[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Thursday, 17 November, 2011, 33rd Ordinary Week, Cycle 1
DEALING WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE BLINDED TO THE TRUTH

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 MC 2:15-29; LK 19:41-44

When we read today’s scripture readings, we can easily empathize with both Mattathias in the first reading and Jesus in the gospel. Both were very much in touch with the situation of their fellow human beings. They knew the problem and they could anticipate what would befall them if they did not change their lives. Unfortunately, their fellow human beings could not see the truth because of their blindness. So how should they best help them to see the reality of their situations so that they can be saved from their catastrophes?

This, too, is also our question today. Very often we see certain situations so clearly. We know, for example, how a man’s relationship with another woman would lead to adultery and cause a break-up with his family. We see how a person who keeps working like a dog, day and night without rest will eventually suffer a break-down, destroying not only his health but his family as well. We see how a person who smokes and drinks heavily will one day cause himself or his loved ones to die of cancer or a car accident. In all these cases, we do not need any special inspiration from God to understand the consequences of such actions. Yet, there are many people who are so blind to such realities until they encounter them; but by then it is often almost too late to regret. So how do we help such people who are so blinded by their own passions and selfish desires? What would be the best way to bring them out of their precarious path to suffering?

The scripture readings present to us two different approaches in dealing with sinners and those who are recalcitrants. In the case of Mattathias, he was so incensed by a fellow Jew who apostatized in offering sacrifice to the pagan gods that he had him killed together with the rest of the King’s commissioners. For Mattathias, he felt that the best way to transform the situation was to use force. And indeed, besides killing his oppressors, he, his children and some others fled into the desert and started a rebel force to fight against the Roman oppressors.

However, in the case of Jesus, we see Him weeping over Jerusalem because the people would not accept His message of truth and peace. This failure to respond to His message would eventually lead them to their own destruction. Indeed, Jesus’ foresightedness came true because Jerusalem was historically destroyed in the year AD 70. But in spite of His certainty that Jerusalem and the people would be destroyed, Jesus did not force the people to accept His message. He could only extend His invitation, feel with them and pray for them. Indeed, He felt very sorry for His people because they could not recognize the visitation of the Lord. He was helpless in love.

What can we say about these two approaches? Although Mattathias meant well for his people, yet, we cannot but detect a certain selfish element in his action. Firstly, he manifested a kind of intolerance towards his weak fellow Jews. He did not feel with them. By killing his fellow Jew, he was simply imposing his will on him and the other Jews. He put fear into their hearts. The danger for Mattathias is that he could become self-righteous and was certainly lacking in compassion and love. Although we need not question his motives and zeal for the House of the Lord by killing the weak Jew who apostatized, regardless of his good intentions, he lacked charity. Perhaps, like many people during his time, they mistook that fidelity to God and zeal for Him would require them even to kill their enemies. Furthermore, He had confused religion with politics even though it is true that both do overlap in many areas. Indeed, he was fighting for the religious freedom of his people, yet we know that at the same time, he confused the need for religious freedom with political freedom as well. But because he was not clear and discerning enough, his zeal, supposedly for the purity of the faith of the Jews, also became a political struggle against the Roman intruders.

Isn’t it true that very often when we help people we do have selfish motives as well? On the surface we want to help people, but it is also because we have something to gain from it. For example, parents want their children to do well in their studies and often they have to pressurize or nag them into disciplining themselves. In itself, it is a noble thing to do. But quite often when we examine our deeper motives for forcing them to study hard, under the pretext that we want them to do very well in their exams for their own good, we are also thinking of our interests. We want them to do well not simply for themselves but also for our glory and perhaps we even see them as our investments for our old age. Indeed, whatever we do in life, we tend to confuse our love for people and love for self. For this reason, very often, we are intolerant of people who refuse to change even when they have been told of their mistakes. Most anger is always the result of some self-centered needs that are not fulfilled.

But the way of Jesus is so different. One thing is certain, Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem not for Himself but for the people. He was not weeping for Himself; that He would soon have to suffer a miserable death in the hands of His enemies. He wept because He knew His time was near and that He would die soon and if His message was not heeded by the people, they would have missed the opportunity of life that God was offering them. He wept for them in compassion and love. Indeed, it is because Jesus had no selfish motives in helping them that He was not at all angry for their lack of response. Instead, He felt very much with them. He felt sorry for them. But He did not feel the need to force people into conversion. He did not threaten them. No, His way is that of love, compassion and understanding.

Yes, the way of Jesus is the way of God. This is the heart of God’s love. His love for us is unconditional and free. He is free in loving us. God knows that the only way to really win us over is not through force and compulsion but by love and understanding. He knows that once He wins our hearts over in love, then we will come to understand the truth as well. Christianity does not advocate violence of any sort, even in the struggle against religious freedom and social justice. The way of the gospel is one of compassion, forgiveness and tolerance. If we lack patience and tolerance for those who are weak in faith or even compassion for the enemies of our faith, it is because we are also lacking in love. It is this lack of love that blinds us to the truth. But with love in our hearts, our minds will be open to the truth and we will see the situation in perspective. This is particularly true even when we have misunderstandings with people. We are so fixated in our views that we are no longer open to the views of others, thereby feeling that we are the victims of injustice when sometimes we could be the very ones who are acting unjustly.

Indeed, we see this so clearly in our spiritual life as well. Many people do not wish to read the scriptures or deepen their faith nor even come to Church. No matter how much we try to reason with them, they simply have no taste for the spiritual. But when they have been touched by the love of God, they suddenly feel the urge to read the scriptures more, to pray more and to grow in understanding of their faith. Only through an experience of God’s love and compassion, will people then come to search for the truth.

What is true in our relationship with God is also true in our relationship with our fellow human beings. Even though we know that they are in the wrong and we have the truth, we cannot force truth on others. We must first win them over by love, through patient dialogue and understanding. Gradually, when they realize that we truly love them and are ready to hear them out in love and truth, they will one day begin to open their minds to what we are saying also. Yes, the only way to the mind is first through the heart, for the heart knows and understands what the mind cannot know. Only one language, in the final analysis, can speak to all; it is the language of love, not the language of truth. Truth can be understood only through love. This is undoubtedly a more difficult and long way to help a person to come to his senses and come to the truth. But it is definitely more effective and enduring as well.

But to be able to love people freely and patiently, we certainly need to cultivate the heart and mind of Jesus. We need to be filled with the love and compassion of Jesus. Unless, we ourselves experience the love and compassion of Jesus ourselves, we cannot give that compassion to others. And the truth is that when we reflect on our own lives, we will realize that God has always treated us in such a way. He has always been patient, forgiving and understanding towards us whenever we turned against Him and His ways. For this reason we need to pray and meditate. Only through prayer and contemplation will we come to experience the depth of God’s love for us in Jesus. With this experience, we will find that we will also be able to love others with the love and compassion that Jesus has for us. In this way, not only can we truly help others to find the truth and therefore find God also, but we also help ourselves to live in love and in the truth.