[stephenkhoo]

LOVING EVEN WHEN MISUNDERSTOOD PRESUMES A REAL KNOWLEDGE OF SELF, OTHERS AND UNION WITH GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: WISD 2:1, 12-22; JN 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
http://www.universalis.com/20140404/mass.htm

Lent is an invitation to conversion. “Repent and believe the Good News” is one of the dominant themes of Lent. However, repentance is more than mere turning away from sin. It requires that we believe the Good News and that we become the Good News in our lives. This is an even greater challenge than conquering our sinfulness. Certainly being able to overcome our sinful attitudes and habits and all the temptations of the world can be said to be already a big step. But this is not enough. We must do good.

But the irony of it all is that doing good brings us more suffering than doing evil. Doing good invites even more opposition. We know this is true in any community, even in the church. Quite often, there is an unhealthy competition among members to be better than others, perhaps, of the need to gain acceptance. At times such competition can get ugly when members try to put each other down, especially those who are doing well or are popular and are loved for their good works and compassion. Instead of being happy for us and giving us more encouragement, they impute our good works with ulterior motives. But perhaps, more often than not, by living a good and virtuous life, we are a reproof to others’ way of thinking and thus prick their conscience. Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that we are denigrated when we try to live the gospel life.

If we have to pay the consequences for our foolish actions, we can easily accept. This is because our sins ultimately destroy others and us. But to suffer because we do good, this is a very difficult matter. Why should the good suffer? This is the question most people ask. If doing good causes us to suffer, we might as well do nothing at all. Or better still, do evil and enjoy the benefits. Indeed, this is the reaction of many apparently good people in the face of evil. Yes, many of us feel like giving up doing good because we are misunderstood. This is tragic because very often good and noble ideas and intentions are destroyed.

This precisely was the case of the prophets and of Jesus in today’s scripture readings. The book of wisdom says that when a true son of the Lord tries to live a virtuous life, he will meet with opposition. However, we are also told that we must persevere in doing good even when we are rejected by others. Like the prophets and especially Jesus in today’s gospel, we must remain faithful to who we are and what we are called to do. We are, in a special way during this season of Lent, to join Jesus as the suffering Messiah of the Lord. In spite of being condemned by the authorities and misunderstood by many, Jesus remained defiant and unmoved in His convictions and in His mission. How? What is the key to our fidelity to goodness and to God?

Firstly, we are told that Jesus knew His origin. He knew that He was from God and that He had come from Him. It was His mystical union with the Father that allowed Him to be aware of His true identity. He knew His Father and His Father’s love. He knew that His Father is close to the broken-hearted. Indeed, Jesus must have found great consolation in knowing that at least the Father knew Him and understood Him even when the world did not know Him and His origin. It is His union with His Father that gave Jesus the strength. Indeed, as St Francis said so often, “love is not loved.”

Secondly, Jesus knew Himself. This is the corollary of knowing the Father. He knew that He is the Son of God. Hence, He was called to express the being of the Father as son. Hence, Jesus fulfils what the first reading tells us what it means to be a true son of God. He was virtuous and knew God well. As such, He cannot but be a reproach to others simply by living out His sonship, by being Himself. People in the world who do not want to live a virtuous life will immediately recognize that they are not sons or daughters of God when they compare themselves and their lives with the way Jesus lived His life.

Thirdly, Jesus knew His mission. He knew that the Father had sent Him. He had been sent by the Father to represent Him in love, in truth, and in life. It is this conviction that gave Jesus the strength to remain true to Himself. Because the mission came from the Father, He remained faithful to His beliefs. Yes, if He were faithful to His mission, it was not because He wanted to draw attention to Himself but He wanted the Father’s love to be known and experienced.

As a result of His self-knowledge, both of Himself and His origin, Jesus could also at the same time be compassionate with those who were still ignorant. Jesus did not condemn His enemies because He understood them to be ignorant and fearful. Pride, fear and ignorance are the reasons that make us blind to the goodness in others. As the book of Wisdom says, Jesus would see us as unable to see “the hidden things of God” because we are misguided in our reasoning.

In such situations, Jesus was able to remain faithful to Himself when His very being was a reproach to those who were evil. But what is important is that He did not condemn them. Instead, Jesus also exercised prudence by not getting Himself killed at an inappropriate time. It was important for Jesus too that His death be according to God’s time and that He need not take things into His own hands. We, too, in our despair and sufferings should never take things into our own hands but we should try to continue to do good without causing too much hostility even if that hostility cannot be totally eliminated. With Jesus we must be bold enough to be different from the wicked; aloof from things depraved and have the courage to live our lives according to the truth even if such a way of life will result in rejection and misunderstanding. In the final analysis, we must surrender our lives to God and know that God will ultimately empower us to triumph over evil.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
Archbishop of Singapore