The Word God Spells

John 10: 31-42
Jer 20: 10-13 / Ps 18:2-7

Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”?
(John 10:34)

Now that in Christ we are renewed,
Let us strive to seek the Divine;
Let our actions and words be true,
Adhere to God’s will and design.

When the Jews picked up rocks to stone Him, Jesus said, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods” - and the scripture cannot be annulled — can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ Then they tried to arrest Him again, but He escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and He remained there. Many came to Him, and they were saying, ‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in Him there.

Reflection

In defending Himself against the charge of blasphemy, Jesus cited Psalm 82:6-7: I declare: ‘Gods though you may be, offspring of the Most High all of you, yet like any mortal you shall die; like any prince you shall fall.’ Of course we know that Jesus was more than any mortal or prince; His miraculous works, such as healing different kinds of ailments, expelling evil spirits, and raising the dead were more than enough proof that He was indeed the Son of God. “Even if you don’t believe me, believe the works so that you may realize that the Father is in me …” (Jn.10:38)

While it is true that we are all prone to commit sin because of Adam’s fall, which we bear like some universal gene, nevertheless we believe that every person has a portion of God’s spirit within him. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been made one with Him as children of God, and heirs of heaven. Indeed, if we reflect deeply on the subject, we must truly be gods in the way God designed our existence. As the psalmist wrote, God had made us “a little less than a god … crowned with glory and splendor … made lord over the work of His hands, … set all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:5-6). This is powerful proof of God’s goodness and love for man. If God had not endowed us with all the noble qualities of His divine nature, do you think He would have taken all the trouble to humble Himself, be shamed and tortured and die for our sake? That’s how precious we are in God’s eyes.

As we come closer to the culmination of Lent, let us give time to reflect on the pains and shameful death that our Lord Jesus endured to redeem us from the original sin of our first parents. If Jesus could sacrifice so much for our eternal salvation, can’t we in turn accord even just a little regard and respect for our fellow human beings? After all, as Jesus pointed out, we are all made in the image and likeness of God.

Lord God, forgive us whenever we forget that ‘You have made us a little less than Your angels in heaven.’ The goodness in us comes from You, but the sins that we commit are ours alone. We can’t thank You enough for redeeming us from sin. Amen.

John 5: 1-16
Ezek 47: 1-9, 12 / Ps 46: 2-3, 5-6, 8-9

Do you want to get well?
(John 5:6)

As water is life, so is God’s Word
Healing me and nourishing my soul;
Steadfast is the promise of our Lord,
In our brokenness, making us whole.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the Sabbath.

Reflection

Today’s Gospel shows us that God helps those who cannot help themselves. Even those who have no faith, like the cripple at the pool of Bethesda, who should have known better that after 38 years, that pagan place of healing offered no hope; the reason perhaps why Jesus had to ask him if he still wanted to get well. Some people get so stuck in the rut that they no longer know what they need. Just like the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 38 years because of their lack of faith. It was God’s way of weeding out the old generation, so that a younger Chosen People under Joshua, with stronger faith in Him would enter the Promised land.

Jesus asked the cripple, “Do you want to get well?” Missing our Lord’s intention, the man answered, “Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool…” Such is our human nature to put our trust in our own strength, in others, or in some material assistance, instead of looking up to the proffered Hand of God, our beloved Father, Who is just waiting for us to seek His help when everything else fails. The crippled man put his faith in the stagnant pool of Bethesda, just like the Jews whose man-made traditions like their strict observance of the Sabbath kept their faith stagnant, insipid and crippled. It is only in Jesus Christ, and in the life-giving fresh waters of His Church that the prophet Ezekiel described in the first reading (Ezek. 47:12) where we can find true sustenance and healing for our body and soul. Our Church is the temple that Ezekiel prophesied about, and the fresh waters that flow from underneath are the sacraments, like Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, Penance, and the Holy Eucharist that our Lord Jesus instituted to make us bear fruit and be healed of all our infirmities.

We praise You, Lord, for making us realize that the healing of our soul’s paralysis, such as the forgiveness of our sins, is more important than the healing of our physical ailments, or even the observance of our man-made traditions. Amen.

