IT IS THE HEART THAT COUNTS … NOT THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Re next Sunday’s Gospel Text, I would like to concentrate on the answer given by Peter, on behalf of all the Apostles, to the question put to them by Christ. The question was: “Who do you say I am?”

As we read Peter answered: “You are the Messiah of God.” Yes, Christ accepted that answer, for He did not deny it, but note, He forbade them to spread that fresh news; the fact that He was the ‘Messiah of God’. But why? That is a billion dollar question.

Yes, Peter was perfectly correct in that answer, BUT, what he, and the rest of the Apostles, actually meant by Messiah, did not tally, agree with God’s plan. God’s idea of a promised Messiah was not the same type of messiah Peter and friends, and the Jewish people, had in mind. Peter and friends, are marking time, according to their Master, the time will soon be ripe, the messiah will soon be here … and that was excellent news, for them and all the Jewish Nation.

Very soon they will be taking up arms; swords, clubs, torches or whatever comes to their hands to sweep clean Israel from the hated foreigners, from the Romans, irrespective of the blood that will be shed. The Jews will be the victors. Their dream will soon come true, led by their conquering messiah. ‘How we wish our fathers and grandfathers were still living to share in this glory at long last.’ I suppose this was the common, the general thought going through their heads.

BUT, this is not the promised Messiah as planned from all eternity by God for the salvation of all Israel and all humanity. How correct Jesus was to forbid them to say anything to others about His identity. They had to wait for those terrible days when the ‘Greatest Tragedy’ in the History of humanity, took place, and the subsequent Resurrection of the true Messiah from the death. It is only then, that they will see the light, Peter will understand the meaning of his answer: “You are the Messiah of God.” It is only then, that they will be given, rather feel, that they can spread the word around, round the four corners of the world.

This is done later on in the Gospel, Christ showed His true Mission: “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and be put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life.”

God reveals His greatness and His love by sending His only Son to suffer and die, yet He respects the freedom of people, whilst not hindering them when they make mistakes, but making use of their own sin to construct His story of salvation. Believing in Him does not mean to declare one’s own commitment to a set of truth learned from the catechism, but to follow Him, share his fate: “If you wish to be a follower of Mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow Me.”

The disciples, we, who intend to follow in His footsteps cannot expect applause, consents, approval of people, but must be prepared to face opposition and the cross.

REPAIRING BRIDGES

When we sin, against God, or our neighbours, we offend God. But is sinning, like inflicting a wound n our body and God tries to heal it? Does He feel sorry for having called His name in vain? Or is it simply because we have broken one of His commandments? Have we ever thought of the concept, of the idea, that when we offend God we will be in fact refusing His love, His mercy, His trust, consequently we will be breaking the ‘bridge’, the ‘hot line’ that links us to God. IT IS THE INABILITY TO RESPOND TO THE FATHER’S LOVE.

When sinning I will be telling God: “I know my way, I don’t need Your help, I can do it on my own, I know you are my Father, but from now onwards I don’t need Your love and guidance.” The ‘bridge’ has collapsed’

For any parent, such words are a stab, not in the back, like Brutus’, but right through the heart. No parent can ever imagine such words to be uttered by his son or daughter. It is unnatural, it is inhuman. But God, though He does not possess a human heart, like ours, His regard, interest for us, His love towards us, His children, are ‘perfect’, they are more refined and more sensitive than those of our natural parents.

When we ask Him to forgive us, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or in our prayers, we will be actually asking Him to show us, to teach us how to reciprocate His love. And God’s reaction will be an abundance of graces to show His gratitude and love. That is just how Christ reacted in next Sunday’s Gospel Text.
The woman in question was not invited for Simon’s feast for a very simple reason. The Pharisees, the Scribes and teachers always made a short-listing of their invited guests. They never included sinners or people of loose morals; shepherds, the poor, the widows and the sick … these were not favoured by God (according to them). So this woman was an intruder who everybody knew. Why, or how everybody knew her, is a different matter.

