Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are called to remember to trust in God and in all that He has planned for each one of us. We must have trust and faith in Him, because through God alone that there is true hope and way out of our troubles and predicaments. God knew all that we need and all things in our hearts and minds. In how the Lord cared and provided for Abraham, our renowned father in faith, and how He reassured both Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, the Lord showed us that all of us have nothing to fear.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis, the account of how the Lord came to visit Abraham and his wife Sarah in a disguise. The Lord was immediately recognised by Abraham, who welcomed Him into his tent and dwelling place, giving Him the best hospitality that he could provide. The Lord then came and ate of whatever Abraham provided for Him, before telling him the good news that He had come to personally tell Abraham, by saying that what He promised to him when He made and sealed the Covenant, would finally come true at last.

The Lord made a Covenant with Abraham, then named Abram, a middle-aged man who was childless because Sarah, then known as Sarai, was barren and unable to have any children. As such, Abraham was prepared to pass on his inheritance to his servant named Eliezer, as he was without a son. God promised Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, through the means that God would give him, and despite the age of Abraham and his wife Sarah, everything was possible for God.

Abraham did falter for a while in this, as he listened to the advice and pressure from Sarah, for him to take one of her slaves, named Hagar, to bear for himself a son. That led to the conception and birth of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. Although now Abraham technically had a son then, but the Lord again reiterated and emphasised that the son through whom Abraham would pass on his inheritance would be that of his son with Sarah, to be named as Isaac. And even the name Isaac itself has a deep and profound meaning which may not be immediately apparent to us.

The name Isaac means, ‘the one who laughs’ or ‘the one who rejoices’ which can be a reference to the great joy which Abraham and Sarah must have experienced when their long-awaited child was finally born. At the same time it also refers to what happened after today’s first reading passage, when Sarah heard about what the Lord spoke to Abraham, how Sarah would bear a son within a year, and Sarah, in partial disbelief, laughed upon hearing those words, which the Lord knew about and told her when she tried to deny it, that she did laugh.

We can see from the first reading story of Abraham, Sarah, God and the son promised by God to both Abraham and Sarah, that trusting and having faith in God will not lead to disappointment. Instead, when man tried hard to do things their own way, that would lead to complications that they might not have foreseen earlier on, as for example, the birth of Ishmael, the son between Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s slave eventually became friction and trouble for both Hagar and Ishmael when Isaac, the promised son for Abraham and Sarah was born. Ishmael and Hagar had to be cast out and sent to the wilderness, although in the end, God did provide for them and made Ishmael the father of many great nations too, for he was also a descendant of Abraham.

We see in that how God even made what was imperfect and flawed into ideal, still fulfilling His promise to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. Not only that Isaac, his promised son and heir became the father of nations, but even Ishmael too, the son born because Abraham and Sarah were impatient with God’s promise. God still showed His love, care and providence for us all, His beloved ones, no matter what. He blesses those who are faithful to Him, and even those who have fallen off the path, God still patiently tried to reach out to and to be reconciled with them.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the moment when the Lord came to visit the house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, who were all His friends. Mary and Martha welcomed the Lord into their house, and we heard of how while Mary was by the Lord’s side throughout the time, listening to the Lord speaking and teaching to her, Martha was very busy preparing everything for welcoming the Lord, likely busy with the cooking and all the other house chores and works.

And as we heard, Martha became a little irritated that Mary did not help her at all with her work and preparations, and she told the Lord to tell Mary to give her some help. That was when the Lord told Martha that what Mary did was not wrong, as she was truly making good use of the time, and welcoming the Lord not with all the busy preparations and celebrations, but by opening her heart and mind, and by being present there with the Lord, cherishing every single moments of His Presence.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are all called to realise just how often we have ignored the Lord and not cherishing His Presence, His love and grace in our lives, all because we are too busy with too many things and preoccupations that we fail to focus our attention and efforts on the Lord. The Lord has always been present in our midst, but many of us are too preoccupied with our worldly desires and other things to be able to notice His Presence.

