HIS MASTER’S VOICE                                                                                         Matthew 23:1 - 12

Do you remember the long-playing records with the label of a dog in front of a record player listening to his master’s voice? Those were the most popular records on sale, for a number of decades. Now they have become ‘collectors items’. BUT, notwithstanding, the introduction of tapes, floppy discs, CDs, and DVDs and laser recording, that have all replaced the 35rpm records, his Master’s Voice is still the one authentic and reliable voice.

The Master’s Voice is certainly that of Jesus Christ. Science has, so far, not succeeded in tapping the voice of Jesus. His voice is still going round in ripples of sound waves, travelling God knows where. How interesting it would be to hear ‘The Voice’, not Frank Sinatra’s, with all due respect, but that of Jesus Christ.

Christ is our only real Teacher. Unless we listen to His voice speaking within us, no teacher, or preacher will lead us to the truth. There is a secret voice speaking within us, and this spiritual and interior teaching is the real instruction, without which all that human words can say is but a vain echo.

Jesus Christ does not allow us to assume the title of ‘master’. Let no one call himself ‘master’, He says, for there is only one Master, and therefore one Teacher. If we take this word to heart we realize that none but God can really teach us. Neither men nor angels have the power to do so; they can tell us the truth, they can point it out, as it were with their finger, but only God can teach it, only His light can enable us to see, can shed a spotlight to discover the truth.

It is He who gives us a certain sense, called “the sense of Jesus Christ” enabling us to savour, to taste, to understand what is of God. It is He who opens the heart and  whispers inwardly: ‘You are listening to the Truth’. But the inner revelation is the real instruction, teaching or preaching.

The ear receives the sound of Fr.John’s voice, during the Homily, over the radio, but the Teacher is within.  Someone speaks from the pulpit, but the actual instruction is understood, heard within the heart. For there is only one Master … Jesus Christ.

ASK ME ANOTHER

Do you recall that Quiz programme on the BBC ? Years ago ... only, if you are over three score and ten, you might recall it. The Pharisees would have performed brilliantly if that programme had been aired in the days of Jesus. But they never learned, together with the Saducees, that they could never match the answers given Jesus Christ.

In Matthew it looks like a return to the attacks, on the part of the Pharisees, but looking up Mark, and keeping in mind his style, the Scribe did not ask the question to trip Jesus. He asked it in gratitude that Jesus had confuted the Saducees and to give a chance to Jesus to show how well He could answer such tricky, and malicious, questions. And the passage ends with the Scribe and Jesus on very friendly terms.

We could say that Jesus laid down the definition of Religion. On fact Religion consists ‘in loving God’. HE quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which is part of the ‘Shema’, the basic and essential ‘creed’ of Judaism. This is the sentence which every Jewish Service starts with; it is also the text which every Jewish child learns by memory.

It is a sentence which tells us that the love we give to God must be ‘total love’; a love which dominates our emotions; a love which directs our thoughts; and a love which is the dynamic of our actions.

The second sentence comes from Leviticus,19:18 our love for God must be shown, transmitted, issue in love for men. But we have to note the order of priority, firstly comes the love for God, and love for men comes secondly. It is only because God loves us that we become lovable, in return we love God and men. Remember that man is not made up of a cocktail of elements, but man is created in the image of God. That is why man is lovable.

GIVE IT BACK TO CAESAR (29th Sunday)

YES, you have read rightly, that is what Jesus told the Pharisees: “Give the coin back to Caesar, it’s his property.”

A great hush must have come over the crowd at that moment as they saw the coin laying in the hand of our Blessed Lord. Not many days later, He who was the King of the kings would have those very hands pierced by the nails under the orders of the man at whose portrait Jesus was looking.

Our Lord asked them: “Whose is this likeness?” Whose name is inscribed on it?” They answered: “Caesar’s.” Then came His answer: “Why then, give back to Caesar, that which belongs to Caesar, and to God what is God’s.” Our Lord took no sides because the basic question was not God or Caesar, but God and Caesar.

That coin used in their daily marketings showed that they were no longer independent from a political point of view. In that lower sphere of life, the debt to the government should be discharged. He fostered no aspiration for independence; he promised no aid in liberation. It was even their duty to acknowledge the present dominion of Caesar, emperor Tiberius.
The Greek word in the Gospel for “give back” or “render” implied a moral duty, as St.Paul later on wrote: ‘Every soul should be submissive to his lawful authority...”. But in order to remove the objection that service to the government exempted from service to God , He added: “... and to God what is God’s”

Once again He was saying that His Kingdom was not of this world; that submission to Him is not inconsistent with submission to secular powers; that political freedom is not the only freedom. To the Pharisees who hated Caesar came the command: “Give unto Caesar.