But she did go in, and she had one aim in mind. After a brief cursory look at all the invited guests, her eyes settled on the person she was looking for, Jesus of Nazareth. She lost no time in approaching Him, holding an alabaster jar. She loosened her hair, which was against the Jewish culture to do. Only inside their home, in front of her husband, she could loosen her hair.

She knelt in front of Him, weeping, washed his feet with her tears, of sorrow … and happiness, and wiped them with her own hair, kissed them and poured the perfume on them (vv. 36-39). One can imagine what passed through the heads of the ‘special guests’. They even dared saying that Jesus can’t be a prophet, otherwise he would have known what kind of a woman was touching and kissing His feet.

Why does she behave this way? The simplest explanation would seem to be this: the woman has committed many sins, but one day she was seized with remorse, repented and went to ask forgiveness from Jesus. She began to love ‘much’ and, with this love, has managed to have her sins forgiven.

Why did she go to Jesus? To express her gratitude. Since she met him everything about her has changed. His words have worked in her the miracle. How to express the joy she feels? With gestures that her affection, heart, feminine sensitivity suggest: the perfume, the kisses, loosened hair, the tears. Gestures that rattled and scandalized those present.

“DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL ….

… I have only slipped away into the next room. I am, I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that, still we are.” Death prayer, attributed to St. Augustine.

We read words of great truth and depth in the Book of Wisdom: “Honorable age does not depend on length of days, nor is the number of years true measure of life. The upright was pleasing to God, who loved him, and since he was living among sinners, he was taken up. Though his life soon ended, he travelled far. Because his soul was precious to the Lord, he was quickly removed from the wickedness around him”. Yes we find these words in the Book of Wisdom, chapter 4, verses eight to fourteen. Very often this text is read during the Funeral Service of a young person.

Though these are words of great wisdom, yet how soothing are they to the parents of the dead person? Yes, they will be felt as sweet as balm, after a time, when we surrender to the Will of God. Yet Jesus had pity on the widow, the mother of the dead son. Yes, He showed His feelings and He was moved. Nothwithstanding that He had no words of consolation to the mother (at least not recorded in the Gospel), nor any sign of sympathy, yet, ultimately He gave her back her son alive, and healthy according to Dr.Luke.

The first Reading, taken from the first Book of Kings, the Prophet Elijah prays to the Lord to give life back to the child, and this is very similar to the Gospel text. In both stories we find a widow with an only son, and who were both restored to life. It’s worth noting that Elijah was a Prophet, so he was obliged to turn to God for help, whilst Christ, being the Author of Life, uses His own authority and power to restore life to the son of Na’im.

We notice two opposite movements, meeting, so to say at the door of the city. One groups is led by Jesus, His Apostles and the crowd following Him. From the opposite side another crowd, made up of a funeral cortege meets Christ’s group. As was the culture, this funeral took place late in the evening, to increase the atmosphere of sadness, with a throng of women crying and wailing. We notice that Christ’s one and only word was: “Don’t cry.” But was this message solely for the mother or for the mourners present?

Christ is in full control of the situation; he gives the command of “Don’t cry”, next, against the Jewish belief and culture, He touches the coffin, an act unheard of; that is touching a coffin with a dead person in it. That was a gesture of impurity, so according to the Jewish Culture, Christ had become unclean.

Finally He gives the command: “Get up.” Christ spoke as one having power and authority. As you must have noticed Christ was not requested to perform the miracle, he did it freely as a gesture of love and mercy. He gave the ‘gift of life’. The reaction of the crowd was “A great prophet has appeared amongst us; God has visited his people!” (v. 16).

Was the crowd happy and jubilant because a young man was restored to life, or rather because a great prophet has appeared amongst them? If you recall Christ command to “Stop crying,” we understand that the reason was because ‘here is the Lord of life’ amongst you.

Yes, we should ‘stop crying’ when a beloved person in our family, a relative or any person for that matter, joins the ranks in heaven, hopefully. We have to stop crying and convince ourselves that God has conquered death once and for ever, if anything we should ‘cry for joy’.