The Word God Spells

Matthew 7: 21-29
2 Kgs 24: 8-17 / Ps 79: 1-5, 8, 9

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
(Matthew 7:21)

Nothing to fear in evil’s wake,
The Word of God our firm foundation;
No rains or flood, or winds can break
Our faith in His loving protection.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house; but it did not collapse, because it had been built solidly on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rains came down, the floods rose, and the winds blew and buffeted the house, and it collapsed and was completely ruined.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7: 21-29)

Reflection

Don’t we often hear some Christians say, “All you have to do is accept that Jesus is the Lord of your life, and you will be saved”? Well, today’s Gospel passage should set the record straight that merely professing one’s faith is not enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. Then there are those who say “Faith without works is useless” (James 2:20). But even if our “works” are as miraculous as making prophecies or exorcising evil spirits, they are of no value to our faith if not done according to the will of the Father. Nothing we do in this life has any merit or substance unless we do it out of obedience to the commandments of God.

Obedience is the rock and foundation of our faith. When the floods of trials and sufferings come (as they inevitably do in everyone’s life), their onslaught will be in vain, as our fidelity in God’s Word will keep us steadfast and strong. When all our dreams and aspirations seem to fail, obedience is our lifeline of hope. It keeps us from being overwhelmed by despair, as we cling to God’s promise that He will “deliver whoever knows My Name; who call upon Me I will answer, and be with them in times of distress” (Psa. 91:14-15). Obedience is also the fire that purifies our heart, and is the true measure of our love for God. Whatever the pains or difficulties His laws and decrees may entail, we obey, simply because we love Him.

It is not what we accomplish for our Church or for our religion that brings us to the fellowship of Christ. He has already redeemed us long before our conversion. Salvation is a grace freely given by God to His obedient servants. Only by our obedience were we qualified to merit this grace. In fact, it is by God’s grace that we have been transformed; and all our good deeds are simply the fruits of what we have already received. They are outpourings of our gratitude to God for having led us into this new life in Christ.

Friends, our Lord is telling us that we cannot take our salvation for granted. Obedience is the key, and the directions are laid out in Holy Scriptures. Unless we read the Bible, and follow Jesus Christ’s instructions in the Gospel, we may just be building our house on sand.

Lord Jesus, like the Jews in Your time, we are always amazed at the wisdom of Your teachings. Help us Lord to read Your mind, so that Your words we can fully understand; make us see that in all things, Your Will alone is our command. Amen.

Matthew 5: 17-19
Acts 11: 21b-26; 13: 1-3 / Ps 98: 1-6

. . . whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:19)

It is not love to spare the rod,
Too much freedom, we’ll pay the price;
Obedience to the laws of God
Will assure us of Paradise.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter, or the smallest part of a letter, will by any means disappear from the Law until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 17-19)

Reflection

The way Jesus constantly contradicted and even condemned the Pharisees and scribes must have given the Jews the impression that our Lord was out to abolish or change the Old Testament laws (Ten Commandments, the Pentateuch, etc.) and the teachings of the Prophets. But Jesus was in fact trying to rectify the wrong interpretations of God’s commandments by the Pharisees and scribes. For instance, He pointed out that healing the sick on the Sabbath would not violate it as much as saving one’s sheep that fell in a pit would (Mt.12:11). He told the Jews to obey their teachings, but not to imitate their example, for they burdened the people with their man-made laws which they themselves did not follow (Mt.23:4). Their laws put too much emphasis on rituals and matters of little importance, thus neglecting the more essential parts or spirit of the law (Mt.23:23).

Jesus was in fact the fulfillment of the laws and prophecies of the Old Testament. Obedient to the very end, He had spoken and carried out everything according to the plan and will of God, His Father. In every aspect of His life, His disciples remembered His faithful adherence to Scriptures. Even as an infant His life fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets (Jer. 26:21; Hos.11:1) His temptation in the desert was filled with quotations from Deuteronomy and Psalms. In His discourses with the Pharisees and teachers of the law, Jesus often quoted from Scriptures. Until His last breath, in fact, we hear Him defer to Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?” (Psa. 22:1) and in John 19:24 (Psa. 22:19).

