Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures we are all reminded that we are God’s holy and beloved people, and we often may have to endure sufferings and hardships, one after another in the midst of our journey of faith as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. All of us must always remain firm in our faith in the Lord and we must strive to focus our lives and existences on Him, He Who is the Lord and Master of all of our lives, the Lord and Master of all the living and the dead, the Master of all the Universe. We are all called as Christians to be the bearers of God’s truth and love, and to live lives that are truly good, righteous and worthy of the Lord at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy in which the Apostle spoke of the reminder for all the faithful through St. Timothy, that all Christians, all of God’s faithful and holy people ought to do their best to stand up for their faith in the Lord, to be ever more committed to walk in the path of God’s righteousness and love. Each and every one of us have been given the various gifts and talents, the opportunities and chances by the Lord for us to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, to all those whom we encounter in our every day moments, so that by our interactions with them, and through our commitment to the Lord, our pious and faithful lives, we may inspire many others to believe in God as well and to embrace Him as their Lord and Master.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark in which the Lord Jesus was confronted with a group of the Sadducees who wanted to question and test Him with regards to their beliefs especially that related to the concept of resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees were one of the major and powerful groups that dominated the then Jewish community, composed of those who belonged to the high priestly and priestly caste, the Temple officials and others who were influential and powerful within the community of the people of God. Those Sadducees also represent all those members of the Jewish community who were largely Hellenised or influenced strongly by the Greek culture and customs. This is contrasted to the Pharisees who were the guardians of the Jewish culture and customs.

As the Sadducees were deeply entrenched in the worldly power, politics and hegemony, and as they enjoyed great prestige, position and power among the people of God, hence it is no surprise that they would have been very worldly in their outlook in life, in their beliefs and practices. They did not believe in the afterlife or the resurrection from the dead mostly because they revelled so much in the life they had in this world, all the glory, power and pleasures that they could not imagine an existence or life without all those things and privileges which they had enjoyed in life in this world. That was why they did not believe in the spiritual matters and life beyond this world, as they focused mainly on living their lives in this world and enjoying everything as best as they could.

But in doing so, they have not done as the Lord had entrusted to them to do. They being the leaders and influential members of the Jewish community, they should have become great sources of inspiration and leadership, as role models for all the people to follow, in how they embody their faith in God and the Law and commandments of God. And yet, by their worldliness and their embracing of the corrupt practices of the world, their love for money, wealth and prestige, all these made them to forget about their missions and what they were expected to do. In the end, they were all the examples of how we must always resist the many temptations and coercions, the desires for pleasures of the world that are always all around us.

Each and every one of us must indeed heed the words of the Lord reminding us that we are called to greater existence and holiness in life, to focus on Him and His truth, and not on the many desires and attachments of worldly things, all of which cannot truly grant us true and genuine happiness in life, and as well as in the life that is to come. The Sadducees in our Gospel passage today tested the Lord with the case of the seven brothers who shared a woman as a wife when each one of them passed away one after another without having any child, and this showed that their understanding of the Law and its precepts were superficial and they were driven a lot more by their desires and attachments to this world.

As Christians we must always remember that all of us must always live our lives centred and focused on the Lord in all things. We cannot serve God and worldly desires and temptations both, as the Lord Himself had said in another occasion in the Gospels. We must always strive that our every actions, words and deeds are rooted in the Lord, and we ought to resist whatever it is that may become hurdles and obstacles in our path towards God and His salvation. Otherwise, we may easily be swayed and tempted away from God’s path and fall into the slippery slope of sin, just as those Sadducees and many others of our predecessors had experienced. The temptations, coercions and pressures for us to succumb to sin are always aplenty, and if we are not careful, we may easily lose our path and fall into it.

Today the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Boniface, a great missionary and bishop who was crucial in his missionary efforts and works in the land of those who still adhered to pagan beliefs and customs, proclaiming the Lord to all of them and convincing many to embrace the Lord as their Master and Saviour. St. Boniface was born in England to a Christian family and was raised in the faith, eventually joining the monastic life against the wishes of his father. However St. Boniface persisted on and continued with his commitment to God, learning more about the faith and building up his experiences, eventually becoming a Christian monk and priest, and was sent as a missionary in the mainland Europe, specifically in the northern and north-western parts of Germany in the area known as Frisia, which back then was still largely pagan.

St. Boniface carried out his missions and works faithfully amidst the challenges and dangers that he had to face at the time, due to the conflicts between the Christian Frankish kingdoms and the still pagan Kingdom of Frisia. He continued his ministry and gained many conversions from among the pagans, tirelessly spending time and effort to proclaim the Lord’s Good News and His salvation to all those whom he encountered during his missionary works. According to a well-known tale, St. Boniface also performed a great miracle, in standing up against the pagans when he struck down a sacred oak that was worshipped by the pagans then, as a gust of wind miraculously helped St. Boniface to topple the great tree, and the people converted to the Christian faith when they, who had expected St. Boniface to be struck down by lightning, was unharmed, convincing them that the Lord, Whom St. Boniface had been proclaiming about, is indeed the one and only True God.

St. Boniface was also entrusted with the leadership of the newly established hierarchy and structure of the Church in the region of his works, appointed and ordained as a bishop, and he continued to labour hard and tirelessly in proclaiming the Lord. He helped to build up the Church in various places of his ministry from ground up, bringing many to the path of God’s grace and salvation. And in the midst of these efforts, work and ministry, St. Boniface was assailed by a group of robbers during one of his missionary trips in Frisia. He was attacked and killed together with his company, and thus died a martyr’s death. He was also credited with these words, which he uttered before his passing, ‘Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in Scripture not to render evil for evil but to overcome evil by good.’ And that was how he and his companions died a martyr’s death, ever dedicated to live lives that are worthy of God to the very end.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of the life and works of St. Boniface, his commitment to God and his thorough embrace of the missions entrusted to him, and how he had lived worthily as a Christian, and having been reminded of what we must be vigilant against, all of us should strive to do what we can so that our lives may truly be holy and worthy of God, and that everyone who witnesses our works and actions may truly recognise the Lord being present in all of us. Let us all thus continue to glorify the Lord by our lives and may the Lord continue to bless us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours. Amen.