Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday through the Scripture readings which we have just heard, all of us are reminded that as God’s beloved and holy people, each and every one of us are partakers of His Covenant and members of His One Church, the one united Body of Christ. Therefore, as we are all parts of this same Church of God, all of us are reminded that all of us should always put our trust and faith in the Lord, and know that it is in Him alone that we can gain true joy and happiness in life, both in this one and the one that is to come. We must also be careful lest we are swayed and tempted to seek for other things and desires which are not in accordance to God’s path, and which may end up leading us into damnation instead of eternal life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord reassured His people through Isaiah, of the coming of the days of true joy and happiness with Him, reminding all of them of the love and all the kindness that He has shown to them and their ancestors in the days past, even as they themselves then were suffering and facing humiliation and indignation due to their own sins and wickedness. Contextually, we have to understand that the prophet Isaiah was delivering the words of the Lord to a people that had been beset by many troubles, difficulties and challenges, as they were faced with many enemies and all those who oppressed them, which also happened because they had abandoned their Lord and God, and chose to follow the worship of the pagan and false gods, over the worship of God.

That was why the Israelites had been divided, fell into hard times and challenges, and by the time of the prophet Isaiah’s ministry, the northern half of the kingdom and the people had been crushed and destroyed by the Assyrians, who have come and conquered the northern kingdom, destroyed and razed its capital of Samaria, and brought off many of the people of God living in that place far away into exile in the lands of Assyria and Mesopotamia, while putting foreigners and other people to dwell in the lands once occupied and dwelled by the Israelites. The southern kingdom of Judah itself had not been spared, and had also faced similar challenges, being subjected to the might of the Assyrians, who almost conquered and destroyed Jerusalem and Judah when King Sennacherib of Assyria came with a mighty army to conquer them. It was only by God’s timely intervention and humiliation of Sennacherib that the people of God were saved.

Thus, the people of God in Judah had received a preview and a foretaste of what God’s salvation will be like, as they are all reminded of just how faithful God has always ever been to His Covenant and promises. After all, the people of Israel are all God’s beloved people and children, and He has made His Covenant with them and their ancestors, renewing them again and again, despite of the people’s lack of faith and frequent rebellions and disobedience against their Lord and Master. God still loved all of them despite of their many transgressions and stubborn attitudes, giving them many opportunities, time and again so that they might find their way back towards Him, opening the way towards His salvation and grace. He has always ever been so generous with His love, mercy and kindness, as He has always done from the very beginning. He could have easily destroyed and wiped us out by the power of His will alone, but instead, He chose to care for us, to heal us from our sins and troubles. We are shown just how beloved we are all to God, from the beginning, now and forevermore.

In our Gospel passage today, we are all reminded that we have all been invited to a life full of joy and happiness, as the Lord Himself has prepared a celebration and banquet for us. He has generously done all these for us, so that by His grace all of us may indeed enjoy forever the fullness of His love and generosity. However, as we heard in that Gospel passage today, many of us often rejected and refused to embrace God’s ever generous offer of love and kindness, as we were often swayed and tempted, distracted and confused because of our many temptations, desires and coercions of this world. In that parable of the wedding banquet, the people and guests whom the king had invited to the banquet, all of them refused to come to the celebration, and they were all busy with their own businesses and preoccupations, and there were even those who killed the ones sent to remind them.

This is a reminder for us that we can be like those who have rejected God’s love and grace, like those wayward guests whom the king had invited to his banquet and yet they all allowed their many distractions and the temptations all around them to get their priorities all wrong. As we heard, they were all punished and destroyed, and they had no part in the king’s banquet and inheritance. Thus, if we also do the same with our own lives, in not heeding God’s words and His call, in rejecting His love and kindness, mercy and compassion, then we will also be rejected in the same manner as well. We are all called to embrace God’s call, His love and mercy, His reminders that we should no longer be ignorant of His love and mercy, and we should not reject His compassion and generous offer of forgiveness. We should answer God’s call with faith and commitment.

