Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Mass Readings

I heard two contrasting stories on National Public Radio this week. One showed the superficiality of our culture, the other the depth of the human heart. I heard a rather lengthy commentary on some Iraqi women’s sense of freedom in Iraq. It was the criterion that was used to measure freedom that baffled me – that in some part of Iraq women could now use make-up. I see all you lovely ladies here and some of you with make-up and you look beautiful. But you know and I that if our sense of security and freedom had to come from our make-up that would be rather superficial. When it is all said and done, make-up is exactly that – make-up. And then I heard another commentary. It was the story of a man who came to the United States from India when he was seven years old. He is now the Hindu priest of the Hare Krishna temple in New York. His own quest for the meaning of life began with a simple question - What is the cause of the uncertainties or fluctuations of life? And then he picked up the Bhagvad Gita – one of the main Hindu Scriptures. In them, he found his answers. It changed his life. He built his life around the answers he discovered and now he tries to help others to find their own answers. These two stories are contrasting examples of people’s search for meaning and purpose of life. Today’s scripture readings direct us to reflect on life – either lived superficially or lived in the depths of our beings. In the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy Moses tells the people of Israel, “Take these words of mine into your heart and soul” (Deut 11:18). It might be interesting for us to know that the book of Deuteronomy means “second law” and it is called so because these words of Moses remained hidden till the reign of King Josiah between 609-640 BC. Scripture scholars believe that King Josiah was so deeply touched in his heart by this book that he initiated a national reform based on the teaching found in book of Deuteronomy. He wanted to take his people away from the superficial practice of the law and focus their attention to making the Law integral to the heart and soul. In other words, the hope is that the lives of the people will be guided by God’s law not from the outside but from the inside out.

Our first reading takes us directly to the gospel reading where Jesus, the new Moses says to those who followed him, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). I call Jesus the new Moses because today’s gospel reading comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Whereas the Old Testament people knew the will of God by the laws that God gave to them through Moses, it is in the Sermon on the Mount that we Christians know the will of God. The Sermon on the Mount is the New Law and it is a program for life that Jesus laid out for those who wanted to follow him. That is the real meaning of St. Paul’s words in today’s second reading where he tells us that while the Law has been declared by God it is not an end in itself (Rom 3:21-24). Rather, it is meant to take us to giver of the Law – Jesus. Our salvation depends on letting our lives revolve around the life and words of Jesus. And this is the will of God.

Let me raise three questions for us for reflection.
1. First, what does Jesus mean when he says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). What should we understand by the phrase “the will of God?” Thus, if we look at the Ten Commandments, we know that God wills that we know and love God, that we honor our parents, that do not steal, kill or destroy each other name and whatever else is dear to them. It is significant that today’s gospel reading is taken from the end of the Sermon on the Mount. We Christians know the will of God in and through the scriptures but particularly in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7). That is why, after laying out the New Law, Jesus says, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man…” and “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a fool…” So that challenge that both Moses and Jesus place before us is that we take the will of God so deeply to heart that we build their lives upon it. This is equivalent to building houses on a solid foundation. Not to build lives on the will of God is to act as foolish as building one’s house on sand.

The will of God, then, means what God had in mind when God created us. God’s will is God’s picture of what human life should look like. Human beings have no excuse that they do not know God’s will for them. If we want to know what God’s will for human beings is allowed hat to do is look at the life of Jesus, his words, his actions and his attitudes.

2. Second, what does it mean when God says, “Take these words of mine into your heart and your soul?” Both Moses and Jesus teach us today the real meaning of religion. Religion is not about religious obligations for the sake of calming our conscience. Even though the Laws of God point to God’s will, religion is not merely about fulfilling these Laws. At some point in the life of each individual religion must become faith. At some point faith needs to begin to happen not from the outside in but rather from the inside out. I call this a passion for God, a deep longing for God’s will known to me in the scriptures, and a deep desire to live my life in accordance to the will of God. It is a time in life when no one has to tell me to read the Bible, or celebrate the Eucharist, or to mould my life according to God’s will but it becomes a spontaneous life project. It is not about make-up anymore but about a heartfelt love for God.

3. As I said in the previous point, at some point in our lives religion must become faith. When Jesus says to us today, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Mt 7:21), what does he mean? I think he means to say that salvation happens when God’s will and our lives are in harmony. We have a lifetime to achieve this.

As we celebrate this Eucharist let us ask the Lord to give us the desire for knowing, understanding, passionately loving and living God’s will in our lives. For if we do, we “will be like the wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock” (Mt 7:24).

- Fr. Satish Joseph