The Gentle God (14th Sunday Ordinary A)

For many of us, it is a matter of course to believe in a powerful God.  We easily associate God with power. After all, the first assertion of our Christian faith is the belief in God, the Father Almighty. So, chances are your own image of God is one who can do just anything you can imagine with just a single snap of his fingers or perhaps, like how Harry Potter does it, with a simple wiggle of his magic wand.  He is a God who can make all his wishes come true no matter what, because if he cannot then he is not God.  This is how our human logic goes. We understand God’s power as his ability to bring just anything into existence. He has a say, therefore, on everything and exercises control over anything.  Hence, an awesome God... one in whose presence we tremble for in his hands rest the very existence of just everything under the sun.

God's power revealed in meekness. But wait a minute. Today’s readings offer us a glimpse of a quite different side of God.  A gentle and humble God.  The first reading for instance (Zec. 9:9-10) foretells the coming of the king as a just savior, meek and riding on an ass rather than on a majestic chariot.  This foreshadows the entrance of Christ to the city of Jerusalem.  He comes on an ass. Not majestic but humble. He brings not war but peace. Furthermore, the Gospel reading (Mt. 11:25-30) reveals the Lord as one who invites those who are tired to come to him for refreshment, for he is “gentle and humble of heart.” 

Can power, on the one hand, and gentleness and humility, on the other, come together?  It appears difficult but yes.  We find the juxtaposition difficult because we easily associate power with ability to dominate and control, with force, with authority, with the ability to make things happen despite all forms of resistance. Here power becomes imposing and far from being gentle.

The real power though, I submit, is not imposition or coercion. It is persuasion.  God’s power is persuasive. He invites. He presents what is good; manifests what is beautiful and true; offers what we can embrace as values. In other words, He attracts. Unlike the coercive power which works from outside by imposing its will, the persuasive power works from within and gently achieves cooperation.  Such is the power of God—the Gentle God. Another term for this persuasive power of God is love.

The Gentle God invites the weary to carry the yoke of love. “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt. 11: 28-29).

Here is a God who invites. He invites not the high and mighty but the weary and those burdened by life.  To them he offers refreshment and rest.  He assures them of his heart which is gentle and humble. But we have to take note that he does not dispense of the yoke to be carried: “Take my yoke upon your shoulders.”  Coming to him for rest does not mean a responsibility-free life.  To have rest in Christ does not mean doing nothing in life.  It means carrying the yoke of Jesus, which is the yoke of love.

The gentle God offers a gentle yoke—the yoke of love as alternative to the imposing yoke of law. The yoke of law renders the people tired and unappreciative of life.  The people of Israel, for instance, had been bombarded with endless laws prescribed by the scribes.  Their lives had been all about fulfilling every letter of the law. The yoke of law became the be-all and end-all of their existence so that they gradually forgot about the loving relationship with God.  The ‘little ones,’ the poor especially, could not measure up to the demands of the law, so they were the ones who found life burdensome.  Life for them was an experience of imposition and coercion that led to their alienation.

Jesus reached out to them by offering his yoke. “My yoke is easy, my burden light.” This is the yoke of love offered by the gentle God. This yoke is inspiring and liberating because it works from within. Jesus’ message then is this:  Learn from me. Carry your responsibilities not because they are imposed upon you.  Carry them not because you are obliged by law. Follow me and carry your responsibilities because of love.  

Our response: Living each day with love in our hearts. All of us who have loved will agree by experience that anything we do out of love, however difficult and demanding, becomes easy and light.  The power of love works from within. It inspires and liberates. Life becomes worthwhile, enjoyable, easy, and peaceful when we put upon our shoulders the yoke of Jesus, the yoke of love.

Do we find life burdensome? Perhaps it would help if we examine what we do. We might have been spending our energies and time to things that are imposed upon us. We need to have a change of paradigm.  Let us approach Jesus and learn from him. Let us live each day with love in our hearts and let everything we do flow from that persuasive power of love.