The books of the Old Testament have never become antiquated or insignificant even up to this present age. Contrary to what unbelievers say, the laws of God, like the Ten Commandments are not obsolete. The laws of God are absolute, and will never change. Honoring one’s parents, the sanctity of life, sacredness of sex and marriage, the worship of One God, respecting the property of others, honesty in one’s dealings — these are all, like God Himself, timeless and unchanging. And if we disregard or violate them, then there will be a price to pay. Is it any wonder why most young people in America today have no respect for their parents, have one of the highest rates of pre-marital sex and abortion, and are more prone to substance abuse and self-destruction than at any other time in their history? Could it be because their Supreme Court had decided to ban the practice of prayers in school, and to remove the Ten Commandments from their institutions of learning? If God seems to have forgotten us, maybe it’s because we have neglected His laws and decrees.

Let me never forget Your laws in my life, dear God, as long as I live. For they are the light that keeps me from stumbling, the discipline that I need in order to grow strong in my faith, and persevere in times of trials and suffering. Amen.

Mark 10: 28-31
1 Pt 1: 10-16 / Ps 98: 1-4

‘Be holy because I am holy’.
(1 Peter 1:16)

Lord, help us give to You our best
In this mission where we are called;
With persecutions as a test
For us to gain a hundredfold.

Peter began to say to Jesus, “Lord, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time [i.e., on earth], houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:28-31)

Reflection

It may seem difficult at first to understand what our Lord Jesus meant when He said those who have left everything for His sake and the Gospel would receive a hundred times more than what he has given up in this life as well as in the next.

First, we must realize that Jesus was being more figurative than hyperbolic. He was not referring to material things, which are in fact of little worth in the context of spiritual values which are everlasting. When His followers in the early Church received the power of the Spirit and experienced the vision of His glory, as St. Peter and the apostles did on Pentecost, or St. Stephen before his martyrdom (Acts 7:55-56) or St. Paul on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:3-20), they were all willing to give up everything, including their lives in exchange for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which included sheer joy and peace, and the privilege of spreading the Good News of salvation that their Savior first proclaimed.

Throughout the centuries of Christian history, this fervor of evangelization, borne of Christ’s love and His Father’s grace, never waned, as we see for instance in the life of St. Augustine of Canterbury (7th century AD), a Benedictine monk whose feast our Church celebrates today. St. Augustine is known as the “Apostle of the English” and the patron saint of England. He was largely responsible for the founding of the English Catholic church and the conversion of this country at the instigation of Pope Gregory the Great in the year 596 AD. The Kingdom of Kent was ruled by Æthelberht, a Saxon pagan who married a Christian princess. He was converted to the faith along with thousands of his subjects by Augustine and his team of monks. Eventually, the whole country of Great Britain came under the influence of the Holy See until it broke away in the sixteenth century.

St. Augustine of Canterbury left his comfort zone in Rome (“house, brothers, sisters, mother father, lands”), for Christ’s sake and for the gospel, but he received more than a hundredfold of their equivalent in the conversion of souls for God’s kingdom in his lifetime. He left a priceless legacy, and his life will forever be remembered, along with all the other great martyrs and saints that the Church commemorates every day.

Jesus calls each one of us to be “saints” like St. Augustine, although we do not have to leave everything like him and the apostles to follow our Lord. We can spread the Gospel of Jesus simply by living a life of holiness. As St. Peter wrote in the first reading: “Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the desires of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy’.’’ (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Lord God, we thank You for the example of Your saints like St. Augustine of Canterbury, who fulfilled the words of Jesus that we will reap a hundredfold what we sow. We ask for Your grace to sanctify our life in everything that we say and do in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Luke 17: 20-25
Wis 7:22–8:1 / Ps 119

The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe and say of it: ‘Look, here it is! There it is!’ See, the kingdom of God is among you.
(Luke 17:20-21)

God will transform our state of mind
If we seek His will and wisdom;
Then in our hearts one day we’ll find
The majesty of His kingdom.

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Then He said to His disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.”

Reflection

Our Lord’s response to the Pharisees’ question seems at first to be incongruous. First, He said, “The kingdom of God is among you,” referring to Himself as already in their midst. (17:21) Then three verses later, He said, “As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man.” (17:24) It could be that Jesus was talking about His second coming in the latter portion, when He would suddenly make His appearance like a flash of lightning for all to see. In the first verse, Jesus was presenting himself as the personification of God’s kingdom, now present before them. The kingdom was already in their midst.

The kingdom of God here on earth is not a physical area enclosed by borders. His kingdom is in everyone, just as God Himself is everywhere, pervading everything. His Kingdom is in the hearts of all men who bow to their Heavenly King and offer themselves in service to His rule. When we conform our lives to His will, then His kingdom is “among us.” But when we disobey His precepts and decrees, then we fall away from His kingdom.

