26th Week, Tuesday, Oct 3
Zechariah 8:20-23 / Luke 9:51-56
A Brahmin priest told a Christian missionary, "If you Christians were like your book, you'd conquer India in five years." The Brahmin's point was that if Christians lived what the Bible teaches, they would convert India overnight. Failing to bear witness to God's truth in the Bible was also a problem in Old Testament times. Many Jews failed to mirror God to the nations. The Brahmin's remark and today's reading makes all of us bow our heads to ask God's forgiveness for failing to show forth his message to the world.
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How do we fail to show forth the message of Jesus to others? “Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck leads the flock to fly and follow.” Chinese Proverb
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If God lives in the community of his faithful, this community is by itself missionary, for it reveals the face of God; by its witnessing, it attracts others.
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One of the popular pilgrimages that is available is a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For some Christians, it is their hope to go to the Holy Land at least once in their lifetime, so as to visit the land that Jesus Christ, the God who became man, set foot on, and to experience the history and mystery of the land that God had blessed and given to Abraham and his descendants.
Certainly, if we go to the Holy Land and when we can resist spending our time and energy taking too many photos and buying too many souvenirs, then we would be able to have a spiritual experience.
As the 1st reading puts it, many peoples and great nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord. It continues by saying that ten men from every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and say, "We want to go with you (to Jerusalem) since we have learnt that God is with you."
Yes, Jerusalem is a city blessed by God and to go there for a pilgrimage is to entreat the favour of the Lord and invoke His blessings.
But what Jerusalem is in the Old Testament, the Church is in the New Testament. The Church is also the place to seek the Lord of hosts and to entreat the favour of the Lord and to seek His blessings.
If the 1st reading says that ten men from every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and want to follow him to Jerusalem, then has anyone ever asked us to bring them to church because they want to seek Jesus and ask for His blessings?
But if no one ever asked us, could it be because we never shared with them about why we go to Church and what we do there and how we have experienced God's blessings?
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The prophet Elijah did not find God in the storm wind or the earthquake or the fire, but in the gentle breeze. The “sons of thunder,” James and John, wanted fire to come down on the Samaritan village that did not receive Jesus, but Jesus reprimanded them. Violence is not God’s way.
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Luke divides his gospel into four parts. The infancy narratives - the Galilean ministry - the journey to Jerusalem - from his passion to the ascension. Today we start the third part. Three statements give us the character of this journey. As the days of his ascension were being fulfilled, he set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. He sent messengers already. He counted the days from his ascension. It was D-day to look forward to. "The days are being fulfilled," says God, who has a plan for every day. He did what God planned. The ascension is his final goal: "Going home to the Father", is how he looks at his work and his life. He accepts every day. He set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. Knowing all that is going to happen, he willingly, consciously marches ahead. On the way, he will still teach and do good. This, his last journey, is well organized. Every day, he sends messengers before him. They have to announce his coming and make all the preparations. They are his "brothers". They are messengers, that is: angels of his providence. They have to be tolerant. The Samaritans are hostile. They avoid them. That is the best they can do.
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Let us be like those messengers in the gospel that Jesus sent. The Church is also the dwelling place of God and a place to entreat the favour of the Lord. But we have to tell others about it and bring them to Church for them to experience the blessings of the Lord.
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Opening Prayer
Lord our God, the early Christian community was praised by Jews and pagans alike and led many to the faith by their example. Like them, may we be united heart and soul, as a community of faith, prayer, service, and of sharing with one another. May people discover that the Spirit of Jesus Christ is alive in us, so that they may praise your name now and forever. Amen
