A Word worth listening

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

There was a time when academic performance was the conclusive benchmark of intelligence. You were either graded as excellent, good, average, below average or just simply stupid (Ok, the last one was my addition). Then experts in pedagogical sciences and gurus of motivation began telling us that some of us who didn’t make the marks weren’t really stupid. Apart from IQ, you also had the benefit of EQ. It was music to the ears to learn how this had now leveled the playing field. These experts argued that it all came down to learning styles. To learn, we depend on our senses to process the information around us. Most people tend to use one of their senses more than the others. Therefore, there are generally three types of learning styles based on different modes of acquiring information: auditory (hearing), visual (seeing) and kinaesthetic (using hands or action).  Some educationist would also insist that the learning capacity increases as we move from auditory methods to kinaesthetic, thus the auditory style is regarded as the least effective. This is best articulated in the Chinese saying, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”

Today’s readings remind us that Christians, following the tradition of the Jews and the Hebrews before them, are intentionally auditory. But this does not mean that the Judeo-Christian culture is inferior to others which emphasised ‘doing’. Israel was a nation of prophets, not philosophers. Prophets listen to God. Philosophers envision. For the Greek philosopher, intellectual understanding came through the eye. For the Hebrew prophet, it came through the ear. The eye sees and dissects. The ear, on the other hand, hears and obeys. The Hebrews began their scriptures by saying that God spoke and all came into existence. The most fundamental statement of the Law (Dt 6:4), begins with the words, “Hear” or “Listen”.  The logic of the Hebrew scriptures is the logic of revelation. God is the cause; we are the result. The Lord speaks and his word has effect. In the logic of revelation, the most illogical thing is to refuse to listen to the Voice of God. To refuse to listen is to refuse to participate in what God is doing. The prophets called it rebellion. Thus we call evil irrational.

It is interesting to note that the etymology of the word ‘obedience’, which comes from the Latin ‘obedire’, or in the original Biblical languages, Hebrew (shema) and Greek (hupakouo), means to listen. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why listening is so under-rated in today’s society that places ‘doing’ or activism as the benchmark of achievement. In a “just do it” culture, the whole notion of obedience seems absurd and even anachronistic. Everything in our culture resists obedience, because we are made to feel that any loss of control over self-fulfillment is a loss of self. Because of the emphasis placed on freedom, self-will, autonomy and personal determination, obedience does little to suggest a good life. From a marketing perspective, obedience is a hard sell, especially because the very notion of obedience seems to be a suffocation of life rather than the promotion of it.

Yet obedience is a core element of the gospel, a primary dimension of Jesus’ life and relationship with his Father, but also of what it means to a Christian. Jesus is the wholly obedient one. "He humbled Himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:8) and "through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19). Jesus not only listened and obeyed the word of God, He totally identified with it - He is the Word. Thus at the end today’s gospel, he could confidently announced that he is the fulfillment of the prophetic word. For many centuries the Hebrews strained to listen to the Word of God through their prophets, but then the Word came even closer. The Word became flesh.  Humanity was allowed to see the Word, not as a written word, but a living Word.

Unfortunately, many often reduce obedience to just a matter of following rules and conforming to obligations. Today’s readings remind us that obedience is more about an encounter with the Living Word, Jesus. It is more about effective listening than blind obedience to dead letter of the law. It means getting in touch with the voice and life of the Spirit. The three readings provide us with different levels of listening.

In the first reading, we read about the reconstruction of the moral and religious fibre of a foundering nation that has lost not only its independence but also its integrity. The foundation of this reconstruction would be the Law, which is the name given by Jews to their scriptures. As they listened attentively to the words of their holy book being read by Ezra the scribe, the crowd was moved not only to tears but ultimately to worship. For them, the Law was not just a set of religious and moral rules and obligations, it was the voice of God, the God that had not abandoned them, the God who was now restoring their fortune. Thus the first level of listening is listening to God, a listening which inspires worship, a listening that inspires conversion, and a listening that demands obedience and surrender to the sovereignty of God.

The second reading proposes a second level of listening. In obedience we also listen to the voice of the Church, the Body of Christ. In the face of the human heart’s tendency towards narcissism, individualism and exclusiveness more than towards the needs of the other, obedience as attentive listening to the other members of the Body of Christ frees us to live for the other and become an integral part of the family we call Church. Obedience can challenge our worldviews and prejudices which often filters our perception of God’s will.

Finally, the gospel speaks of the third level of listening – listening to the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalised. By citing a text from Isaiah, Luke attempts to explain Jesus’ mission as a proclamation of gladness for the poor, liberty for the captives, sight for the blind, release for prisoners and a year of favour for all. These categories are often regarded by the larger society as invisible, thus not deserving its attention or time. The rich and the powerful have our ears, but not the poor. Thus, the cries of the poor are a great corrective to our self-importance, selfishness and pride. If our heart’s desires are gifts from God, then listening to the cries of the poor reveals the demands these gifts make on us. Any Christian life which does not listen to the voice of the poor effectively shuts out the voice of God.

