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2^nd Sunday of Advent [A]

December 8, 2019

Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist is a prominent figure in four Gospels, and he powerfully appears before Jesus begins His public ministry. But, who is this John the Baptist? His name is simply John, and the Church calls him the Baptist to distinguish him from other John in the Bible like John the son of Zebedee, one of Jesus’ disciples. John the Baptist is the miracle son of Zacharia and Elizabeth in their old days. And since Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus, are relatives, John and Jesus are closely related to each other.

Certainly, there is something strange about this John. He is eating locust and honey. Surely, it is an exotic food, but we need to remember he is living in the desert, and this kind of food is common. He is wearing clothing made of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. It is just a fashion statement or he has nothing to wear. John’s clothing reminds us of the things Prophet Elijah wore in his time [see 1 Kings 1:8]. John is presenting himself as a prophet, and not any prophet, he is the new Elijah. The appearance of Elijah is an important sign of the imminent coming of the Messiah [Mal 4:5].

One thing for sure about John is that he becomes very popular, and people from all over the country come to him, to listen to his preaching and to be baptized as a sign of repentance. Yet, despite the great number of followers, he remains true to his mission. He is preaching on the coming of someone who is much greater than him, even he declares that “is unworthy to carry His sandals.” He is God’s instrument in fulfilling the prophesy, and he has a specific role to play.

Now, we know a little background about John the Baptist, what will be next for us? Certainly, we are not called to follow him in wearing clothing made of camel’s hair or to eat locust everyday, but we are to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior. How? Some of us are called literally to baptize people like myself. Some are commissioned to preach and educate people. Yet, all of us are to live a life of repentance. The repentance has to be alive and penetrating all aspects of life. The word used by John in Greek is “metanoiete” and it does not simply mean “repent!” but more precisely, “keep repenting!”

The first stage of repentance is certainly turning away from sinful life, but it is more than that. Repentance is not about one-done-deal action, but a life-long process. The word “Metanoia” is coming from two words, “meta” meaning “changing” and “nous” meaning “mind”; Thus, “metanoia” means changing of mind, changing of the way we see life and the way we live. Our mind is no longer earth-bond, but fixed into God. The transformation is not from sinful life to a good life, but a life that is even closer to God. It implies changing of priority. Do we make God as our priority? It entails holiness. Do we do things that are pleasing to God? This presupposes love of God. Do we love God more than other things, or do we love other things more than Him?

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Solemnity of Christ the King

November 24, 2019

Luke 23:35-43

Often we take for granted the name Jesus Christ, without realizing the meaning behind it. The word “Christ” is neither part of the personal name of Jesus nor the family name of Jesus. Jesus earns the name Christ not because of His foster father, Joseph, otherwise we also call him as Joseph Christ and his wife, Mary Christ.

Christ is coming from the Greek word “Christos” meaning “the anointed one”. In Hebrew, the title is even more pronounced, “the Messiah”. For us, the title does not ring us a bell, but for the Jewish people living in the time of Jesus, the Messiah is the fulfillment of God’s promise. In the Old Testament, the title Messiah was given to one of the greatest figures in Israel, King David. He was the Christ because he was anointed by Prophet Samuel, and he was personally chosen by God Himself to rule Israel. During his reign, the kingdom of Israel reached the pick of glory.

Unfortunately, after David’s death, the kingdom was declining and eventually destroyed. In the time of Jesus, almost one millennium after David, Palestine was under the Roman Empire, and lives were awful. No wonder, people were expecting the coming of the Messiah, the new king, that would restore the glory of Israel.

We believe that Jesus is Christ, meaning we believe that Jesus is the expected a king that will fulfill God’s promise. Yet, in today’s Gospel, we discover that Jesus was crucified. He had no army, except disbanded and coward disciples. He had not a palace except a small and poor house in Nazareth. He was insulted, spat upon, and tortured. He bore the greatest human humiliation. Even the criminal who was punished together with Him, mocked Jesus as a good-for-nothing king.

If we focus only on this cross and humiliation, we shall fail to see Jesus as king. For Jesus, being a king is not about gold, guns and glory. It is neither about force nor control. Jesus is not a war-freak Messiah. So, what does it mean to be a King for Jesus?

 When one of the repented criminals asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus comes into His Kingdom, Jesus said that he would be in Paradise. The word Paradise is a Greek word for “garden”, it originally refers to the garden of Eden. That is what Jesus does as a king: He brings men and women who acknowledge Him as a king to Paradise. And no other kings in the world possess such power to bring us to paradise.