The coin had the image of Caesar, BUT, whose image did the questioners ‘bear’? The image of God Himself. It was His image He was interested in restoring. The political could remain as it was for the time being, for He would not lift a finger to change their coinage. But He would give His life to have them render unto God the things that are God’s.

Adapted from Fulton Sheen.

THE ‘WHY AND WHAT’ IN THE GOSPEL OF THE 28^TH SUNDAY

Part 2.

With great certainty we can say that all the Jewish hearers understood Jesus’ figures and symbols; it was part and parcel of their life and culture.

But how does the message arrive to non-Jewish believers, including us? According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church we find that grace is given to all to get to the knowledge of the Truth, irrespective of the colour, race and region. So the first invitation is sent by God.

We are given all possible help through the Church and the Sacraments … and some believe that the dress offered by the king (God) is the soul, the self-same breath of God which we are bound to surrender at the end of our sojourn on earth. We have to return that dress, clean and bright as it was given to us on the moment of conception. SO, we do have to take good care of it.

The feasting usually lasted for one whole week, for seven days. Now seven is the perfect number and for us signifies eternity. But we have to strive hard to join the ‘wedding feast’. If we do not follow Jesus in changing our life to be an example of love, of mercy, of forgiveness and compassion we will be risking our destruction, just as the Jews did with their hard-hardedness … the destruction of Jerusalem, including the Temple.

The door of the king’s palace was open, a welcome to all passers-by, including sinners. Bur once the sinner enters, he is expected to change his life, to change into the wedding dress, in other words to repent, otherwise,  he will be thrown out. Our presence in church, even regularly,  does not automatically qualify us to go to the ‘wedding feast’ to heaven. We have to work our way in.

Finally we have not declared whose feast this is. A marriage is a union of two hearts. This was the marriage feast celebrating the union of the ‘divine nature to the human nature’ That is why it’s called the ‘Lamb’s Supper’. This came about when Mary of Nazareth said: “Be it done unto me according to Your will”, in other words the ‘Annunciation’.

THE ‘WHY AND WHAT’ IN THE GOSPEL OF THE 28^TH SUNDAY

Reading today’s Gospel text, re St.Matthew, 22: 1-14, some curious questions might crop up… and rightly so. The reason is simple; we can’t understand the Gospel Text to the fullest and correctly, if we do not have a background study of the Culture and Customs of the Jews in the life and times of Jesus Christ.

To begin with Jesus had a double message, a local message, for the Jews, so He had to apply the usage, the customs, the common trends to which His hearers were used to.  But He had a universal message for all, including us in the year 2014.

When somebody was going to host a feast, yes, they sent word to all the invited guests informing them that they were invited guests to participate. Unlike our Western Culture, no written invitation was sent, normally three weeks before, stating the day the time or the place. They simply knew that they were invited to the particular feast.

Besides the king, in our case, used to provide the proper dress for each guest to wear for the occasion. On the understanding that the dress had to be returned, to the palace, clean and shipshape. When the day arrived a second message was sent informing all guests that ‘the time has arrived’, the calf was fattened and everything was in order. You simply had to put on your very best and go to the feast.

Those were the days when we find great misery and poverty; a man’s daily pay was on an average three shekels a day, just enough to feed his wife and children. So when invited to a ‘feast’ which lasted a whole week, we can imagine what a relief for at least the coming week.

All the Jews listening to Christ’s parable understood the meaning of His message. But verse 7 in the text was not mentioned by Jesus Himself. I’m referring to the incident when ‘the king sent his soldiers to destroy and burn the house of all those who refused his invitation’. This line was included by St.Matthew himself, but with an aim in mind. He was addressing mainly the Jewish converts to Christianity and his intention was to remind them what had happened in the year 70 AD. He was writing the version of the Gospel between the years 80 and 90 AD.

He wanted to remind his hearers what had happened to those who had not heeded Christ’s words and admonitions. Christ wanted to instill the sense of love, gratitude, mercy and forgiveness. Instead the Jews kept behaving the other way round. They even considered Christ as their enemy. The result was the Passion and Death of Jesus.

The Romans could not put up any longer with the behavior of the Jews and as a result there was the destruction, annihilation of most of the Jews and Jerusalem itself … including the Temple. That is why Matthew included that verse, 7, as reminder of what had happened to their ancestors, years before.

To be Continued