THE UNFOLDING OF GOD'S LOVE

Exodus 34: 4-9; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; John 3: 16-18

Ken Blanchard in his book The Servant Leader describes his experience of God in these words. He says as Christians we have three consultants for the price of one: God the Father who started life, God the Son who lived the life and God the Spirit who handles the daily operations of life. Therefore, the reflection on the Trinity is a reflection about life, especially about experiencing the event of salvation that God offered us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God had his own style of executing his plan of salvation for the world - God pitched his tent among his people. 

There was once a pastor who climbed up the tower of the church to be nearer to God. He wanted to hand down God’s Word to his people, like Moses of old. Then, one day, he indeed thought he heard God say something. The pastor cried aloud from the tower: “Where are you, Lord? I can’t seem to hear your voice clearly”. The Lord replied, “I am here among my people, where are you?”

The most comforting message of the bible is that God has found his dwelling place among his people. He is there in the midst of our struggles and sufferings. He is there as one who understands and cares. The caring, loving and forgiving qualities of God are beautifully portrayed in the first reading taken from the book of Exodus. Moses was at Mount Sinai with a fresh set of stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. Moses broke the first set of Ten Commandments because the people rejected God by worshiping the golden calf. However, Moses intercedes with God and prevails on God not to abandon his sinful people. In response to the mediation of Moses God assured him that “the Lord is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity”. The new set of stone tablets symbolised the renewal of covenant between God and his people. Moses recognized God’s loving kindness and invited him wholeheartedly to join the company of his people who were stiff-necked and sinful.

The moment God decided to interrupt the world with his love, the moment God decided to hear the cry of his people, the moment God decided to join hands with the exploited was that moment that God pitched his tent among his people. The story of God joining the company of his people begins with this beautiful text. The Lord said: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore, I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:7-8). Since that moment, God has always been a loving father and a caring mother to his people who as Moses said were sinful and stiff-necked. The message, therefore, is crystal clear. God’s closeness to us is not defined by our perfection or the purity of our hearts. Rather, often times our human limitations, sinfulness and vulnerability are more than sufficient reasons to experience the nearness of God who is our maker and the source of our life. God does not abandon us; instead, God continues to shape our lives through every event and every experience: Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are we in the hands of God (Jeremiah 18:6).    

God’s daring decision to join the company of his people became very dramatic and intimate when God in his profound love sent his only Son into the world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes might not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus’ offer of eternal life to sinful human persons began when he entered the waters of Jordon. It was at the Jordon that God endorsed Jesus’ solidarity with sinful humanity and proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 4:17). It was at the Jordon that the Spirit of God descended from heaven and rested on Jesus, empowering him for his designated ministry of bringing salvation to the world. Throughout his ministry Jesus expressed delicate sensitivity to sinners, the marginalised, the poor, the outcastes and to anyone who was vulnerable. His delicate sensitivity manifested the human face of God and the human heart of God to the world.  

God did not leave our company with the death and resurrection of his Son. God’s decision to join the company of his people moved beyond the resurrection of Jesus. It became even more tangible with the mission of the Holy Spirit. The presence of God, which became concrete at the incarnation, continues through the presence of the Holy Spirit that was graphically expressed at Pentecost. It is the Spirit of God who made us children of God and enables us to cry out “Abba Father” (Galatians 4:6). It is the Spirit of God who comes to our aid in our weakness and intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning (Romans 8:26). It is the Spirit of God who has made us a sacred temple by dwelling within us (1 Corinthian 6:19).

Today, as we reflect on the great mystery of the Trinity we must acknowledge that God had one single purpose in joining our company that is to offer us eternal life. Our Scripture affirms that God’s offer of eternal life was accomplished through Jesus and the Spirit. Hence, St. Irenaeus describes Jesus and the Holy Spirit as the two hands of God through which our compassionate God still continues to shape our life and our future. 

Human as we are, it may not be easy to penetrate the mystery of the Trinity. Yet, God has given us enough wisdom and a human heart to understand the relationship that prevails in the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are bonded in a relationship of love, which is mutual and reciprocal. It is that divine relationship of love that unfolds in our human history and flows into our daily lives. Therefore, we can understand the mystery of the Trinity in a very simple, yet profound way, if we relate to each other in genuine love. After all is said and done, it is love shared that will enable us to appreciate the company of God in our midst.