And then, we also heard in the end of the same parable in our Gospel today, about how the king invited others who were called to fill up the seats and places vacated by those who have refused to come to the banquet. We heard of how a man, one of the guests, turned up without a wedding garment or a garment suitable for the celebration. As was the custom of that time, and as is also common elsewhere in our world, one ought to turn up in one’s best possible garments, and even the poor people often had their best reserved for the important celebrations in their lives and communities. Therefore, the point that the Lord wanted to make in making that part of the parable is that, in order for us to follow the Lord and to come into His banquet, celebration and into His Holy Presence, all of us need to take up that new garment of faith, and cast off the old garment of wickedness of sin. This is the hidden symbolism that we may often miss out as we read through this parable.

That means all of us must turn away from the temptations of the world, all the things, desires, attachments, all of which had kept us from truly being able to follow the Lord. This had been implied in the earlier part of the same parable, when the earlier invited guests of the king refused to heed the king’s call and invitation because they were all busy and preoccupied with their works and with whatever it is that busied them in their respective lives, their various concerns and attachments. This is why, in the same manner, unless we learn to restrain ourselves, our desires and various attachments, and also unless we strive to resist the temptations to disobey God and sin, it will likely be very difficult for us to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully as we should have done. In our second reading today, St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians reminded the faithful there of the need for all of them, and hence, all of us to trust in the Lord fully, and to heed these words of St. Paul himself, ‘I can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.’

Those words remind us all that the Lord and His Presence in our lives will strengthen us and give us the necessary ability, courage and power to do our part in living a most worthy and virtuous life, in becoming good, faithful and committed Christians, as God’s beloved children and people at all times and in all opportunities. We must always keep in mind that we are all, and we should indeed be good role models and inspirations for our fellow brothers and sisters, all around us. We should embrace God’s path, His ways and teachings wholeheartedly, and do whatever we can so that we truly wear the worthy garments of our faith, as we come to the Lord, to be part of His heavenly banquet, to enter into the glorious kingdom that He has prepared for each and every one of us. May the Lord continue to bless and guide us all, and may He continue to lead us down the path of righteousness and virtue towards Him, free from wickedness, sin, desire and evil, now and always. Amen.

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of our duties and responsibilities, our calling and our missions as God’s beloved people, as those whom He has chosen and called, to be His disciples, followers and trusted stewards, in caring for everything that He has entrusted to us. Each and every one of us, in our various areas of responsibility and walk of life, we have been entrusted with various gifts, talents, abilities, opportunities and all other things that help us to reach out to others all around us, be exemplary and missionary in how we live our lives so that we may indeed spread and proclaim the Good News of God, His truth and love through our everyday actions and examples.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the words of the Lord, Who was speaking to His people through Isaiah, lamenting and showing His frustrations at them, because of their many sins, wickedness, disobedience and failure to obey His Law and commandments, and for their persistent and continued rebellion against Him and His love and kindness. Back then, by the time of the ministry of the prophet Isaiah, the people of Israel, in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah had spent a long time disobeying God and refusing to listen to His words, persecuting the prophets and messengers that He had sent to them to remind and help them to return to the right path.

This led to the destruction and downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel, and the exile of many of its people to distant lands by the Assyrians who destroyed their cities and brought an end to their existence and life in the land of northern Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah also faced a lot of hardships and trials, as they were beaten and oppressed by their own neighbours and the same Assyrians who had crushed their northern brethren. The Lord had done everything to keep His people being faithful and committed to Him, revealing His plans and prophecies sent to them through His prophets and messengers, but those who were stubborn and persistent in doing things in their own way rejected those who have been sent to help them, and persecuted the Lord’s servants and messengers.

The Lord spoke about this to His people through veiled words, using the comparison of His people with a vineyard that He, as the Master of the vineyard had tender and cared for. Despite everything which the Lord had done for the sake of His people, they still disobeyed Him and refused to listen to Him, as they chose to disregard His words and ways. This was likened to how the vineyard had yielded poor crops and results despite everything that the Lord had done to tend to His vineyard, that is His chosen and beloved people. And thus, the prophet Isaiah brought up a warning and premonition of what was to come, a warning of the destruction of the nation of Judah, its cities, Jerusalem and others, just as what have befallen the Israelites in the northern kingdom.

