OXYGEN

04 Dec – Thursday in the First Week of Advent; Saint John Damascene, Priest, Doctor

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Isaiah 26:1-6

That day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
to guard us he has set
wall and rampart about us.
Open the gates! Let the upright nation come in,
she, the faithful one
whose mind is steadfast, who keeps the peace,
because she trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
for the Lord is the everlasting Rock;
he has brought low those who lived high up
in the steep citadel;
he brings it down, brings it down to the ground,
flings it down in the dust:
the feet of the lowly, the footsteps of the poor
trample on it.

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Matthew 7:21. 24-27

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘It is not those who say to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. ‘Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!’

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It is not those who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.

In Pope Benedict XVI’s book “Jesus of Nazareth”, the author mentions that the phrase “Kingdom of God” occurs 122 times in the New Testament as a whole; 99 of these passages are found in the three Synoptic Gospels, and 90 of these 99 texts report the words of Jesus. The pope also explains that the phrases “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven” have the same meaning, but that “Kingdom of Heaven” is usually used by Matthew because of his target audience, which are the Jews. This Kingdom of God (or of Heaven) is not a place, which some people believe it to be. It is not even a state of interiority, which others believe it to be. It is actually Jesus Himself.

In today’s gospel reading, we see Jesus telling His disciples that it is not those who simply call Jesus ‘Lord’ that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven… which is to say, such people will not enter into communion with Jesus. But rather, in order to enter into communion with Jesus, it is essential that we become like Jesus, whose entire life has been characterized by obedience, by submission to the Father’s will. Incidentally, this is why some Muslim scholars say that Jesus was a good Muslim – because a good Muslim is one who submits himself to Allah.

Pope Benedict adds, in another section of the book, that “Only when power submits to the measure and the judgement of heaven – of God, in other words – can it become power for good. And only when power stands under God’s blessing can it be trusted. This is the core message of today’s gospel reading, which seems to be separated into two parts, but in reality contain the same message.

Jesus wants us to listen to His words and to act on them, and what Jesus’ words are is basically what His entire life is about – obedience and submission to the Father’s will. Only when we submit whatever will and power that we have to God can it be trusted. Any other form of power that we see and experience in life cannot be trusted. We have seen how the 158-year-old financial institution, the Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc, as powerful and ‘trustworthy’ as it was, collapsed this year.

Place no trust in any power, Jesus is telling us today, except those that God’s blessing, because only such powers can be trusted. That’s certainly a recipe for hope and faith, and one that certainly continues to be applicable to us today.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Daniel Tay)
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Prayer: Dear Lord, grant us the wisdom to discern which powers have your blessing and to place our trust in them. Amen.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to the Lord for the Church, in whom we can always trust.

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Upcoming Readings:

Fri 05 Dec – Isaiah 29:17-24; Psalm 27; Matthew 9:27-31
Sat 06 Dec – Isaiah 30:19-21; Psalm 147; Matthew 9:35-10:1. 5a. 6-8, St Nicholas Bishop
Sun 07 Dec – Isaiah 40:1-5. 9-11; Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:1-8; Second Sunday of Advent