become more and more the redeemed people of God and we in turn become like God since we love our brothers and sisters the way God loves us all.