Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to be virtuous and righteous, good and filled with the love of God in all things. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed and tempted by the many wickedness around us in this world which can lead us astray into the path of evil and damnation, or else, we will find it difficult to reject the allures and the strong pull of sin. If we are not careful, we may end up being distracted and pulled away from the path towards God’s grace and salvation, and falling into the eternal suffering and damnation, if we allow ourselves to be swayed by sin. 

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the Book of Genesis when God proclaimed to Noah, His faithful servant about the coming calamity and destruction which He would bring upon the whole world because of the great wickedness and sin which mankind had committed in their lives. Their sins had become so great that while God loved each one of His children, but His displeasure at the sins which the people had committed eventually led to Him deciding to wipe away all the lives in the world with the sole exception of Noah and his immediate family, as well as those animals that had come into the Great Ark that God had commanded Noah to build before the time of the Great Flood. The Lord spared those who were in the Great Ark, and their descendants became the ancestors of all those who live in the world today.

From this story of the Great Flood and the salvation through the Noah’s Ark, we are all reminded that first of all, God loves us all and wants nothing less than to forgive us and to be reunited with us all, to free us from the bondage to our sins and wickedness, all the evils and other things that had kept us away from Him. But at the same time, we must not ignore the fact that God also despises our wickedness and evils, and none of those corruptions can or should be found in us or else we will be judged and condemned by those sins which we fail to repent from and continued to commit in our lives. We must always remind ourselves that while God is all merciful and generous with His love to us, but if we continue to harden our hearts and reject His generous offer of mercy and love, it is by our own conscious rejection and rebuff of God’s mercy and love that we shall be judged by.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the moment when the Lord told the disciples to be wary of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, which they misunderstood as the Lord chiding them for having no bread with them during their trip on the boat. This ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees is a reference to the corruption of the sins of their hypocrisy and the pride, arrogance and the desires which many of them had in them, in desiring for the glory and greatness of the world, in taking pride and being arrogant over their supposed superiority in intellectual understanding, knowledge and observance of the Law of God. They, who were entrusted with the guardianship and enforcement of the Law of God became conceited, and were obsessed with the details and rituals of the Law instead of understanding their true meaning and purpose.

They became proud in putting themselves ahead of others, thinking that they could not be mistaken, and hence, refusing to believe in the Lord and His words, even though they themselves had frequently seen and witnessed many of the Lord’s works and ministries among the people of God, all the miracles that He had performed in their own midst, all the words, the Wisdom and truth, the Good News which He had spoken and proclaimed in their midst. They had witnessed all those things and yet, they still refused and failed to believe because they could not allow themselves to accept that what the Lord had brought unto them is the truth, and that their way of observing the Law and the commandments of God had been mistaken all those while.

Then, regarding the ‘yeast’ of Herod, it is likely a reference to the hedonistic and excessive extravagance which Herod and his fellow royals and nobles, the rulers of that time, and their courtiers and followers had carried out in their daily living. This also included his immoral behaviour and actions in marrying the wife of his own brother Philip, for which King Herod had been chided and rebuked by St. John the Baptist earlier on. All these immoral and improper behaviour were not good examples for the people who lived under his dominion and rule, and hence, the Lord also warned His disciples and followers, as well as all of us, to resist the temptations of these worldly pleasures, glory and ambitions, all of which could lead us to our downfall.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our part in whatever way we can so that we may distance ourselves from the path of wickedness and evil. We must not allow sin and corruption it causes to harm us any longer, and we should strive to resist the many temptations to disobey and sin against God. This is of course easier said than done, as many of our predecessors had failed to follow the path of the Lord faithfully and slipped into the path of disobedience, sin and darkness. Many times we may also be faced with great trials, challenges and obstacles, temptations, coercions and pressures, all of which may persuade or convince us to give up the struggle against sin and evil. But if we do not make the effort to resist sin, and depend and trust in the Lord, how can we be triumphant against sin then? Remember that only the Lord alone has the power over sin and death, and we should continue to put the Lord at the centre of our lives and existence.

May the Lord our most loving God continue to help and guide us in our journey, and may He empower each and every one of us so that in everything that we say and do, we will always be ready to face all the challenges and obstacles in our path towards Him. May He continue to bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, so that we may be strengthened in all things and will be fruitful in our efforts and works, for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.