29th Sunday of Year A

Isaiah 45:1,4-6
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5
Matthew 22:15-21

To what purpose has God chosen me for?

Last week, we began a three-part reflection on leading a fulfilling life. We concluded our reflection with these words of Jesus: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:14) This week, let’s continue our reflection by contemplating on the question: For what purpose has God chosen us for? The truth is, many of us lead busy and task-oriented lives. There are projects to complete at work, kids to fetch from school, and a million tasks to do at home. It is not often, if at all, that we stop and think about our relationship with God; and importantly, ask ourselves: What is God asking of me in my life? Indeed, the answer to this question lies the key to leading a fulfilling life. Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:50) This week, let us reflect on three aspects of how God has chosen us for His divine purpose.

Firstly, God calls everyone. Each of us are individually and carefully created by God; and no one life was created by God in vain. But the purpose to which God choose each of us can be as varied as we are as individuals, In the First Reading, God called Cyrus, the Persian king: “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.” (verse 4) Imagine, Cyrus – a pegan and non-believer – was called by God by name! God blessed Cyrus with military might, so that he might be victorious against the Babylonians: “I arm you, though you do not know me” (verse 5) Centuries before, God had similarly armed the Israelites and ensured their victory as Moses led them into the Holy Land. But despite God’s blessings, the Israelites did not live up to their calling and became unfaithful to God. We saw this through the ages of the judges (Judg 2:11-19), king Solomon (2 Kgs 11:4-8) and beyond. As a result, God lifted his protection over the people. They were conquered by the Babylonians, and many were taken into exile in Babylon. Through Cyrus, God was delivering the Israelites from the Babylonians. In contrast to the Israelites, even though Cyrus was a pegan who did not know God, he was faithful to God when he was called. Cyrus did not deny his calling on account of him being a pegan and non-believer. After his defeat of the Babylonians, living up to his calling, Cyrus facilitated the return of the exiled Israelites to their homeland: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.” (2 Chr 36:23) Foretelling Cyrus’ obedience, we read in the First Reading how Cyrus was given the title “anointed” (verse 1) – a term that would later be used on Jesus Himself. In Cyrus, we see the conversion of an unbeliever into belief, by him doing what God has chosen him for. Indeed, just as we read in the Parable of Wedding Feast last week, where the king instructed his servants to “invite everyone you find” (Mt 22:9), God can and does choose unbelievers and new converts for great purposes.

Secondly, just as God choose us individually for his divine purposes, He also choose us collectively. Before St Paul brought Christianity into Europe, like the Cyrus and his Persian nation, Europeans were pegans. In the Second Reading, St Paul wrote to the converts in Thessalonica, who were among the earliest Christian communities in Europe: “For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you” (verse 4). From the early European Christian communities of Thessalonica, Philippi and Corinth, European Christianity was born. And it was from Europe that Christianity reached the far corner of the earth. Indeed, for most of us reading this reflection, we can trace the spiritual origin of our Christian faith to European Christianity, and onto the Christian communities of Thessalonica, Philippi and Corinth. Today, with Christianity in Europe having declined greatly from its former heights, who has God chosen to carry on the flame? Would this be me and my local church? And beyond evangelisation, for what other purposes has God chosen my family, my parish and the Church? Perhaps it is a social justice cause such as ministering to the poor and homeless? Perhaps it is in upholding righteousness in the face of injustice, such as speaking truth to the secular world? Perhaps it is teaching others on matters of faith – not just in words but also in deeds and actions – so that by our courage and example, others might be inspired?

Finally, in fulfilling our purpose, if we are truly living to God’s calling, the devil will put detractors in our way. There will be those who will try to discourage us or even harm our cause, including those from within the faith itself. Our hearts must be in the right place to stay the course. We read an example of this in the Gospel this week. In Biblical times, the Pharisees and Herodians were both faithful believers. But they were also arch enemies. The Pharisees were strict keepers of religious rules, while the Herodians were Jews who supported the Roman rulers. This made them natural enemies, as Pharisees considered the Herodians traitors of the people. But with their shared hatred of Jesus, in the Gospel this week, we read how the Pharisees and Herodians formed an unholy alliance to trap Jesus (verse 15-16). They came to Jesus and asked Him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (verse 17) If Jesus answered “no”, He would run afoul of the Herodians and the Roman rulers. On the other hand, if Jesus said “yes”, He would be deemed a traitor by his people. Cleverly, Jesus avoided the trap by asking for a Roman coin, with an image of the Roman’s emperor engraved on it. Jesus then commanded the people, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (verse 21) Seeing through their evil intention, Jesus used the Roman coin to point out to His plotters this: Now that you have put your petty infighting among you aside, it is what is in your hearts that matters. This is also a message for us. Let us ask ourselves: What is in my heart? On the matter of wealth and money, have I given “to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”?

