Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Sacred Scripture telling us about the opposition that Jesus had encountered in His mission as among the people of God He was sent to, many refused to believe in Him, and some even tried openly and actively to disturb and destroy His works, to the point of constantly harassing Him and opposing Him at every corner of His way.

And we heard how Jesus lamented about the behaviour of the people, represented by Jerusalem, the Holy City, where so many of the prophets and messengers of God were sent to, and yet, again and again, the people there showed their adamance and stubbornness in refusing to listen to the word of God, and in their disobedience against the will of God made clear and revealed to them through these prophets.

And Jesus was in fact speaking and prophesying about His own upcoming suffering, agony and death at the hands of the same people who rejected Him, cursed Him, tortured Him and cast Him out to be crucified along with criminals, intending to harm Him and destroy Him, not knowing and realising what Jesus’ true intention for them was.

In fact, what Jesus wanted was the salvation of the very same people that had rejected Him and despised Him, and He wanted nothing else but the repentance of these people from their sins, and so that they would turn back towards Him, and embrace Him once more as their Lord and their God. Yet, for this, He encountered so much difficulty and resistance, and He even had to suffer grievously.

And yet, the suffering He bore was in fact ours, and the blows He bore, are the blows intended for us, the punishment for our sins. It should have been ours to suffer grievous sufferings, pain and torment for our trespasses and disobedience, for the price of sin is death. But God who loves us all, despite His hatred for our sins and wickedness, continues to love all of us as individuals, as the beloved ones of His creations.

This is why St. Paul in his Apostolic letter today spoke about how we cannot be separated from the love of God, that is great and everlasting, unless we ourselves choose to be separated from Him, that is by our constant and continued disobedience, just as those shown by the Israelites, including the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, most of whom constantly and persistently opposed Jesus.

They thought that they did what was right, and they thought that they were being pious and faithful in opposing this Man who seemed to be bent on destroying the Law and the teachings of the prophets. But they misunderstood Him completely, as they failed to understand that Jesus came to complete and perfect the Law, and He came to dismantle all the lies and untruths that lie around the implementation of the laws at the time of Jesus.

For instead of following what God intended from them, they instead followed their own whims and desires. They corrupted God’s Law with their own human laws and observances, which while these might not be necessarily bad, but their implementation of these laws made them to be bad stewards of God’s laws and people.

But God’s love transcended all these, and despite knowing that going up to Jerusalem would mean His suffering and certain death, just as the prophets did, He also went up there to show God’s love to all, and His desire that all of His people can be awakened from their slumber in the darkness. He wants us all to be redeemed from all the sins and wickedness that we have committed in our lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our own lives. Shall we all commit ourselves to a life that is filled with righteousness, justice and upright attitude? Shall we renew our faith in God, and no longer be so self-centred in ourselves, but rather open ourselves to listen to the Lord and to walk with God in His ways, that in the end of days, we may be found righteous and glorious in the sight of God.

May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us all our sins, and bring us all to everlasting life. May He help us to understand how great is the love and care that He has for all of us. Amen.