Luke 17: 1-6
Wis 1:1-7 / Ps 139

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
(Luke 17:3)

Sin is deadly, so believe firmly
Repentance is what we most need;
Forgive fully, and don’t grow weary
Serving the Lord in every good deed.

Jesus taught His disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” The apostles found this command hard to fulfill, and said to Jesus, “Lord, increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

Reflection

During our running club’s lively fellowships, a friend and fellow runner had this bad habit of using cursing words in almost every other sentence he spoke. This local curse is particularly jarring to the ears because it debases the word “mother” by its association with “prostitute”. Since I knew that he was a regular churchgoer, and he once mentioned that he prayed the rosary during his long runs, I told him with all candor that “Hot and cold water cannot flow from the same pipe; since the sacred Host passes your mouth, and praying to Mother Mary through your lips, how can you curse mothers so liberally?” He was stunned, because apparently, nobody had put it to him that way before. I also cited some verses in the Bible, like Sirach 23:11, “A man who often swears heaps up obligations; the scourge will never be far from his home.” Happily, as he promised, my friend no longer swears as often as before.

Jesus tells us to “rebuke him.” We must let our neighbor know how concerned we are that because of his error, others may be led to sin. And we do not want to see him “thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck.” Our kind but firm rebuke is only intended for his own good. “Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall” (1 John 2:10). Unless we stand up for the good and repudiate the wrong, our friend may not be aware of or recognize his/her mistakes or sins, be sorry for them, and stop doing them. As Christ’s followers, it behooves us to ‘point it out’, to ‘reprove, to correct.’ Jesus expects that from us.

Correcting a fault, however, is a lot easier than forgiving an offender, especially if he wrongs us more than once. But again our Lord teaches us that when a brother comes to us, we must be ready to forgive him as often as he repents. How can we “love our enemies” if we cannot even forgive our friends? Like His apostles, we might indeed find this almost impossible to accomplish. But as our Lord teaches us, this is possible through the power of faith. In the case of a friend who is hard to forgive, or an enemy who is hard to love, we must pray to God to increase our faith, because it is only by His miracle of grace that forgiveness can happen.

Increase our faith, Father, that we can follow Jesus’ example of forgiveness. Amen.

Luke 7: 36-50
1 Tm 4:12-16/Ps 111:7-10

A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?
(Luke 7:41-42)

Our debts can never be repaid,
His pains and death no greater loss;
The greatest LOVE Christ had displayed
When He forgave us on the cross.

Our Lord posed this question to Simon to make His host see beyond the sinfulness of the woman (who came to the banquet uninvited) to her greater love for having been forgiven of her sins. He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” (Simon had seen her in a different light.) “I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” (Lk.7:44-47)

Reflection

In this touching encounter in a prominent pharisee’s house, Jesus was able to convey a number of lessons to His contemporaries, who “could not see”, and to future generations of His followers, who would become richer by meditating on His words and seeing His lessons in the Gospel. The first lesson that we learn in this Gospel account of Luke is the grace of perception — of seeing with eyes of compassion, rather than of judgment. Simon the pharisee and host of Jesus, when he witnessed the uninvited woman display her affection to his VIP guest, thought, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him–that she is a sinner.” (7:39) By thinking thus, he was doubting the wisdom of Jesus (“Is he really a prophet, as they say he is?”) and judging the character of the woman. He could not see that her actions displayed her repentance and conversion.

And that leads us to the more important lesson — that those forgiven of greater sins are more grateful, and consequently love God more than those who feel righteous, and feel less penitent. “Much love follows much forgiveness.”

How many among us share the attitude of Simon the pharisee? How many of us walk in the other side of the road in order to avoid contact with the victims of sin, rather than help them get back on their feet and lead them again to Jesus?

Father, we acknowledge our sinfulness, and praise You with hearts filled with love for all that You have done for us, unworthy as we are. Our debts of sin can never be repaid, because no greater love can ever compare to Your Son’s death on the cross for our salvation. Thank You for all Your love. Amen.

Matthew 18:21—19:1
Jos 3:7-10.11.13-17 / Ps 114

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.
(Matthew 18:35)

There is no way we can repay
Our debt of sins that God forgave;
As we’ve received, we must forgive
No wrong could ever be that grave.