Let us conclude our reflection this week by contemplating on a few questions: For what purpose has God chosen me and my community? While many of us lead busy work and family life, do we still make time for God, like we do with our other pursuits outside work and family? Have I been fulfilling the purpose God has chosen me for? Or have I even stopped and think about my purpose in life? How have I responded to God? What does my response tell me about the disposition of my heart? These are the questions God asks us through this week’s Scripture. Let us invite the Holy Spirit in as we reflect. Amen.

28th Sunday of Year A

Isaiah 25:6-10
Philippians 4:12-14,19-20
Matthew 22:1-14

Is my life fulfilled – really fulfilled?

All of us quest for something in life. My brothers and sisters, this week, we ask ourselves: What are the quests of my life? For some of us, it is something material – wealth, honour, power and pleasure. For some of us, it is something more internal – peace, contentment and freedom from sorrow. Often, what we quest for depends on what we lack in our life. So we ask ourselves: What am I lacking in life right now? Am I lacking in material comfort? Am I lacking in respect from my peers and family? Or am I lacking in inner peace?

In the First Reading this week, the prophet paints an imagery of bliss, addressing both the material and inner yearnings of our hearts. Addressing our material need, he said, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” (verse 6) Then, addressing our inner yearnings, he said, “the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (verse 9)

We need an honest reflection of our inner yearnings to give us a better understanding of our life, our priorities and even our very self. We should then follow up with the next reflective question: How is my quest going? Am I quenching these yearnings; or are they getting ever further out of reach? Jesus promised us, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) But why are so many of us still so unfulfilled in life? To answer this question, we turn to the Gospel parable this week.

Firstly, many of us remained unfulfilled because we do not give faith a chance. Some of us decide that Christianity is not for us. Some of us think that Christian message is for people of a certain culture, heritage, family upbringing, or people who are good and wholesome – a “chosen people”, so to speak. In the Parable of Wedding Feast, a king generously laid out a lavish wedding banquet for his son. But alas, his guests all had other priorities instead of attending the banquet: “they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business” (verse 5). Showing his sincerity, the king sent out his servants to personally invite his guests, but to no avail. In fact, some guests showed their utter rejection and disrespect – they “seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.” (verse 6) In our rejection of faith, have I made the same mistake as these guests? Have we not just rejected the message but have in fact turned hostile to the messengers? In response, the king extended his invitation to everyone. He said to his servants: “Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” (verse 9) Significantly, the newly invited guests included “both good and bad” (verse 10) This refutes the notion for those of us who think that the Christian message is not for us because of our culture, heritage, family upbringing, state of wholesomeness. Indeed, the Christian message is for all of us, the message is for me.

Secondly, some of us think that just because we come to church and profess Jesus as our Lord on our lips, all our yearnings will be satisfied. Where we have remained unfulfilled, some of us even took the extreme response of walking away altogether! In the parable, there is a curious epilogue where the king noticed a guest without a wedding robe (verse 11). Furious, he ordered, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (verse 13) At first glance, it would seem the king was being most unreasonable. Afterall, the guest has just been invited at very short notice from the main street. How could the king expect him to have time to acquire and put on a wedding robe? However, to understand the king’s reaction, we need to appreciate that this epilogue is a separate parable embedded within the original parable. In the way, we are invited to consider the guest lacking a wedding robe in isolation. The message of this parable is that faith is not a box ticking exercise. The acts of coming to church, observing age-old rituals – these acts, while meritorious, are not magical. In other words, we are not passive receptacle of divine favours. We need to put on our wedding robe. We need to adopt the teachings of Jesus and make changes to our lives. My brothers and sisters, let’s ask ourselves: In areas of my life where I remained unfulfilled, am I waiting for a change to happen without any action on my part? For example, where I have a relationship issue, am I waiting for the other person to change? Am I prepared to change my perception and make the first move? Where I am finding no joy from self-indulgence, have I been too inward looking? Am I prepared to change my perception by bringing joy to others instead? Indeed, as St Francis of Assisi taught us, it is in giving that we receive. My dear friends, let us reflect: What is Jesus asking me to do this week? Indeed, not only is faith not a box-ticking exercise, it is more like a participative sport. Using a football metaphor, we don’t kick a goal by standing in the field and not doing anything!

Finally, let us ponder over these concluding words of Jesus in the Gospel: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (verse 14) My dear friends, if we are unfulfilled, it is not because God has not chosen us. God has chosen us! But by our decision, like the guests who have other priorities or the guest who did not put on a robe, we have unchosen ourselves. Hence, many are called, but many have unchosen themselves.

Let’s wrap up our reflection this week with these words of St Paul in the Second Reading. St Paul urged us to see beyond the yearnings and fulfilment of this transient life. He wrote, “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (verse 12-13) This is a man who, having worked tirelessly for the kingdom of God, having given to others all his life has to offer, has found inner joy and peace. Amen.