Or do we find ourselves wielding power vested upon us by our status or position in society? Jesus offers himself as a model.  He invites us to come to him and learn from his gentleness and humility. To be powerful does not always mean being coercive and imposing. Again, change of paradigm—real power works not from outside but from within. It is the persuasion of love we need to exercise. It is the way of the gentle God.

  

Do Not Fear (12th Sunday Ordinary A)

The ancient philosopher, Plato, has pointed out the tragedy of being afraid: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

Who are afraid of the light?

Those who have something to hide shun the light for fear of being exposed; so, they rather thrive in the dark. But those who are called to speak in the light may also be afraid of it as it may lead to their persecution. So they keep quiet. This, indeed, is tragic. And we can all easily fall into this same tragedy if we allow our fears to paralyze us.

“Do not fear.” This is the reminder of today’s gospel reading (Mt 10:26-33). “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops” (vv. 26-27).

The Lord’s instruction to his disciples is clear: Speak in the light! Proclaim from the housetops!  Simply 'whispering' the gospel among them is not enough.  It may safeguard them from threat and antagonism of this world but it is tantamount to 'disowning' the Lord Jesus in the presence of people; and this cowardly act will cause the Lord to disown the same followers in the presence of the Father.

So the disciples are called to face courageously the realities of evil in the world and the fate that awaits those who brave to confront them with the values of the Gospel. But from where do we draw the courage with which we confront the evils of this world and their vicious reprisal?

The readings for today offer us three ways to conquer our fears:  a) Entrusting our cause to God our mighty champion; b) Having faith in the grace of Christ to triumph over sin; c) Invoking God’s protection and care.

Entrusting our cause to God.  In the first reading (Jer 20:10-13), the prophet Jeremiah expresses his awareness of the plot to denounce and entrap him precisely because of his vocation as a prophet and the message of woe that he delivers to his fellow citizens. But even in the face of this hostility and threat coming from every side, he remains unafraid as he confidently claims the Lord to be in his side like a “mighty champion” who will foil his persecutors.  Jeremiah has no fear because he has “entrusted his cause” to God who will vindicate him in the end—“O Lord of hosts …let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause” (v. 12).

When we confront the ills of our society with the light of the gospel, we also have to prepare for our fate as a persecuted prophet.  But we should not fear for our cause is God’s cause. Like the prophet Jeremiah, we shall realize that the Lord is on our side; and as a mighty champion, He will put to utter shame those who plot against us.

 Are you afraid to “speak in the light?” Don’t be. Entrust your cause to God for He is on your side.

The grace of Christ triumphs over sin.  In the second reading (Romans 5:12-15), we can discern an appropriate background to our calling to confront the evil of this world. St. Paul acknowledges the universal spread of evil throughout the world in the past and we see its bearing in the present sinful situation in our world.  But we ought not to fear as we confront sin because while we have inherited this condition of sinfulness, we have also received a gift that far surpasses it—the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflowing for all of us.

This overflowing grace of Christ is our source of courage. We need not be afraid when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.  When we speak against the power of sin around and within us, only this overflowing grace of Christ guarantees victory for it is a gift more powerful than any of the earthly threats we may fear.

Invoking God’s protection and care. The gospel reading has a refrain: “Do not be afraid.”  Jesus encourages his disciples not to fear anyone, any human persecutor, who can kill the body, because the whole of their physical existence is held within the protection of God’s hands. Jesus reminds them that they are precious in the eyes of God who manifests love even to the lowly sparrows: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge… So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt 10:29-31).

God values all his creatures;  He is our loving Father and we, His children, can always rest in the truth that He loves us dearly and protects us from those who plot against us.  We, who stand firm and proclaim the gospel in the light and “from the housetops,” can be confident even in the face of death that our ultimate fate lies in the loving hand of God and that He is our vindication.