This is similar in spirit to what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, in which the Lord Jesus used the parable of the evil tenants in order to teach and reveal the truth to His disciples and followers, reminding them all of what each and every one of them had to do, and to be careful lest they ended up like those evil and wicked tenants who had disobeyed their master. In that parable, the Lord told the story of how several evil and wicked tenants abused their stewardship of their plots of land which had been entrusted to them and leased to them by the landowner. They refused to pay their dues to the landowner, despite repeated reminders from those that the landowner sent to those wicked tenants. Instead, they chose to persecute the messengers and servants that had been sent to them to remind them.

This was an allusion to how in the past, as mentioned earlier, the people of Israel were persecuting the prophets, God’s messengers and servants that had been sent to them to help and guide them down the right path. They had hardened their hearts and minds, refusing to listen to God or obey His Law and ways, and having chosen to indulge in their corrupt and wicked behaviours and attitudes, allowing themselves to be swayed by worldly riches, temptations and seduction. That was just how those evil tenants acted in the Lord’s parable, as they greedily wanted to get the lands they leased for their own selfish benefits, without paying their dues and fulfilling their obligations. They allowed themselves to be seduced and tempted by worldly glory and desires, that they ended up losing their way in the path of sin.

And we also heard how in that parable the master and landowner sent his son to parley and negotiate with those evil tenants, only for them to greedily and wickedly slaughter that landowner’s son, so that they could seize the lands for themselves. This was in fact the Lord showing a premonition, allusion and revelation of what He Himself would suffer and endure at the hands of those who refused to believe in Him and rejected Him. The Lord Jesus Himself as the Son of God was represented by the landowner’s son, sent into this world into our midst, with God representing the landowner, and all of us as the tenants tending the Lord’s vineyard and land, that is this world. And He was also persecuted and rejected, and put to death because of the wickedness and sins of mankind, our own sins.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard what the Scripture passages had told us this Sunday, all of us must realise that as God’s beloved people, the ones whom He had created out of pure love, to dwell in this world, all of us have been entrusted in various different ways to be the stewards of this world, of God’s wonderful creation. We must not misuse, neglect and abuse all that had been entrusted to us, in the natural world and the environment just as Pope Francis in his very recent Apostolic Exhortation ‘Laudate Deum’ had reminded all of us, in how we have driven our natural environment to destruction. And then, we must also be responsible as well in our treatment of one another and way of living our lives, in how we interact with our fellow brothers and sisters all around us, with our family members, parents and children, relatives and friends, and even with strangers and acquaintances whom we meet and encounter in each and every moments of our lives.

All of us should do what St. Paul told the Church of God and the faithful in the city of Philippi just as we heard in our second reading today, as he told them all to be truly obedient and faithful to God, in all of their way of life and actions, with the words like ‘Fill your minds with whatever is truthful, holy, just, pure, lovely and noble. Be mindful of whatever deserves praise and admiration.’ as reminders that we, like those evil and wicked tenants, and like the people of Israel in the ages past, could be easily swayed by the temptations of the world, the many things that the devil and those desiring our downfall have tried to seduce us with. Each and every one of us should always strive to keep ourselves obedient to the Lord and filled with His virtues and love at all times, as best as we can.

Now, as we continue to live our lives in each and every moments henceforth, can we all strive to follow the Lord ever more wholeheartedly in all things? Can we dedicate ourselves, our time and efforts, in all that we say and do, so that we may truly indeed be good and worthy stewards of the Lord’s creation, in our responsible behaviour and actions towards our natural environment, in how we act and interact towards each other, so that we may truly be exemplary and inspirational in our actions, words and deeds, as the shining beacons of God’s Light and truth, bringing hope and enlightenment upon this darkened world, corrupted and misled by sin and evil. Let us all, as Christians, be truly committed to God, and do what God has taught and shown us all to do.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower and strengthen each and every one of us, so that in all the things that we say and do, we will always be full of faith and dedication to God, and be always full of virtues and grace. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, in all of our actions, words and deeds, now and always. Amen.