25th
Ordinary Sunday (Year B)
First
Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 Second
Reading: James 3:16-4:3 Gospel
Reading: Mark 9:30-37
“GOD UPHOLDS
OUR LIFE IN MOMENTS OF SUFFERING AND DEATH AND CARRIES US TO ETERNAL
LIFE!”
This
is an amazing true story, about the mother of a 10 day old baby who
one day heard an explosion. The mother ran into the bedroom but the
baby wasn’t there. She was puzzled to see the window open—it was
a very cold night—but before she could make the connection between
the empty crib and the open window, a fire engulfed the bedroom and
the mother rushed out of the house with the other children. The baby
was never found; and the investigators eventually concluded that the
fire consumed the baby. But the mother never believed it.
Six
years later, the mother happened to be attending a birthday party.
There she met a bright-eyed, energetic six-year-old girl who looked
very much like her own children; and she began to feel that this
child might be her daughter. So pretending the little girl had gum in
her hair, she actually pulled a few strands of hair and then
contacted the police. The police lab tested the hair samples and
found that the girl’s DNA matched the mother’s. The little girl
was indeed her daughter. The police investigated and found out that
the little girl was kidnapped six years before, and that the
kidnapper set fire to the bedroom to distract from the abduction.
Now
the point of this bizarre yet true story is simple – Evil and
suffering mysteriously befall the innocent family – all of a
sudden the baby disappears, but the mother never gives up on finding
her child. And despite all kinds of disappointments and
discouragements, she continues to hope. And almost
miraculously she finds her daughter six years later.
In a similar way, God
loves us and never gives up on us – in the midst of evil &
suffering, problems & difficulties, failures and
disappointments, threats & fear to the point of death - when we
are lost to him or wander away from him, he relentlessly pursues us;
and he pursues us until he catches up with us and leads all of us to
our ultimate destiny. So, with great faith & hope in him we
acclaim - “God upholds our life in moments
of suffering and death, and carries us to eternal life!”
Now,
the Word of God just proclaimed in the First Reading of today from
the Book of Wisdom takes us back to the wisdom literature of
ancient Israel, a collection of sayings about how to live and behave.
Here the author speaks about a person, 'the
suffering servant,' who always tries to do what is right
and fair in his relationships with others and how do some so-called
“enemies” or “evildoers”
react? They plan to torture & torment him and want to kill him.
“Let’s see whether God will rescue him,”
they say. This passage may invite us to ask: Why do the wicked
seem to prosper and the good suffer? Or to put it another way,
why do bad things happen to good people?
In
the Second Reading of today from the Letter of St. James, St. James
asks: Why do some people choose evil over good? Why selfish
ambition at the expense of others, why unjustifiable wars, random
violence, thievery of one kind or another, great and small?
Christianity says simply
that people are basically good but that there is something not quite
right with us. People do indeed at times choose evil over good, wrong
over right, falsehood over truth. Christianity calls this human
condition “original sin.”
Original sin quite simply is a lack of a relationship with God, a
fall from grace. That is why human beings in every age cry out for
grace, healing, reconciliation, friendship with God. They can only
find grace, healing, reconciliation, and friendship in Jesus Christ,
the Word made flesh who made his dwelling among us.
In
the Gospel Reading of today according to St. Mark, Jesus predicts for
the second time his own passion, death and resurrection, soon after
the event of his transfiguration on the mountain - “The
Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and
three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” In
this mystery, Jesus reveals to us a life beyond this earthly life; in
his suffering, death and resurrection, Jesus reveals to us eternal
life—our ultimate destiny - “God upholds
our life in moments of suffering and death, and carries us to eternal
life!”
Yes,
the Word of God today brings us face to face with the eternal
question: “Why
suffering, why evil?”
Why do the wicked seem to prosper and the good suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people?
In the biblical Book
of Job, the author posed this very question. But the author never
answered the question. Suffering, evil continues to be a mystery.
The Christian answer to
the question “Why suffering, why evil?”
acknowledges the tensions that are at the very core of human
existence– the tension or pull between the self and other, between
the rational and irrational, between the responsible and
irresponsible within ourselves.
And then there is
“death.” We are born at a
moment in time and eventually will die. Yes, our lives are fragile
and transitory–the Bible repeatedly emphasizes this theme. Added to
these tensions within ourselves is sin.
The Book of Genesis
captures graphically the theme of sin or the fall from grace.
In the beginning, man and woman, so Genesis says, walked with God;
they had friendship with God and one another. But somehow they lost
that friendship. The Book describes very simply yet very powerfully
that fall from grace. Man and woman hid from God; the man blamed the
woman for their misfortune; and even nature worked against them and
their projects.
Yes, there is indeed
something not quite right here. How else do we explain man’s
inhumanity to his fellow human beings: violence, war, disease,
hunger, injustice, death, and so forth.
Christianity
emphatically says that there is no human solution to this human
condition. It goes on to say there is a power beyond us – 'GRACE'
— which can overcome this alienation, heal this brokenness,
reconcile this estrangement, and this power beyond us is not
indifferent to us. Rather this power is indeed a good and
compassionate God who became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and is
alive in our midst by the power of the Holy Spirit. For, from St.
John's Gospel we know that, “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes
in him , will not perish
but will have eternal life.”
So, it is in Jesus that we find the true meaning of
suffering, who through his suffering and death brought salvation to
humankind. There is a necessary link between 'suffering' and 'redmption.' Of course, there is no crown without a cross; no gain
without pain.
Now, the same good and
compassionate God invites us today - you and me, to live
out a life of discipleship with Jesus, which implies total
self-renunciation, carrying of one's daily cross and following him.
So, let us try from now on, to do the best we can in ordinary things -
being ever faithful to Jesus, while patiently bearing and unselfishly
loving one another. Let us call to mind that amazing story of the
mother who never gave up on finding her child. God too never gives up
on us, no matter how far we wander. Let us not forget the Good news
of today: “GOD UPHOLDS OUR LIFE IN MOMENTS
OF SUFFERING AND DEATH AND CARRIES US TO ETERNAL LIFE!”
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