Another word for describing God’s kingdom, that we read in today’s first reading, is Wisdom. “She penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty, therefore nothing that is sullied enters into her.” (Wisdom 7:24-25) When we disobey any commandment of God, we fall into sin, and thus ‘sullied’, we can never hope to gain wisdom, or enter the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is something we come to be, as a result of our obedience to God’s will. It is the sum of all our prayers, good works, and meditations on the Word of God. We are all part of the kingdom of God. As St. Paul said, we are members of a “building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on Him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and we too, in Him, are being built into a house where God lives in the Spirit” (Eph 2:20-22).

Everytime we receive you in the Holy Eucharist, Lord, we believe that Your kingdom is in our midst. May You always reign in our hearts forever. Amen.

Matthew 17: 22-27
Dt 10:12-22/Ps 147:12-15,19-20

From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
(Matthew 17:25)

Jesus went to all the trouble
Just to show us what is right;
If we can pay man-made taxes,
We also have to pay the tithe.

When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. After Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, He does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax —from their own sons or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Reflection

Among the four Gospel accounts, it is only in the version of Matthew that we find this incident about the payment of the temple tax. Being a former tax collector himself, Matthew (Levi) could not let this incident pass unrecorded. For the benefit of his Jewish readers, he must have wanted to show that the Messiah, true to His word, was always faithful in observing the law in all respects. At the same time, this incident was intended to be a lesson in obedience, humility and the practice of tithing. Jesus demonstrated His power over all creatures when He made a fish bring forth the money needed to pay the temple tax. If God Himself would willingly comply with ‘petty’ man-made laws, then His message was: no one was exempted from paying all dues, whether required by the state or by the church.

Jesus employed every event and circumstance that He encountered in His brief life on earth for an important lesson or purpose, including the devious schemes that His detractors and enemies used to entrap Him. By submitting to the temple tax, He showed that no one is exempt from supporting His church in the payment of tithes. ‘That we may not offend,’ He said, using the plural to mean that it must be imitated by all His followers. Jesus set the example for all members of the temple (Church) to follow. All the churches in the world were established because of this legacy. Let us continue supporting our churches for all future generations to follow.

Timeless lessons from our timeless God, may we live them faithfully in our lives, so that we will always give You the glory, loving Father. Amen.

Matthew 5:17-19
2 Cor 3:4-11 / Ps 99:5,6,7,8,9

Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:19)

Those who prefer not to obey
God’s laws will lose heaven’s treasure,
Those who submit will find the way;
Obedience is love’s true measure.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Reflection

Our greatest model of faith and obedience in the Old Testament is Abraham. Out of His love, trust and obedience to God, He was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac. (Gen. 22). His faith in God exceeded his love for his own son. Next to Abraham was Moses, through whom Yahweh God handed the Law, the Ten Commandments. God exalted Moses for his obedience and perseverance. The third major figure in the Old Testament was King David. Even though he had Yahweh’s Spirit with him, he still looked to the Law for guidance. (Psalms 119)

The examples and teachings of these three great patriarchs of old have not lost their relevance in the course of mankind’s history. People nowadays need to know that the Ten Commandments, the Psalms, and the other books of the Old Testament have not become antiquated nor irrelevant. The law of God is as much in effect today as it was 3,400 years ago when God gave it to Moses in Mt. Sinai. It is because they think it has become irrrelevant that many people today are drawn into so-called liberated faiths, like the New Age. We all need to constantly go back to the roots of our faith to understand the mysteries of God’s Word and His righteousness.

Jesus never regarded the Scriptures of old as unimportant or irrelevant. In fact, in several Gospel accounts, He always quoted from the books of the Old Testament. For Him, the Scriptures were no less than the Word of God, bearing authority and power. We cannot say we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ if we reject the laws of the Old Testament. It would be a contradiction to say that we believe in Jesus but not in the creation account, the great flood in Noah’s time, or the law that was given by God to Moses in Mt. Sinai. Questioning the Old Testament, which Jesus taught, would be questioning the authority and relevance of Jesus Himself.

Our Lord always emphasized the sacredness and validity of Scripture. Love and obedience to God’s laws are the two recurring themes in His teachings. His love has transformed us, but we still need God’s laws and ordinances in Scripture to guide us to His kingdom. Together with the strength, perseverance and inspiration from the Holy Spirit, we should strive to follow and learn God’s Word assiduously, so that in the process, we can earn the gifts of the Holy Spirit and also teach His Good News to others. It should be our major preoccupation, our mission, and our life.

Those who fear the Lord disobey not His words; those who love Him keep His ways. (Sirach 2:15) By being faithful to all Your commands, Lord, I hope to become worthy of Your great love. Amen.