What Martha did was not wrong. In fact, Martha busied herself because she wanted to give her best to serve the Lord, to be the best provider of hospitality and care, love and attention to Him. She did all that out of love for God, but her way of doing things made her distracted from her main purpose of serving the Lord. And if that action done out of noble and good intention could end up distracting Martha, then all the more if our worldly pursuits and desires ended up distracting and leading us away from God’s path.

In our second reading today, we heard St. Paul writing to the Colossians, in his Epistle to them, regarding the revelation of God’s truth and love to His people, which He had made available to all of us through His disciples, the Apostles and saints, and through His Church. He did all these so that we may come to know Him more, and therefore, will be able to follow Him with greater commitment and dedication. If we do not know the Lord as much, then how can we become close to Him, and how do we know what we need to do in order to be faithful to Him? That is why as Christians we are called to deepen our relationship with God.

And that is also why through our Scripture readings this Sunday, all of us are called to appreciate more the Lord’s Presence in our lives, just in the way Abraham immediately recognising the Lord’s Presence even when He came to him in disguise. All of us often fail to realise that God is ever present in our midst, watching over us, and caring for us. Many of us are too focused on our troubles and trials, or are too preoccupied with our worldly ambitions and plans, our many attachments and other matters that we overlook the Lord’s ever present love and kindness in our midst. God is and has always been there, but we are often too blinded and distracted to notice Him.

That is why we are all called to be committed in our Christian living and work like Martha, but at the same time not forgetting the presence of God and cherishing His presence in our midst like Mary, and like our father in faith, Abraham, we should recognise the Lord and His loving works and presence among us. Each and every one of us as Christians are called to be true and faithful disciples of the Lord in all things. Let us allow God to lead and guide us in every opportunities so that we may grow ever closer to Him, and continue to glorify Him through our lives, our words, actions and deeds, now and always. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages this Sunday, all of us are reminded of the Law and the commandments that God had put in place and revealed to us. He has taught us His Law and commandments so that through them we may learn how to be true Christians, in all things. Through what we have heard today, we are all reminded to live our lives as genuine Christians should, in devoting and spending our time and effort to act in the manner that the Law of God has shown us, and not merely paying lip service or being outwardly pious and yet, deep inside, we do not have a firm and living faith within us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy, the words of the Lord reminding His people during the time of the Exodus, at that moment when they were still on the journey towards the Promised Land. The Lord told them all through Moses that they all ought to obey the Law and the commandments that He had given them, and they ought to be faithful and to observe what He has revealed and taught to us. At that occasion, the Lord also proclaimed that His Law is not something that is too difficult or impossible to be accomplished, and in a prophetic way, mentioned how the Law has been brought to them, dwelling in their midst, and would later on come even closer to them, through the One Who came down from Heaven.

The Lord back then mentioned to the people that there was no need for anyone to go to Heaven or to reach out to Him, for everything had been provided for them, and the Word of God has dwelled among them. For truly, the Law of God as passed down through Moses is itself a part of the Word of God, which Moses revealed to the people. However, it was not just that, for later on, as we all know that the Word of God has become incarnate in flesh, descending into our midst and dwelling amongst us as one of us, taking up our human nature and appearance, in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.

And it was through Christ our Lord that the Law is revealed to us all in its full meaning and purpose, and He revealed to us what the Law is truly all about, what the commandments of God were meant to do for us. Those commandments were meant to help us to learn more on how to love God and to love one another, to grow ever more worthy and to lead a more righteous and holy life and existence so that we may grow ever closer to God, and we may find our way to do His will and obey His commandments and laws in each and every moments of our lives, not merely paying lip service or being outwardly pious, but truly and genuinely filled with righteousness, virtues and love for God and our fellow men.

That was essentially what the Lord mentioned in what we have as our Gospel passage today, regarding the interaction between Him and one teacher of the Law who asked the Lord about who would gain eternal life and how to gain it. The Lord pointed out exactly to the same Law of God, which the teacher of the Law was surely very familiar with. The teacher summarised the whole Law, in what the Lord Himself also mentioned, that the Law is about loving God with all of our strength, might and capacity, and then loving one another in the same manner, showing that love at all opportunities.

