[stephenkhoo]

DEEPENING OUR APPRECIATION FOR GOD’S LAWS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: EX 20:1-17; MT 13:18-23

After leaving Egypt, God made a covenant with the Hebrews. They became a nation constituted under God with Moses as His representative. To help them to live as the People of God, God gave the commandments through Moses. God gave them the laws to help them to live a life of harmony and love. It was not enough to be set free from the slavery of the Egyptians but more importantly, to be set free from selfishness that leads to sin. So these laws are meant to be guidelines to protect charity and justice in the community.

These Ten Commandments can be divided basically into two categories. The first three commandments focus on our relationship with God. The basis of all relationships is dependent on whether we have a right relationship with God. The book of Sirach says, “To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Sir 1:14) “To fear the Lord is fullness of wisdom.” (Sir 1:16) “To fear the Lord is the crown of wisdom” (Sir 1:18) “To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom” (Sir 1:20) Indeed, the real reason for the lack of unity in the world today is secularism, when God’s existence is denied or forgotten. Without reverence for God, we have too many gods fighting with each other! We cause disunity because we lack a reference point for all that we are and do. Failing which, the Lord says, “For I, the Lord your God am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” For this reason, the first commandment is THE foundational commandment. God says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the house of slavery. You shall have no gods except me. You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.” The other two commandments further elaborate what it takes to give God His due honour and place in our lives.

Only because we love God, we love all whom He loves. Loving God is the way to grasp His mind and be identified with His heart. We become like those whom we love. This is a fact of life. We are influenced in our minds and thoughts by the people we love. That is why lovers become more and more identified with each other that they become one in heart and mind. If we are called to love God and put Him as the first person in our lives, it is in order that we too will share in His passion for justice and love. For this reason, after the first three commandments, the next seven commandments deal with our relationship with our fellowmen. Loving God is the basis for loving our neighbour. We are called to love our neighour as ourselves. Loving our neighbour in truth is to love ourselves because we are not independent of others. In the final analysis, what matters in life are good and loving relationships with those around us and society at large. Everyone desires love and demands fair treatment, respect, compassion and dignity. The moral code given to the Israelites in truth is not much different from the moral codes in other religions and societies. The universal values of truth and honesty, justice and charity, integrity and fidelity are inscribed in the hearts of all.

The fact is that the love of neighbour begins by honouring our parents. This is the basis for an authentic human relationship. If our relationship with our parents lacks love and respect, it affects our ability to love in a holistic way. Our capacity for human love depends so much on how our parents love us unconditionally since they planted that seed of love in us. We are able to love ourselves and accept ourselves as we are only because they love us as the representative of God. In loving ourselves, we can then love others unconditionally since we have experienced unconditional love ourselves.

In spite of the goodness of the Laws given by God, yet there is always the danger that these laws can be performed in a perfunctory manner. We can lose the spirit of the laws, which is based on the love of God and His love for us. We become more preoccupied in obeying the laws slavishly than seeing the beauty of the laws. When that happens, instead of being our ally, the laws become our enemies. Secretly, we harbor resentment against God. We wish the laws do not exist so that we can do whatever our passions dictate. And when we fail, we live in guilt or in fear that God will punish us for our sins. So the obedience we render to the laws is not based on conviction of the beauty of the commandments or of love but rooted in fear and selfishness. When God becomes our chief enemy, we hate Him in our hearts, or else we revolt against Him and make ourselves our own gods. We become the ultimate judge and the norm of what is true and right.

Hence, in the gospel today, Jesus invites us to go deeper into the Word of God which we have received. If we break the laws in spite of the fact that they are good, it is because of the different levels of perception and conviction of the value of the laws. In the parable of the Sower, Jesus invites us to examine the depth of our receptivity. If we are those seeds that fall on the pathway, it means that we lack understanding of the laws. We are ignorant. The laws remain written on tablets. They are external to us. We do not appreciate and perceive the wisdom of God and hence are not convicted. As Jesus said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart; this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.” Those who have a nominal faith are lukewarm because faith is merely a religion, a ritual and some practices; not a personal relationship with God.

If we are those seeds that fall on rock, obviously what we receive lack depth and do not take root. We lack formation and mentoring. We do not contemplate on the Word of God or deepen our knowledge of doctrines and morals. This is particularly true of all those who have a God-experience or a conversion experience. Many having been touched by God have already returned to their nominal faith and a life of sin because they did not build on the initial love of God which they had experienced. A conversion experience is only the beginning of discipleship; not the end. Without discipleship and spiritual maturity, regardless of whatever God-experience we have had, we will lose that fervor and taste for God after some time. As Jesus said, “The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once.” In the face of suffering and persecution we give up and turn to the world for solution rather than God in faith.

As a result too, when we lack a deepening of our love and knowledge of the Lord, not only trials but the distractions, worries, anxieties and temptations of the world will prevent the Word of God in us from flourishing. The temptations that come from the world, the flesh and Satan are the thorns in our lives that hinder us from living a life of holiness. Our life hinges on greed and fear. We get caught up in the daily pursuits of the world. We feel that we cannot rely on anyone except ourselves. But an unexamined life is not worth living, so says Socrates! Indeed, Jesus warns us, “The one who received the seed on thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. “

Let us pray for docility to the Word of God so that we can be “the one who received the seed in rich soil…he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.” There is no way to hear the Word unless we make time for God in prayer. Only by listening to Him in the depths of our hearts, can we come to understand the wisdom of His laws for us because the truth sets us free. But most of all, we must ask for the Holy Spirit to empower us. Only His love alone can give us the strength to love as He loves. If the Israelites were asked to observe the Commandments, it was because they had seen the power of God’s love for them. We too must sit before the Lord to let His love heal our wounded hearts and His wisdom to enlighten us in the truth.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh