Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all presented with the words of the Scriptures, in which each and every one of us are called and reminded to keep our faith in the Lord, to trust in Him and to do what He has taught and commanded us to do. Today, we are all reminded that we should always be filled with God’s grace and wisdom at all times, so that we may truly be worthy of God, full of righteousness and grace, and not merely be formal Christians and disciples of the Lord, and yet having no true and genuine faith in us. This is not what we should be doing, brothers and sisters, as all of us should always be truly full of faith and love for the Lord, and be genuine in our commitment in following Him.

In our first reading today we heard of the famous encounter between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon of Israel, when the former came to Jerusalem, to the land of Israel from her distant kingdom. Sheba is often associated with the region now known as Ethiopia, as a region and kingdom rich in gold, spices and other worldly goods, and the great riches of her kingdom was what the Queen of Sheba brought to Jerusalem with her, as she went on a journey to seek audience with Solomon, the famous King of Israel, full of Wisdom and grace of God, whose wisdom and power, glory and fame were without compare at that time. All of these were given to Solomon by God because of the great faith and righteousness of his father David, as well as because Solomon’s own faith and humility, as he asked the Lord for the wisdom to rule and reign wisely over the people of God.

We heard how God truly blessed King Solomon as he showed the Queen of Sheba the great wealth and glory that God had granted him, in his palaces and his residences, his many attendants and all the food and things he possessed, as well as the great Temple that he had built for the Lord. As long as God’s blessings endured, Solomon would indeed be glorious and mighty in his reign, but, as has always been common for all those people with great riches and power throughout history, they became tempted and overcome by the glory of the world, and came to forget the need for all of them to be truly faithful and committed to God. As what eventually would happen to King Solomon himself, he would be swayed by all those glory and riches of the world, and ended up disobeying and sinning against God.

Then, in the Gospel passage we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark in which the Lord continued with His discourse and teaching against the hypocrisy and the mistaken way of belief as propagated by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in how they all obeyed the Law and the commandments of God. The context was that the Lord and His disciples were confronted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who criticised them all for the disciples’ lack of observance and adherence to the customs, practices and rituals involved in the Law of God, as they did not wash their hands in the way prescribed by the Law, particularly in the manner that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves had prescribed.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had a very strict interpretation of the Law of God, following them in the manner that was literal and also ritualistic, putting a lot of attention and emphasis on the details of the Law, in how the laws and customs of the people of God were to be carried out to the smallest details. They were particularly concerned about the external appearances of the Law, the rituals and practices, which they enforced heavily on everyone else. Those who did not observe the Law in the manner that they had prescribed were looked down upon, ostracised and even persecuted against, just as what they had done against the Lord Jesus and His disciples, because they deemed themselves to be more worthy and better than others around them.

For example, with regards to the custom of the washing of hands before meals, to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, according to their traditions and practices, they would wash the hands all the way through the whole arm up to the elbows, and making sure that this is done meticulously and clearly. There was indeed merit in doing such a practice as hygiene was indeed important at a time when healthcare was not as good and comprehensive as today, and it was indeed good and recommended practice that the people ought to wash their hands before they eat their meals. However, the excessive emphasis and focus placed on the rituals of washing and the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were the problems involved as their overly zealous and misguided obedience to the Law ended up becoming source of major distraction to them being able to truly follow the Law of God wholeheartedly.

Then, it was also the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often paraded their faith and actions made before everyone else especially in the public places, which led to them having diverged from the path which the Lord had entrusted to them. They ended up doing the practices and customs of the Law not for the glory of God or to help guide others to the Lord as they had been expected to do, but rather for their own fame and glory, for their vanity and pride, to satisfy their ego and their desire for human praise and for power, for influence among the community of the people of God, among other things that they had desired to have. This led them to oppose the good works of the Lord and His disciples, and hence leading to them being rebuked and criticised by the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today therefore we are all reminded that we should not allow the temptations and the glory of this world to distract us from the path which the Lord has shown and led us into. We should not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by these worldly attachments which had led so many people into their downfall all these while. We should strive to deepen our relationship with God and to grow ever stronger in our faith and love for Him. This is why we should always remind ourselves of everything which the Lord had done for us in His love and kindness, of all the things and wonders that He had blessed us with, so that through His Wisdom, He may continue to guide us to walk faithfully in the path of truth and righteousness, and not be swayed to go into the wrong path of sin and evil.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to strengthen our faith in Him, and help us so that we may grow ever stronger in our love for Him, in each and every moments of our lives. May God bless us always, in our every good efforts and endeavours, in all of our good works and contributions, all for His greater glory, and for the good of all the people of God, now and always, forevermore. Amen.