Christ’s powerful words spoken to us at Mass are meant to change things, to change us, to change the hearts and the lives of all who hear them. Reading along and listening attentively are very different activities and have very different results. Most people would prefer reading. We are independent of the lector who proclaims the Word. Reading allows us to set the pace and affords an opportunity to analyse the text. In a certain way, we continue to assert mastery over the word. But we are a people called to ‘listen.’ Listening makes us uncomfortable because we strain to listen not just with our ears but also with our hearts. Listening treats the word in a personal way, rather than just a subject to be studied. Listening is relational. Thus, we listen to God, we do not read or study him. In listening, we make no demands of the Word – we merely listen, embrace the Word and obey. We seek not to substitute the Word with our words. But rather we allow the Word to form, challenge, comfort and finally consume us.

Virtue of Obedience

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Protestants often accuse Catholics of idolising Mary. One of the bible passages cited by Protestants to defend such claimed could be found in today's Gospel reading - the wedding feast at Cana. The Gospel of John tells us that it was Mary who first notices that the wine had run short at the wedding feast and that it is she who alerted Jesus to this embarrassing situation. She entrusts a human need to his power – to a power which is more than skill and human ability. The Church sees in this simple action the intercessory role of Our Lady. “They have no wine.” But Jesus then seems to respond with a rebuke, a point often highlighted by Protestants, “Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not yet come!”

You may wonder why would Jesus addressed His mother as “woman”? We would return to this question shortly. But first let us look at the “hour” of Christ. Christ’s “hour” is the time at which He is betrayed, arrested, and killed: the moment of His greatest agony and greatest glory. That’s what He is referring to each and every time that He mentions “His hour,” and it’s what He’s warning her about. To say that His hour has not yet come is to indicate that Jesus follows a different schedule, not one set by men or re-shaped by contingencies.  Jesus never acts completely alone, and never the for the sake of pleasing others. The Father is always the starting point of his actions, and this is what unites him to Mary, because she wished to make her request in this same unity of will with the Father. So, what appears to be a rebuke to the undiscerning eye may actually be an invitation – an invitation to submit obediently to the will of God.

Our Lady responds in obedience to the Son’s total obedience. She immediately tell the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” She doesn't tell Jesus “They have a problem, fix it.” She does not insist or demand. She doesn’t chart out a course of action for Jesus, much less specify the manner in which Jesus must resolve the problem.  She leaves everything to the Lord’s judgment. This is how she teaches us to pray: not by seeking to assert before God our own will and our own desires, however important they may be, but rather to bring them before him and to let him decide what he intends to do. Obedience to God’s will is a necessary condition for prayer. She tells the servants to do what she herself would willingly do, “Do whatever he tells you.” These words carry much weight and significance because they are the last recorded words of Mary in the gospels. Thereafter, she observes a “vow of silence” throughout the gospel narrative and doesn’t even break it at the foot of the cross. Her last words would be her defining moment. It would mark her entire life’s mission – obedience to the will of God. With these last words, she sets the ball rolling for the rest of the story of her Son, His performing the first sign that would reveal His mission and His glory.

It is now that we return to the manner in which Jesus addresses his mother. Instead of a more courteous, “Mother”, she is greeted with the title, “Woman.”  As much as this seems to be a callous way of addressing one’s own mother, the title really expresses Mary’s place in salvation history. It serves to point to the future and to the past. It points to the future, to the “hour” of crucifixion, when Jesus will say to her: “Woman behold your Son …” It anticipates the hour when he will make the woman, His Mother, the Mother of all his disciples. It points to the birth of the Church at the foot of the Cross. It is also points to that mysterious “woman,” who is at the centre of the great cosmic battle between the forces of heaven and those led by the monstrous dragon (Rev 12:1) in which the forces of heaven would prove victorious.

On the other hand, the title also looks to the past, to the very beginning of the Bible. In the creation story only the name of God is spoken. The first man and woman are identified not by name but as “the man” and “the woman.” Only later are they given the names Adam and Eve.  In his “new creation” story, the evangelist St John wants us to see Mary as the New Eve. At Cana, the New Eve radically reverses the decision of the first Eve. The first woman led the first Adam to commit his first evil act in the garden, an act of disobedience. At Cana, the new woman leads Jesus, the New Adam, to perform His first glorious work, work done in total obedience to the Father. The first Eve counselled Adam to defy God and eat the fruit. The New Eve brings the people’s needs to her Son and teaches the people to obey Him in faith – “Do whatever He tells you.” The first Eve was “the mother of all the living beings.” By teaching the disciples and servants to believe in Jesus, the new Eve becomes the mother of the Church – “the children of God.”

At the heart of the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana, therefore, is the story of obedience, the story of how this single virtue has restored the covenant broken by man’s disobedience. Disobedience leads to fruitlessness, to empty caskets and goblets. Obedience leads to fruitfulness, where the Lord would provide flowing wine that will never run out. Here in this story, we see the Son who sets aside his personal agenda and obediently submits to the will of the Father. We see the Woman, the Mother, who puts aside her need to be in charge of things and submits obediently to her son. It was through disobedience that man lost paradise, and it is now through obedience that a far better Paradise is restored.   

