Jesus – the New Moses!

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ex 55:1-3; Ps 14; Rom 8:35. 37-39; Mt 14:13-21

The text from Matthew’s Gospel which the Church proclaims on the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time narrates a very important episode in the life of Jesus, namely, the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes which surfaces in all four of the Gospels.

This episode inheres a powerful significance because it not only makes us gaze into historical past but also says something about the future life of Jesus’ disciples. Writing to Jewish Christians, Matthew intended to present Jesus as the New Moses. In the Book of Numbers we read that Moses prayed to God for a new leader so that the people will never be neglected like a flock without a sheperd. This is quite in consonance with the feelings Jesus experiences when he looks at the people: Matthew says that, on seeing them, Jesus had compassion for them because they resembled a sheep flock with no shepered to lead it. Jesus fed the people with bread and fish in a deserted place. This context also makes us recall the manna miracle in the desert after Moses delivered the people of Israel from Egyptian captivity.

Besides creating the Moses-Jesus comparison, Matthew also links this miracle of Jesus with the death of Saint John the Baptist, fashioning a contrast between Jesus feeding the 5,000 and Herod making a feast in his palace. The latter meal is characterized by the lavish self-centredness of Herod and his guests while Jesus’ meal offered to the hungry people finds its inspiration in his compassion and sensitivity for others. Hence, coupled with Jesus’ passionate love for the Father was his compassion towards his brethren – two important ingredients in the life of Jesus which every believer must make his own.

Besides, this miracle shifts our gaze to future happenings; indeed, it emerges as a preparation for the institution of the Eucharist. Jesus’ action of taking the loaves and fish, blessing them, breaking them and handing them over to his disciples foreshadows Jesus’ action in the Last Supper which is recalled in the words of the institution of the Eucharist. Thus, in performing the miracle of the loaves and fish, Jesus was paving the way for a better understanding of the Eucharistic sacrament, giving the people a foretaste of the gift which He was soon to give them in the sacrament of the Eucharist, namely His Body and Blood.

All this imparts two most important lessons which every Christian must take to heart. First, Jesus wanted to instil in his followers an attitude of altruism i.e. he wanted his disciples to be men/women for others. At this point it is most adequate that one reflects and asks: how aware am I of the needs of others or do I always seek my own interests?

Secondly, to perform this miracle, Jesus used the very food provided by the people themselves i.e. the bread and the fish. This makes us posit another intriguing question: how am I putting to use the talents and potentialites with which God endowed me? May we never forget that the Christian is called to be eucharistos i.e. a eucharistic person or, better still, a person who, conscious of the needs of his fellow human beings, offers himself as a living sacrifice on the altar of daily life for the sake of others. This also means that we should offer and share what we have with others in order to obey Jesus’ word: “You give them something to eat” (Mt 14:16).

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure …

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 3:5. 7-12; Ps 118; Rom 8:28-30; Mt 13:44-52

The “kingdom of heaven” emerges as the major theme in the 13th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel of which the last nine verses will be proclaimed on this 17th Sunday in ordinary time. These nine verses contain the last three parables in a series of seven which contine to throw light on what the “kingdom of heaven” actually is. Since this theme is not only central to this Sunday’s gospel text but also to the whole of Jesus’ message, we should not let this Sunday go by without having a better grasp of the meaning of this theme.

In his book “Church. The Human Story of God”, the brilliant theologian Edward Schillebeechx defines the kingdom of heaven as, “the saving presence of God, active and encouraging, as it is affirmed and welcomed among men and women, which takes concrete form above all in just and peaceful relationships among individuals and peoples.” Hence, the “kingdom of heaven” is not something spacial or territorial but refers to the precious presence of God which in the fullness of time was made manifest in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in the measure that men are open to this divine presence, that they believe in Jesus as the Son of God (Jn 20:13) and consequently allow themselves to be shaped by this truth, that the kingdom of God is realized on earth.

The parables of the kingdom present the “kingdom of heaven” as a both a gift and a task. Jesus stresses that his Father’s kingdom is open to all and not reserved for some elite group. It is an a priori gift of God to mankind flowing from his unconditional love for his human creatures. It is undeserved and gratuitous, inviting all to be come his sons and daughters in Christ.