It was also then that the Lord told the teacher of the Law what it means to love and to show that love to one’s fellow brethren. Through the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan, which I am sure we are well aware of, the Lord presented the story of a man from Jericho who was beset with robbers who left him almost dead. Then we heard of the three men who came to the place, beginning with a priest and then a Levite, followed by a Samaritan. Among the Jewish people and society, the first two men occupied a very high and respected place among them, as those were the ones whom God had called to be His priests and servants, sanctified and dedicated to God.

On the other hand, the Samaritans were those who lived in the region of Samaria, the old capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, north of Jerusalem and Judea. That region was occupied by a mixture of peoples, descendants of the Israelite remnants and other foreigners that were brought in to replace those whom the Assyrians had exiled during their conquest of Israel and Samaria. Those people had their own customs and traditions, different from the descendants of the Israelites in Judea. As such, the Jewish people and society tended to have a very negative and even hostile opinion on the Samaritans, whom they saw as heretics and pagans.

Hence, it would be indeed most impactful hearing how those two respected men, the priest and the Levite just passed the injured man by and leaving him behind, while the often reviled and hated Samaritan was the one who stopped by and helped the injured man. Not only that the Good Samaritan helped the man, but he even provided for the injured man everything he needed to recover fully, and promised the innkeeper to return and to provide more for the injured man should he have the need for it. The Good Samaritan went the extra mile not only for someone he did not know, but presumably for one belonging to the people who had always hated and despised him and his people, the Samaritans all those while.

And that, brothers and sisters in Christ, is what the Lord told the teacher of the Law and all of us about what true Christian love and obedience to the Law is all about. One cannot be true Christians if he or she had not placed himself or herself after the Lord and that of his or her other fellow brothers and sisters. In this world today, there are plenty of unfaithfulness and wickedness because mankind put themselves before God and others, putting their own selfishness, ego and pride, their desires and greed ahead of the love they ought to have for God and for their fellow brethren. That is how we have caused so much wickedness in this world to happen.

When they begin to seek to advance their own glory and achievements, that would be when man begin to persecute and inflict suffering on others, or that like the priest and the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, they ignore the plight and suffering of others. And some even feed on and grow fat and happy on the exploitation of the poor and the marginalised, those who are unable to defend themselves, those who are vulnerable and weak, and all those who have no means to protest against the exploitations done on them. As Christians, all of us are called to heed on the good examples of the Good Samaritan, and not only that but also that of the Lord Himself.

For the Lord Jesus Himself acted in the same manner as the Good Samaritan. Although each and every one of us have often been disobedient to Him, treated Him badly and with disdain, being sinful and wicked in our actions and lives, and in how we treated Him when He came into our midst bearing His love and truth. Despite all of that, Christ still loved each and every one of us, as our loving Father and Creator, God has shown His love through His Son, His compassion, mercy and patient kindness, which He extended to us by His loving sacrifice on the Cross. He willingly took up the burden of His Cross, battered, rejected, humiliated, tortured and broken for our sake, out of love for us.

He showed us His most generous and selfless love, shedding His own Precious Blood and dying for us, because He loves us all and took the extra mile to reach out to us, just as the Good Samaritan in His story had done. The Lord showed that He did not just speak of love, but He showed it through direct action and dedication, by presenting that love to us in the best way possible. He showed us that His love transcends everything, even our sins and all of our disobedience and evils. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, and God as the Head of the Church according to St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians in our second reading today, He is showing us in concrete ways how we all ought to obey the Lord and His Law and commandments.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek to follow the Lord ever more faithfully in our lives, from now on. Let us all do our best to walk in the path that the Lord has shown us, putting Him above all else and loving Him with all of our might, and doing the same to our fellow brethren as well. Just as the Lord has loved us so greatly all these while, let us devote ourselves to Him in love as well, and learn to fill ourselves up with the same love in how we interact with with one another. Let us all strive to be holy just as the Lord is holy, to be loving just as He is filled with love, and to do our best to glorify God by our lives. May He continue to guide us and empower us all to be true and devout Christians, following the examples of the Lord in the way the Good Samaritan acted towards his suffering fellow brother. Amen.