Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that each and every one of us should not be divided against each other, be in strife against our fellow brothers and sisters because of our pride and ego, which can prevent us from truly working with each other in the manner that God has wanted us to do. Each and every one of us as Christians need to put our faith and trust in the Lord at all times, and remind ourselves to be ever willing to listen to the words of those whom God may have sent into our path to remind and strengthen us in faith. We must always be humble in all things and we should not allow ego and pride to prevent us from listening to the Lord speaking to us especially through those who are around us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Joel, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people, the people of Israel and their descendants in the land of Judah and beyond. According to Scriptural evidence and other historical perspectives, the prophet Joel had been sent to the people of Judah and the descendants of the Israelites either before the years of their exile in Babylon, or a century or so afterwards. Regardless of the exact timing of the prophet Joel’s ministry, what is truly important is that through the prophet Joel, the Lord reminded His people of the need for them to turn once again towards Him with faith and to repent from their many sins, and also His reassurances to them that He would always be with them, and He would bless them again generously as He had always done.

Through what we have heard from the Book of the prophet Joel today, we heard the moment when Israel was restored once again to grace, after they had faced all the humiliations of their years in exile and in dishonour, losing their own homeland and having their cities and the Temple that King Solomon had once built for the Lord. A new Temple was indeed established and rebuilt, and everything were restored once again to good order just as before. The Lord had promised His people that He would always be with them even through their hardest and darkest moments, and He did just that, fulfilling everything that He had promised to them. And it is in all of these that we should continue to trust in the Lord and to put our faith and hope in Him, even through our most difficult and challenging moments in life.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the accusation that some among the people, made against Jesus, which according to historical evidence and Scriptural context, likely originated from among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, many of whom often followed the Lord and made critical comments against Him throughout those works and ministries. And in this particular occasion, the Lord was accused by those people of having colluded with the prince of demons named Beelzebul in His performance of exorcism among the people that brought those who had been possessed by evil spirits. The Lord showed His power and authority, casting out all those evil and wicked spirits, truly the clear sign that He was indeed the promised Messiah or Saviour from God.

However, the religious and intellectual elites of the community of the people of God, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law among them had a rather rigid and elitist attitudes pertaining to this matter, and they often disagreed and even quarrelled with the Lord, debating with Him on His different way of practicing the faith, and in their disagreements, this often led to the rather bitter debates between them and the Lord, and culminating in this kind of very unkind accusation that they had made against the Lord, alleging falsely before the others that the Lord had colluded with the prince of demons in doing His miracles and signs, whereas the evidences clearly pointed out that the Lord had done it by His own power, the power of God Himself manifested in His Incarnate Son, and which the prophets themselves had spoken about.

The irony is such that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were the ones who should be more knowledgeable about the Lord’s coming, of the miracles and signs that He would be performing before the people. Yet, it was their own pride and ego that became their own undoing, as their ego made them to harden their hearts and minds against the Lord, Who had always patiently tried to reach out to them, to dialogue with them and to reveal to them the same truth that He has delivered to His people. They thought that they were superior to others around them, better and more worthy of God’s grace and salvation, even to the point of looking down on and despising those whom they deemed to be sinners and unworthy of God, like the tax collectors and prostitutes.

And before we are quick to point the fingers to blame the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for being such stubborn and troublesome obstacles in the Lord’s works and ministry, let us all examine our own attitudes and way of life ourselves first, and let us all see if our own words, actions and deeds have also been just like those Pharisees and any others who have hardened their hearts and minds against the Lord. Have we allowed our pride and ego, our hubris and sense of self-importance to close the doors of our hearts and minds against God, and against all those through whom God is trying to speak to us and reach out to us? This is something that we ought to carefully reflect and consider so that we do not end up doing actions that cause harm to the unity of the Church and also to the salvation of souls.

Throughout history, there had been lots of instances where people ended up losing their faith in God and leaving the Church altogether because of the unbecoming and irresponsible attitudes and actions of those within the Church. And this happened even to those who are closest to us, those whom we thought would have kept us strong in the faith, and yet, because of pride and ego, disagreements and stubbornness, we ended up causing rifts and divisions to exist within the Church and among the faithful people of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all do our best to overcome our differences and learn to work together, being ever reminded that none of us are perfect or more worthy than others. May the Lord continue to guide each and every one of us in our mission so that we may continue to journey faithfully and courageously towards Him in each and every moments in our lives. Amen.