Deuteronomy 9:1-8
Today in the fifth Sunday of the season of Elijah
Cross Moses, church gives us the message that “turn our trust from flesh and be
faithful to God and His gifts.” We have to understand that God gives us so many
gifts in our life, not because of our righteousness but because of our
faithfulness in Him. So if we are faithful to Him, he will definitely provide
us the reward for our faithfulness.
Today in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 9:1-8, we
see that Moses tells the Israelites that God gives them the Promised
Land not because they are righteous people. Promised Land is given to them
as a gift. The gift is given to them not because of their merit. Here Moses
instruct the Israelites to be faithful to God in the Promised Land. The
Israelites are going to cross the river Jordan and he knows that he will not
accompany them in the Promised Land. He also knows that the people of Israel
were unfaithful to Yahweh throughout their Journey from Egypt to Promised Land.
He doesn’t deny the chance to be unfaithful again in the Promised Land, because
they had accused the Lord delivering from the Egypt, worshipped idols against
the commandment of the Lord, and accused God for not providing food. So Moses
knows that they will do the same in the Promised Land too. That is why he tells
them “Know, then, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to
occupy because of your righteousness; for you are a stubborn people. Remember
and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the
wilderness.” (Dt 9:6-7) So here Moses wanted to convey the message to them that
victory is God’s gift to them so be faithful to Him in the prosperous land too.
In Isaiah, chapter 25:1-8 we see the praise for the
deliverance from oppression. It is a passage which tells about the
eschatological banquet prepared by Lord. Here Isaiah tells about the
eschatological banquet by the Lord to those who are faithful to Him. So he
tells “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.” So here prophet wanted to convey the message
that in the eschatological time God will grant us salvation. It is a gift to
those who are faithful to them.
In the Gospel of St. Mathew, chapter
17:14-27 we see a curing incident. In this incident the disciples cod not
cure the boy with a Demon. Why could not the disciples cast the demon out from
that boy? The answer is given by Jesus Himself. It is because of their little
faith. Before the curing incident we can see in the chapter 17 the transfiguration
scene, here the disciples were excited by the experience they had, and they
wanted to remain in the heavenly experience. At the same time when they came to
real life situations they could not show the same faith in Jesus. They wanted
to show their power and their might. That is why they are asking to Jesus “why
could we not cast it out?” The disciples did not understand that they are able
to do all these things with the help of Jesus. They did not believe in the
power of Jesus. That is why they could not cast the demon out from that boy.
Here Jesus wanted to make them understand the Gift of healing given to them is
because of their faith in Jesus. It is not because of their merit but because
of the faithfulness in Jesus.
In this pericope Jesus’ attitude also is noteworthy,
because Jesus heals the boy and tells the disciples to be strong in their faith.
Here Jesus is presented as New Moses of the New Testament. In the Old Testament
we see that Moses comes out from the mountain after receiving the Ten
Commandments, then he saw people were worshipping the golden calf. Then he gets
angry and destroys the ten commandments of God, because of the unfaithfulness
of the Israelites. Here Jesus, after the
transfiguration scene comes out from the mountain and he sees the faithlessness
of his own disciples and corrects them. So the New Moses has shown compassion
to the disciples. Here also we can say that God shows mercy not because of our
righteousness but it is given as a gift to those who are faithful to Him.
Again Jesus tells them about the sufferings he is going
to undergo. "The Son of Man is going
to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him.” (Mat 17:22-23) So
here Jesus wanted to tell them that there is not only the transfiguration
scene, which is the experience of heavenly joy, but also sufferings, if they
follow him. Therefore when they see these sufferings they should not be afraid
and they should not lose their faith. These sufferings and persecutions in life
will help them to strengthen their faith. So when their faith is strong, God will
reward them with resurrection. That is why Jesus tells them “On the third day
he will be raised." (Mat 17: 23) therefore we can say that even in the
time of suffering Jesus asks us to be faithful to him as he was faithful to his
Father. Father has given him the gift of resurrection, in the same way we are
also assured the gift of resurrection if we are faithful.
Now let us turn our attention
to ourselves. Are we faithful to God? Are we ready to profess our faith during
the time of persecutions? Are we ready to proclaim our faith with our talents? Sometimes
we are reluctant to say that we are Christians. Many of the time we are even
hide our rosary from other religious persons. We sometimes think that if we say
that we are Christians they will look down upon us. But at the same time,
observe them, they are not afraid to show their religion to us. They are not
unwilling to observe their religious practice even when they are alone. And sometimes
God has given us many talents, like sinning, praying, healing, studding, but
don’t think that we have given these talents because we are great and righteous
people. He has given us these gifts in order that we may give witness to Him.
It is time to rethink about our
faith. We have to measure our faith. Jesus wanted us to give him witness even
when we are persecuted. So let us ask God for the grace to be firm in our faith
and let us use our talents to proclaim him. Amen
By
Boby Kaiyala MST
It is time to rethink about our
faith. We have to measure our faith. Jesus wanted us to give him witness even
when we are persecuted. So let us ask God for the grace to be firm in our faith
and let us use our talents to proclaim him. Amen
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