Fear no one then… Do not be afraid… speak in the light and proclaim from the housetops! The Lord is our mighty champion who remains on our side against our persecutors; his overflowing grace has overcome the power of sin and eliminated the sting of death; His love and care is our protection and vindication. So do not fear. Have faith in God.

The Church Jesus Desires (11th Sunday Ordinary A)

The Gospel today offers more than a portrait of Jesus; it reveals the Church He desires us to become.

In this passage we see three movements: Jesus sees the crowd, Jesus gathers the Twelve, and Jesus sends them on mission. These three movements describe what the Church today calls a synodal and missionary Church. “Synod” means “walking together,” but walking together is not the destination. We walk together so that, united, we may share in Christ’s mission to the world.

Jesus Sees the Crowd: A Listening Church. The Gospel begins with moving words: “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Here we see that Jesus does not begin with a program or a speech. He begins with attention. He looks, he listens, he allows himself to be affected by the suffering of the people. This is the first mark of a synodal Church: a listening Church. Not a Church that first asks, “What should we tell people?” but one that asks, “What are people carrying in their hearts?”

The recent Synod reminded us that listening is not a strategy, but a spiritual attitude, a way of loving. So many today feel “troubled and abandoned”: those in financial hardship, those wounded in family relationships, those anxious about the future, those drifting from faith. The question is: Do we notice? Or are we so busy and distracted that we pass by without seeing?

Synodal conversion begins in ordinary relationships: spouses listening to each other, parents listening to children and children to aging parents, priests listening to their people, parishioners listening to one another. Who around me may be feeling troubled and abandoned?

Jesus Gathers the Twelve: A Co-Responsible Church. After seeing the crowds, Jesus does something striking: he calls the Twelve. He does not carry the mission alone; he shares it. The harvest is abundant, and he knows that the mission requires a community of disciples. This is another mark of a synodal Church: communion and participation. The Church is not the work of one person—not the priest alone, not the bishop alone, not a few active parishioners. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to all the baptized.

Too often Catholics see themselves mainly as recipients: we attend Mass, receive the sacraments, support the parish, but leave the mission to others. Yet in the Gospel, Jesus first tells the disciples to pray for laborers, and then he makes them those laborers. They become the answer to the prayer they have just offered.

So too with us. We pray for stronger families, more vocations, a renewed parish, a more just society. Could it be that God is inviting us to become part of the answer? In a synodal Church, the question shifts from “What is the parish doing for me?” to “What is the Lord asking me to contribute?” What gift, talent, experience, or time is God calling me to place at the service of others?

Jesus Sends the Twelve: A Missionary Church. Finally, Jesus sends the disciples. This is where everything leads. Listening is not the final goal. Meetings and structures are not the final goal. Even communion itself exists for mission.

A Church that only looks inward eventually loses vitality. A Church that walks together must also go forth together. Pope Francis often reminds us that the Church is missionary by her very nature. We are not gathered merely to preserve ourselves; we are gathered to be sent.

Jesus instructs the apostles: heal the sick, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. In other words, bring life where there is suffering, hope where there is discouragement, mercy where there is sin and brokenness. That mission continues today. The sick still need healing and care. The lonely still need companionship. The poor still need solidarity. The young still need guidance and witnesses. Families still need hope. The Gospel still needs living witnesses, not only words.

The mission field is all around us. Perhaps your mission begins in your home, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, with someone you need to forgive, or with someone waiting for a word of encouragement.

Jesus concludes: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” This is the heart of missionary discipleship. We have received God’s love freely; now we are sent to give it freely.

The Gospel today shows us the Church Jesus dreams of: a Church that listens before speaking, where all share responsibility, and that goes forth together in mission. So we might ask: Am I helping to build a listening Church? Am I taking responsibility for the mission entrusted to me? Am I living as a disciple who is sent?

For in the end, synodality is not a program. It is a way of being Church. It is the way of Jesus himself. May he teach us to walk this path together.