In proposing (not imposing) the message of the kingdom, Jesus insistently calls for a personal response on the part of the addressee. Each individual is confronted with the responsibility of paying heed, of accepting, of choosing the values of the kingdom of heaven and of bearing witness to them. This is the task dimension of Jesus’ message of the kingdom, which is clearly manifested in the parable of the treasure wherein we are told that on finding the treasure, the treasure-finder “goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Finding the treasure is not enough! The disciple then has to undertake the step of selling “all that he has” to make the treasure his. The expression “all that he has” shows that this man was ready to loose everything to acquire something better than all that he had until now. This is the experience which Saint Paul describes in his letter to the Philippians: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ and be found in him” (Phil 3:8). May we too one day undergo this experience so that we may then be able to help others to do the same.

How does God look at the sinner?

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisd 12:13. 16-19, Ps 85; Rom 8:26-27; Mt 13:24-43

On the 16th Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to reflect on three important things: the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the Kingdom of God and the final judgment.

The past Sunday readings centred on the theme of discipleship and on how we should welcome the Word of God in our lives. Now, the 2nd reading of this 16th Sunday in ordinary time taken from Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that the Spirit of God resides in the lives of all disciples and not in the lives of some of them. Those who do away with the Word of God are simultaneously closing the doors of their heart to the vivifying Spirit of God. As Saint Paul emphasizes, it is the Holy Spirit who is our mentor in prayer, our help in weakness and our guide in understanding the richness of God’s Word. The first disciples had Jesus himself to help them understand the teachings which he imparted to them. We, in turn, have the Holy Spirit who helps us to understand God’s Word and live out its implications in our everyday life.

It can happen that when we see people around us who do not welcome the seed of God’s Word in their lives, we end up judging them left right and centre. The fact that good wheat and cockle are left to grow together might upset us. If we think in these terms, we would be miles away from understanding that God sent his only Son into the world for everybody, both for the righteous and for the wicked. His Kingdom is a gift offered and left open to all, even to the most wretched evil-doers whom we automatically are so ready to exclude. Thank God that our Good Lord does not envisage things the way we do!

God alone knows the time when the good wheat will be separated from the cockle. The liturgical readings of this 16th Sunday present 2 images of this moment of separation, both of which allude to the final judgment. The image presented in the Matthean Gospel instils fear. The cockle is gathered up and bound into bundles to be burnt, while the good wheat is collected into the sower’s barn. The book of Wisdom presents the image of God as just but merciful. His power is not manifested in his vengeance for our faults but in his readiness to be merciful towards us. As the 5th verse of Psalm 85 states: “You, O Lord, are sweet and merciful, rich in goodness to all that call upon you.”

May we too be strong in the conviction that, in spite of our sinfulness, God does not fear our sins but desires us to come close to Him so that our lives may be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. May we never forget the most worthy words in the book of Wisdom, that God gives sinners ample time for repentance!

An Aristotelian Gospel?

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 55:10-11; Ps 64:10-14; Rom 8:18-23; Mt 13:1-23

Those who followed some studies in philosophy cannot help but recall Aristotelian philosophy when they read the Gospel text which the Church proclaims on this 15th Sunday in ordinary time. Aristotle remains a gigantic figure in the history of philosophy and also proved to be very influential in theological studies, especially since the Middle Ages when his works were, so to say, baptized into Christianity by the great Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Aristotle was a marine biologist and an exceptionally keen observer of nature. He observed that things in the world had an inbuilt tendency to actualize their potentialities in order to reach their ultimate goal or end. He also noted that whether they failed or succeeded in achieving their goal depended on whether or not they found the right conditions. For instance, if an acorn is provided with the right conditions (i.e. fertile soil, sunlight, water, manure, etc.), it gradually grows and eventually develops into a fully-fledged oak tree.

The same thing can be said about the Word of God. As we find in the first reading from Isaiah, just as “rain and snow come down from heaven … and soak the earth and water it” causing it to bear fruit in due time, so God’s Word shall not return to Him empty but shall do whatever pleases Him and shall prosper in the things for which He sent it (Is 55:10-11). However, like the aforementioned acorn, the Word of God can only bear fruit in us if it finds the right conditions i.e. an open mind and a pure well-disposed heart.

Indeed, if our heart is like an exposed way side carelessly prone to intruders (i.e. though hearing the Word of God, it does not understand or believe it), if it resembles “stony ground with not much earth” (i.e. it is unprepared for turbulence and persecution because of the Word), if it is like a piece of land shrouded with thorns (i.e. taken up with the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches), then the Word of God cannot really bear much fruit in us.

In our quiet time of prayer, let us reflect seriously on the above, and sincerely admit under which category we fall. Let us pray to the Good Lord that, by His grace and our effort, our heart may gradually come to resemble the “good ground” which “bore fruit and yielded thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold (Mt 13:23).