But the difficulty with obedience is that it is a matter assented to more often by the intellect than the will. After all, obedience is difficult; if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Fortunately both Jesus and Mary are models for our obedience. Jesus reminds His disciples that “the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (John 14:31). Love is the key to obedience. In this light, “Do whatever he tells you” should not be seen as a legalistic call to tediously obey an all-powerful master. Rather, Mary’s words reflect the heart of a bride in love with her bridegroom. She obeys perfectly because she loves perfectly. Representing the faithful of Israel, Mary invites the servants, the disciples, and all of us to run after our Bridegroom’s desires, ardently seeking to fulfil whatever He wants of us. When there is no compulsion in love, obedience comes easily.

Mary’s continuous faithfulness in the Gospel is critical for salvation history. Time and again, she willingly accepts the plan of God: she brings Christ into the world in the Incarnation, helps to lead Him into His public ministry at the Wedding of Cana; and follows Him to the Cross. Her first and her last words has always been an unconditional ‘Yes’ to the Lord. Mary's example makes it clear that obedience is not a virtue done out of fear — or drudgery. Because she trusted and loved God, she was able to obey Him resolutely. Through her, we learn the loving consequence of obedience since her obedience brought the Saviour of mankind into the world, it is obedience that will lead us to salvation!

Hope and Promise in Every Generation

 Prayer Meeting Sharing 13/12/2013

You may came across the term "Baby boomers" in your management paper, which refer to a person who was born during the demographic post-world war II between the years 1946 and 1964 (According to the U.S Census Bureau). While I was surfing the internet that day, one of the web page explains the characteristics of multigenerational  in today's world. The web page provide an overview of different characteristic for different age group in order to deal with the mixed-generation in today's world. 

In today's Gospel, isn't it ironic that in every age, you will find people asking the same question: "What wrong with this generation?" There's always some truth behind this question, to be sure. In our day, even though Christian Catholic remains as the world largest religion, we see Christianity declining throughout Europe and stagnant in the United States, along with a loss of traditional values and a weakening of the family unity. Surely these are areas of concern. But at the same time, there is much to celebrate. World Youth Days continue to draw millions of young people. Social media outlets and lay organizations offer new momentum and accessibility, not to mention the way young adults are taking up social issue like human trafficking, mental illness, child abuse, and conservation. 

Do you seek God's way of peace and wisdom for your life? The prophets remind us that God’s kingdom is open to those who are teachable and receptive to the word of God. Through their obedience to God's word and commandments, they receive not only wisdom and peace for themselves, but they, in turn become a blessing to their children and their offspring as well. Jesus warns the generation of his day to heed God's word before it is too late. He compares teachers and scholars, and those who have been taught, with stubborn playmates who refuse to follow any sort of direction or instruction. 

Jesus’ parable about disappointed playmates challenge us to examine whether we are selective to only hear what we want to hear. The children in Jesus' parable react with dismay because they cannot get anyone to follow their instruction. They complain that if they play their music at weddings, no one will dance or sing; and if they play at funerals, it is the same. This refrain echoes the words of Ecclesiastes 3:4 – "there is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance." Are you in tune with the message of God's kingdom? And do you obey it without reservation? Jesus' message of the kingdom of God is good newsto those who will listen and it produces true joy and spiritual freedom for them; but it is also a warning for those who refuse to obey.

Why did the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus meet with deaf ears and resistance? It was out of jealously and spiritual blindness that the scribes and Pharisees attributed John the Baptist's austerities to the devil and they attributed Jesus' table fellowship with sinners as evidence that he must be a false messiah. They succeeded in frustrating God's plan for their lives because they had closed their hearts to the message of  John the Baptist and now to Jesus' message. What can make us spiritually dull and slow to hear God's voice? Like the generation of Jesus' time, our age is marked by indifference and contempt, especially in regards to the things of heaven. Indifference dulls our ears to God's voice and to the good news of the gospel. Only the humble of heart can find joy and favor in God's sight. 

Let us ask ourselves this question today, Is my life in tune with Jesus's message of hope and salvation? And do I know the joy of obedience to God word?

If you ever feel frustrated or discouraged about the generations younger than yours, remember Jesus. He looked at his own generation as well as all the others and saw their weaknesses and challenges. But He didn't despair. Instead, he invested his whole life in helping to raise them up. 

Jesus saw the good along with the bad, and even as he corrected the bad he appealed to the good as he called them to holiness. He gave them a vision of what their lives could be like- life in the kingdom of God, if they would only return to Him and accept His salvation. And that vision is what inspired people like Peter and John to follow Him.

Nothing has changed since Jesus first walked the earth. Every generation has its own combination of light and shadow. And that means that in Jesus' eyes, no generation is beyond hope. No matter what a person's social status, political convictions, education, or past history, there is always room for redemption. There is always the opportunity to take one step closer to fulfilling God's call and vision for his or her life. This is how Jesus looks at you as well. You too are part of a generation that he is calling and equipping to build the kingdom.