Love shared demands . . . .

• Sensitivity to the presence of others

• Respect for each other’s personal space

• Magnanimity to see the goodness in every person

• Nobility to move beyond our ego drives

• Courage to forgive one another

• Conviction to stand for truth and justice

• Inner strength to penetrate the hearts of people

• Faith to see the hand of God in everything 

A Japanese magazine has a picture of a butterfly on one of its pages. The colour is dull gray until warmed by a person’s hand. The touch of a hand causes the special printing inks to react, and the dull gray colour is transformed into a flashing rainbow of colours.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the two hands of God, have touched our lives. Now it is our turn to ask ourselves: What other things can be changed by the warmth of our love and our touch?  

RESERVED FOR GOD

Ezek 37:21-28; Psalm Jer 31:10, 11-12 abcd, 13; Jn 11:45-56

Ezekiel is a temple priest and an inspired prophet, who was deported to Babylon in 597 BC along with others after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. He was a fellow exile among his own people. His prophesies pointed to the sins and transgressions of the people. He insisted that the exilic situation was their own making and not a punishment inflicted by Yahweh. The situation gave Ezekiel an opportunity to proclaim his prophetic word as well as to perform symbolic actions that enabled the people to reflect on their sinful condition. His messages offered them a sense of hope. It is in this context, the vision of the valley of dry bones takes on a spiritual meaning. It is within the power of the Spirit of God to restore the dry bones back to life. In continuation with the vision of the dry bones, Yahweh instructs Ezekiel to perform a symbolic act of two sticks. The two sticks represents the two kingdoms – the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. Ezekiel joined the two sticks as instructed by Yahweh.

Ezekiel’s symbolic act signified that Yahweh himself would take the initiative to merge the two kingdoms by his own hand (Ezek 37:19). Yahweh would uproot the people from the foreign nations and establish them again in the Promised Land. Consequently, there would be one king and one united kingdom. The people would also be cleansed of their idolatry, apostasy, sins and transgressions. Finally, God would renew the covenantal relationship with his people: “Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezek 37:23). Further, Yahweh assured the people of four promises: first, the promise of a secure and everlasting homeland; second, the promise of an everlasting king from the lineage of David to shepherd his people; third, the promise of an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing; and fourth, the promise of an everlasting presence of Yahweh in his sanctuary. The intention behind these four promises is to demonstrate to the nations that Yahweh sanctifies the people of Israel, that is, the people of Israel are reserved for Yahweh alone.

In God’s design, Jesus is God’s chosen servant, who would initiate the process of gathering of all peoples. Jesus and his cross would bring about the communion desired by God as effectively prophesied by Caiaphas, who was the high priest during the time of Jesus. The context of his prophesy was the plot of the Jewish leaders to kill Jesus. The miracle of Lazarus coming back to life drew a few Jews to Jesus, who had witnessed the miracle along with Mary. A few of the Jews reported the miracle to the Jewish leaders, who were disturbed at the impact of Jesus on the common people. They were not able to tolerate any person who would claim to be a Messiah and possessed the power to work miracles. Messianic claims would evoke the sense of patriotism and nationalism among the Jews, causing a riot that would disturb the delicate balance between Rome and the local political and religious authorities. Therefore, Caiaphas suggested that Jesus should be put to death, because it was better for one man to die than the whole nation to perish. The prophetic pronouncement of Caiaphas had a double effect. It evoked memories of the courageous Maccabean martyrs who died for the nation as well as predicted the universal salvific effect of Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus, for the time being, moved away from Jerusalem into the wilderness with his disciples. However, he will return back to Jerusalem and embrace a violent death at the appointed ‘hour’. This hour would bring about the glorification of God and Jesus, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the gathering of those who believe that he is the ‘sent one’ of God.  

Prayer

Abba Father, may we have faith to believe in your presence despite the violence that surrounds us and move forward with courage to create a harmonious world.          

In Jesus’ Name we pray!

GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

2 Sam 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29;

Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matt 1:16, 18-21, 24a

The Feast of St. Joseph offers us sufficient encouragement to live out our Christian faith in the face of conflicts, political oppressions and baffling confusions. It assures each of us that our faith lived out in obedience to God’s will would be fruitful and life-giving. It inspires us to live out our calling, which is unique to each one of us, with the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

The themes of Liberation, Promise and Covenant are reflected in all the stories, narratives, and experiences recorded, both, in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The first reading taken from the Second Book of Samuel presents the Promise of God to David through Nathan that the royal throne of David would be established forever through an heir. In the Gospel narrative, Joseph is addressed as the “Son of David” by the angel in his dream. In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ, it is chronicled that it was through Joseph, the husband of Mary, that Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Matt 1:2-16). St. Joseph, therefore, is a medium through whom God’s promise to David was fulfilled.

In the Gospel, Matthew records that Joseph was a righteous man. In the context of the Bible, calling a person righteous is the best and highest honour a person can receive. Righteousness signifies being faithful to the demands of covenant relationship to the core. In a way, it is imaging God in the concrete situations of life, for God is always righteous and faithful. In the second reading, St. Paul declares that righteousness is born of faith (Rom 4:13). Therefore, Joseph stands out as an excellent model of faith. In fact, both, Joseph and Mary made an identical act of faith. Mary accepted to be the virgin mother of the Messiah and believed that the Son to be born is conceived of the Holy Spirit. Joseph accepted Mary as his wife because he believed that the child conceived in the womb of his wife was through the power of the Holy Spirit. In their act of faith, Joseph and Mary lived out their own specific calling to share in the mystery of salvation, which was accomplished by Jesus, the Messiah, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The righteousness of Joseph was born of faith, and his obedience was a spontaneous expression of his faith and total confidence in God. The Gospel narrative points out that Joseph did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do: he took Mary as his wife and named his son Jesus. This was just a beginning of a journey of faith, marked with the need for constant and prayerful discernment. We shall reflect on three outstanding characteristics of Joseph to discern how he was obedient in faith. First, he was a dreamer, second, he was a migrant, and third, he was a lover, the beloved of Mary and Jesus.

Joseph the Dreamer

Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan in their book, The First Christmas, point out that the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew revolves around five dreams through which divine interventions and instructions are communicated. Four out of the five dreams are for Joseph. All the four dreams are life-impacting. The first dream was to accept Mary as his wife, the second dream was to flee to Egypt, the third dream was to come back to the land of Israel and the fourth dream was to change his domestic location to the district  of Galilee. In a world that is suffering from ‘trust deficit’ it is very difficult to imagine and accept how one could make responsible and life-changing decisions based on dreams. This points to a deeper and intuitive level of consciousness, which is being totally immersed in the presence of God. It was his total confidence in the presence of God that gave Joseph the inner certainty to follow his dreams.

Joseph the Migrant

Herod was the Pharaoh of Jesus’ time. His love for power and the fear of threat to his throne, which is engrained in every ruler, was beyond proportions. This, together with the political oppression of the Romans, the complacent attitude of the religious authorities and the plight of the peoples at the margins, created a very depressing environment for the common people to which Joseph, Mary and Jesus belonged to. In such an oppressive situation, the flight to Egypt would have been a very instinctive and intuitive response of Joseph to protect Mary and Jesus. The misery and suffering of the migrants was no better then, than what it is today. Yet, it was only through faith that Joseph survived the ordeal in a strange land among strange people, which would have evoked memories of being slaves in Egypt as well as God’s mighty liberating power.

Joseph the Lover

It is love that flows from an expansive and generous heart, which will take extra efforts to understand the purpose, the vocation, and the mission of a life partner. This magnanimous love, focused on the other, will provide sufficient space for the partner to follow her or his own dream. Therefore, Joseph as a lover strikes a delicate balance between being a guardian and a guide. It is love embedded in the heart of Joseph that allowed Mary and Jesus to follow the path designed by God for them.

In being a dreamer, a migrant and a lover, St. Joseph stands as a model of obedient faith. The learning experiences we can gather from St. Joseph is first, to listen to the voice of God even when we are surrounded by deafening sounds and compulsive distractions. Second, to come out of our complacency in the face of oppressive forces and to be in solidarity with those who resist oppression. Third, to learn to create an ambience and to provide space for others to carry out their mission. In this way, all of us could collaborate with the mysterious plan of God in establishing the Reign of God here on earth.

Prayer

Abba Father, we thank you for the gift of St. Joseph to the Church. May we like St. Joseph allow your customized plan to unfold in the different contours of our life.

In Jesus Name we pray!