When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who offends him (Up to seven times?”) Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Thereupon, Jesus gave a parable about an unforgiving servant who owed his king ten thousand talents. Unable to pay, the king ordered that he and his whole family be sold as slaves to repay the debt. Falling on his knees, the servant begged for more time to pay. Instead, the servant’s master took pity on him and canceled his debt. But when that servant went out and found another servant who owed him a much smaller amount (100 dr), he grabbed him and demanded payment. His fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused, and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they reported the matter to their master. The master called the servant. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled your debts because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Reflection

It strikes me as strange how a mere servant can pile up a debt to his master which would amount to tens of millions of dollars in today’s currency equivalent of the ten thousand talents. Perhaps our Lord is simply emphasizing two points in this parable: 1) the “seventy-seven times” does not only refer to the indefinite number of times we must forgive, but to the amount of the debt or the severity of the sin committed against us; and 2) the enormous amount owed by the servant brings out the parallel debt of Christ’s own passion and death for our salvation, which we can never repay. Which points to the absurdity of those who have received the full gift of forgiveness from God but cannot find it in their hearts to forgive the mere “one hundred denarii” owed them by their neighbors. Jesus said in an earlier chapter: ‘If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions’ (Mt.6:14-15).

Like most parables of Jesus, this presentation is so typical of our human nature. How easily we take God’s forgiveness for granted once we are the ones offended and we demand recompense or apologies. It only shows our lack of appreciation for all of God’s mercies and compassion. Our readiness to condemn or feel bitter for the wrongs done to us is a mark of impenitence and ingratitude. How easily we forget the words we pray so often when we recite the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Mt.6:12).

True forgiveness means cancelling the debt, wiping the record clean. How can we say we have forgiven our spouse or friend if we still keep in our heart a record of past offenses that we recall at the next transgression? Can we say this is forgiveness from the heart?

Father God, as our Lord Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel, You forgive us in grace, and not because of anything we do to earn or deserve it. Remind us always that the offenses we endure are nothing compared to those Your Son endured on the cross for the payment of our debts. Amen.

Matthew 9: 1-8
Gn 22:1-9 / Ps 115

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.’
(Matthew 9:2)

Repentance comes before we’re healed;
With sin, miracles won’t happen.
Our faith can help, but not until
All our sins have been forgiven.

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, Who had given such authority to men.

Reflection

Matthew’s Gospel relates that when Jesus saw the faith of the men who had brought a paralytic to Him for healing, the first thing He did was to forgive the paralytic’s sins before He healed him. Why? Because a person paralyzed by sin has to reconcile himself to God first before he can receive God’s healing grace. A person in the state of sin cannot be receptive to God’s gift, because sin has weakened his faith. Jesus knew his thoughts, and that was why He assured him, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

Being omniscient, Jesus knew that the paralytic wanted to come to terms with his sinful past, and so put priority in forgiving his sins. It was also for the benefit of those who doubted His authority to forgive sins, as well as to reward the faith of the men who brought their sick friend to Him that He cured the man of his paralysis.

It was a common belief among the Jews in Jesus’ time that people with incurable ailments were being punished for their sins. Even today, this view may hold true in cases where physical disability or disease is the consequence of excesses or lack of discipline. Paralysis may be triggered by a stroke (a blood clot in a brain artery), which in most cases is caused by eating too much fatty foods (lechon, steak), aggravated by smoking, and drinking alcoholic beverages excessively. Gluttony is a mortal sin because eating excessively is harmful to our health. Proverbs 5:23 says, “For lack of discipline, a man dies because of his excessive folly.” In the context of the proverb, this saying refers to the sin of lust, but it applies as well to all sins that inevitably lead to the deterioration of a man’s body and the destruction of his soul.

Health and physical fitness are the results of the discipline we apply in leading a wholesome lifestyle. We should regard our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit so that we can take better care of them. We have heard it often said, “Our bodies are gifts from God; how we take care of them, and how we use them for God’s glory is our gift to Him.”

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the sacrament of Penance, which enables the remission of our sins. May we always avail of this healing of our souls so that, freed from the paralysis of sin we may lead healthy, wholesome lives for the glory of your kingdom. Amen.