[stephenkhoo]

DOMESTICATION OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 KG 8:22-23; 27-30; Mk 7:1-13
http://www.universalis.com/20140211/mass.htm

In the history of religions, man has always attempted to domesticate God to unravel His mystery so that he could control God. This was the same situation in the history of Israel. In the first reading, we read of the completion of the Temple of Jerusalem by King Solomon. He accomplished what his father could not do. Indeed, when King David wanted to build a house for the Lord, the Lord told him through the Prophet Nathan, “Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Sm 7:5-7)

The truth is that the God we worship is a Trek God who is always on the move. He has, in the history of Israel before they settled in the Promised Land, always lived in the Tent and moved with His people. He does not want to be domiciled in a place. He cannot be contained or confined in any particular place. He is beyond any human imagination for He is the Ultimate Mystery. Indeed, King Solomon recognized this awesome transcendence of God when he said, “Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built!”

Why did the Israelites want to build a Temple? King David’s motive of building the Temple was not very pure. He was feeling guilty as he was living in a palace. He told the Prophet Nathan, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” (2 Sm 7:2) As for the people, they thought that by housing the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple, they would be assured of security and divine protection. God became an item to be kept and used for their safety from their enemies. Instead of giving the freedom of movement and power to God, by housing Him in a Temple, they had localized God. But what was worse, their worship, especially the offering of sacrifices, became a means to control God. Whilst they offered holocausts to the Lord, they were living sinful lives, lacking in charity towards their fellowmen. Hence, Jesus reprimanded the Jews, citing from the Prophet Isaiah who said, “This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.” Indeed, worship became a means to manipulate God rather than truly a way of honouring Him and an expression of wanting to live the life of the Covenant given to them through Moses.

This endeavor to domesticate God failed. We read later how the Temple was eventually destroyed during the Babylonian invasion. The Israelites were exiled to Babylon. There was no temple and so temple worship was abandoned. The Temple was in ruins. In its place, they were only left with the Laws, the Torah. So worship was transformed into a Word service instead of a sacrificial service. Consequently, by the time of Jesus, greater emphasis was given to the observance of the Laws. We have the scribes and Pharisees multiplying the Laws by elaborating them. They thought that through careful observance of the Laws they would gain merit from God. This was yet another subtle attempt to domesticate God. Indeed, Psalm 118 and Psalm 24 extol the greatness of the wisdom and perfection of the Laws. Psalm 24 makes it clear, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” (Ps 24:3f)

The Jews tried to domesticate God in the observance of the rules and laws. Observing the rules and laws were means to feel worthy and justified before God. This resulted in self-righteousness and pride towards their fellowmen. Otherwise, they used the laws to justify what they wanted to do by circumventing the laws. That was why Jesus reprimanded them for being hypocritical. He pointedly expose their lack of sincerity when He said, “You put aside the commandments of God to cling to human traditions …. How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! … In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.”

Why is there always the attempt to domesticate God, confining Him to a place, a Temple, a sanctuary or even in a Book? At the bottom of it is the desire of man to control God. We face the same temptation today. We want to be in charge of our lives. We are insecure beings. We want to live by sight, not by faith. We do not want mystery but clarity. We do not want to put our security in God but in our achievements. It is a repetition of the same sin of pride of Adam and Eve. We want to earn our salvation. We want to be able to control and make demands on God, like pagans who offer sacrifices to appease their gods. We think that by fulfilling the laws or performing a ritual, we can buy His grace. In this way, we can decide when God is needed. God becomes our debtor rather than the gracious giver.

Like the Jews, we too want to justify ourselves by observing the laws. We measure ourselves according to the laws. And if feel we can observe the laws better than others, we feel proud and justified before God and man. We observe the laws however in order to protect ourselves rather than out of love for God and man. We are obedient to the commandments of God not so much out of love for Him but simply because we fear that God will punish us on this earth or after this life. We observe the laws for the wrong reasons.

As a consequence, we subtly seek to separate God from life. We separate the Temple from creation; love of God from love of men. We confine God to the church or to a place where He is safely kept. We restrict God to the church and fail to see Him in the world and in daily events, especially in the lives of our fellowmen. We think that God is only in the Blessed Sacrament and chapel but we fail to see Him in our fellowmen and in daily life. We think we can only serve God in church but fail to recognize that God is also found at our workplace, in the market place, in the poor and the marginalized and at home. Isn’t this the cause for secularism in the world today because God is kept out of public life completely? God is only worshipped at home or in the church but not seen or heard in the world.

This does not mean that the Temple and the Laws are not important. They are meant to give focus and help us to engage God more consciously so that we can recognize Him in the world, creation, and in our daily lives. By coming to consciousness of His presence in the Church or in the sacraments and sacramental, we will then be able to see His presence in the whole of creation and in the lives of our daily men. So too are laws required to help the weak and provide guidelines in love. They are not unimportant but they only serve as props to help us to love rightly and authentically. They are means to an end not the end in themselves. It is the intention that counts.

This is what Jesus wants of us, that we be clear of our motives in the observance of the laws or in the offering of worship. What counts is the love of God, rather than meriting His love or worse still, a ritualistic act without any devotion, fervor or faith. Better still, we are called to do it out love for God in response to His love for us. There is no question of us being able to merit anything from Him or control Him. The truth is that God loves us and goes beyond the laws. He is a God of surprises. He cannot be controlled by man or by the laws. God can work in ways beyond our imagination so we must be open to the other ways in which God works. Love is always a surprise. To be able to let go and let God take over or to love Him instead of manipulating Him presupposes that we have an undivided devotion and attention to the Lord. When we love, we are no longer calculative. We do not demand our rights. To the extent we are devoted to the Lord entirely, to that extent we put Him above everything else before our glory and self-interests. In the final analysis, the key is intimacy with the Lord. Without which, God becomes a thing to be manipulated, used for our interests rather than a person with whom we can have a relationship, and out of this intimate relationship, comes trust, confidence and love.