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FIDELITY TO THE SERVICE OF TRUTH REQUIRES CONSCIOUSNESS OF ONE’S MISSION
04-11-2014, 10:24 AM
FIDELITY TO THE SERVICE OF TRUTH REQUIRES CONSCIOUSNESS OF ONE’S MISSION
FIDELITY TO THE SERVICE OF TRUTH REQUIRES CONSCIOUSNESS OF ONE’S MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JER 20:10-13; JN 10:31-42
http://www.universalis.com/20140411/mass.htm

It is ironical that the one who saved others from being stoned to death, is Himself the target of stoning. But why was Jesus being stoned? The gospel is clear that the Jews did not stone Him for doing good, but because He claimed to be the Son of God. Indeed, the most difficult sacrifice in being a Christian is not doing good works but in seeking to be true to our identity as Christians, i.e, doing good and living a life of discipleship in justice and truth. This was the predicament of Jesus in today’s gospel. He wanted to be true to Himself. He was accused of blasphemy because He identified Himself as the Son of the Father. But the truth is that He could not deny His true identity as the One sent by the Father and that the Father works the good works in and through Him.

Undertaking works of compassion and love is not really such a difficult thing to do. In fact, loving and serving others in itself is already a great reward which no money or power can buy. When we give ourselves in love and service to others, we are generally loved, appreciated and sometimes even honoured. Certainly, most people appreciate the Mr Goody and Mr ‘Yes’ man because whatever we ask him, he will do. These people are so easy to live with because they are at our beck and call. Indeed, if we are saying ‘yes’ all the time, we can be quite confident that we will be loved and accepted. This is true for Jesus and Jeremiah. So long as they were doing works of love and compassion, healing the sick, giving food to the hungry, etc, they were loved by the people. In fact, the people even wanted to make Jesus their king because of His works of wonder.

What then are the real trials in being a Christian? When we are called to be at the service of truth and justice! When we do good, we become a reproach to others, because we show up their shortcomings. Hence, they will hate us not because of the good we do, but because we make them feel insecure and jealous, for fear that people will make comparisons and judge them poorly. Such a situation is very common especially in family life, at the office and even in Christian communities. For this reason, Jeremiah and Jesus were considered threats to their own contemporaries, especially those whose status quo and popularity were threatened. Indeed, Jesus’ life was a reprimand to the Jewish leaders, just as Jeremiah was to his people, and thus they incurred the peoples’ wrath and anger.


Still, this is not the most difficult cross that we carry in seeking to be authentic Christians. Even more difficult than living a life of truth and justice is to proclaim truth and justice in our words and in our deeds, when we champion the rights of the oppressed and right what is wrong. To speak the truth and to act according to the truth are the greatest trials in Christian discipleship, as it is the most direct way to carry the cross with Jesus. Proclaiming the truth and acting on it, often makes us very unpopular and even hated by many, especially when others’ vested interests are affected. Given the choice, very few would want to choose this way of service because it means service unto death. Jeremiah and Jesus died not because they were good people, but because they stood up for the truth. It was when Jesus spoke from His conviction that all that He said and did were from the Father, and thus implying His identification with the Father, that the Jews became unnerved. But Jesus could not say otherwise, because doing so would be tantamount to suppressing what the Father wanted Him to reveal. Indeed, He asked them, “If I am not doing my Father’s work, there is no need to believe me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for sure that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”


So how then do we remain faithful to the service of truth in the face of opposition? Two pre-requisites are necessary. Firstly, we are told that both Jeremiah and Jesus were people imbued with the word of God. Jeremiah was attentive to the word of God; he searched the scriptures so that he could be true to the word, and that what he proclaimed was also true. Of course, in the case of Jesus, He is the Word of God since the Father speaks through Him and works in Him. Intimacy with the Word of God therefore is a necessary pre-requisite for us before we can claim to be proclaiming the truth. If not there is a danger that we can deceive ourselves into believing that our own agenda is the truth of God.


Besides being in tune with the Word of God, we must verify the truth from the fruits we bear in our lives. We know what we are proclaiming is true when what we believe brings forth the fruits of the spirit. Consequently, Jesus defended His claim by asking the Jews to believe Him on account of the works that He did. For it was only through His works that the people were be able to recognize that what He said and did were truly from the Father. Indeed, if we judge the fruits of the Spirit, then we will know whether what we say is true or not. If our proclamation brings about fruits that are contrary to the Spirit, i.e. disharmony, discontent and divisions, then we must re-examine ourselves. And of course, the first verification must be ourselves. Unless, there is no anger, resentment and ill-will in us, even with those who hate us, then we know that what we say is truly from God.


But this is not the fundamental factor in helping us to remain faithful to the service of truth. The most important factor is our consciousness of our mission and therefore the depth of our relationship with God. It is interesting to note that under the threat of arrest, Jesus went back to the far side of the Jordan. Why Jordan? Because, as the gospel noted, this was the place where John the Baptist was baptizing and where He was baptized. It was at His baptism that He received the mission from the Father. It was at Jordan that the Holy Spirit came upon Him and anointed Him with power. It was at Jordan He became conscious of His divine Sonship. Jesus went back to Jordan to recollect His mission, His deep encounter with His Abba Father who affirmed Him of His identity as His Beloved Son and therefore His mission. This is true also in the case of Jeremiah. If Jeremiah could entrust His cause to God, believing that He would deliver him, it was because he remembered how, when he was young, God had called him even from his mother’s womb.


Only with such deep conviction of their identity, of God’s call and the mission given to them, could they give themselves wholeheartedly to what they were doing. We, too, in our struggles to remain faithful, not simply to the works of love and compassion but to the service of truth and our identity as Christ’s disciples, must bear in mind that remembrance of our calling is the key to fidelity to our mission. Every time when we lose sight of our goals in life or of our vocation, especially those times when we are depressed and discouraged, let us, like Jesus and Jeremiah, return to our calling and relive the encounter we had with God so that we will find the strength to accomplish the mission even in the face of suffering and death. If God calls us for a mission, He will supply us the grace. Like the psalmist, as we enter nearer to the passion of Jesus and our own passion in life, let us say, “I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my saviour… In my anguish I called to the Lord and he heard my voice.”

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh
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