If then we confess that Jesus is the Christ, and now we understand that Jesus is our King, do we honor Him as our King? If Jesus is our King, do we allow Jesus to control us or we control Jesus? If Jesus is our leader, do we align our lives and priorities to His missions, or Jesus has to follow us? When our King summons us for a mission, do we gladly embrace it, or we rather choose to our own plans and design?

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 17, 2019 – Luke 21:5-9

During the reign of Herod the Great, the Temple of Jerusalem was refurbished, adorned by gold and other precious metals, and expanded, and thus making it the crown jewel of the Jewish nation. However, the Temple was not merely a magnificent building, but primarily the center of Jewish religious worship and religion. Every morning and evening, sacrifices were offered, and every year, Jewish men from all over the world made their pilgrimage, and paid their homage the Lord God. It was the place where God chose to stay, the place where the Israelites meet their God, and the house of God.

Looking at the majestic view of the Temple and its religious significance, many would believe that the Temple would last forever because God Himself would defend His house. Yet, Jesus prophesied against the sentiment of the Israelites and told His disciples that this beautiful Temple would be destroyed. Surely, Jesus’ words offended the religious sensitivity of His time and one of the accusations against Him was precisely because Jesus spoke against the Temple, against God Himself. Yet, 40 years later, in 70 AD, the Romans under General Titus, burned the Temple and razed the city to the ground.

Jesus’ prophesy opens us to the profound truth that even God allows His house on earth to be destroyed. Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul) was the grandest church in the 4^th and 5^th centuries and considered to be an architectural and engineering marvel. Yet, when Constantinople fell to the Turks, the church stopped functioning as a Christian worship place. In our time, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was an iconic Gothic building at the heart of Paris. Yet, on April 15, 2019, the fire destroyed many parts of this holy building. Just this month, some churches in Chile became the target of violent demonstrators. They forcefully entered the churches, took out the pews and other religious images, and burnt them outside the churches, not to mention, the desecration of the tabernacles. The houses of God have been the object of vandalism, violent anger, and untold destruction, and God allows those to take place in our midst. But why? Is God weak enough to stop these from happening? Does God not care? Has God forsaken us?

The Churches as the house of God symbolize the inner sanctuary of our faith. An attack on the Church means an attack on our cherished faith. If God allows His house to be humiliated, so God also allows our faith to be challenged, shocked, and shaken. God allows trials to batter our lives, doubts to question our faith, and darkness to envelop our vision. But why?

When the fire that burned the Church of Notre Dame was extinguished, many things have been lost, but at the center of the Church, one image survived the blazing fire: the huge cross stood still. God allows His houses destroyed, and our faith was shaken to show us what truly matters in life and our journey of faith. It is God and God alone. It is not so much the monuments we build for Him nor the works and mission for Him, even our talents, charism and fruits of prayers. These are surely important, but these easily vanish. Only one remains God alone. God allows us to be shaken so we may find Him again, surprisingly more alive and ever closer.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – [November 10, 2019] – Luke 20:27-38

In today’s Gospel, the Sadducees attempt to test Jesus. Sadducees are a religious faction in first-century Judaism, but unlike the popular Pharisees, they only hold Torah as the only valid source of Jewish religious teachings and practices, and refuse the writings of the prophets, the wisdom books, and later traditions. One of their main doctrines is that they do not believe in the resurrection of the body. Jesus and the Pharisees though always in debate, they share in a common fundamental belief in the bodily resurrection. Thus, to ridicule this kind of belief, the Sadducees are using the practice of the levirate marriage. In the Law of Moses, there is a practice to secure the bloodline and inheritance of a man who does not have any offspring. As a solution, the brothers or relatives of the deceased man will marry the widow and produce offspring on his behalf. Then, the Sadducees move to checkmate position. “In the resurrection, whose husband, this woman be?”

However, the Sadducees forget that nobody could win against Jesus in a debate. Jesus thoroughly destroys their plot by revealing what will happen in heaven: we will be like the angels. Who are these angels? Angel or “angelos” in Greek means the messenger. This points to their function, but their true nature is spirit. As a spirit, they have no physical body, and because of this, they are no longer bonded into the limitations of the body. They have no sexual desire, or any desire, and therefore, they are not multiplying like humans. What attracts spirit is an only spiritual thing, and since God is the most perfect spirit [John 4:24], only God can give them perfection.

To be like angels in heaven is our destiny. One day, Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN, talked with two men who had many titles behind their names, and they are proud of those achievements. Yet, during the conversation, they were amazed at Mother Angelica’s wisdom and serenity. She reminded them that the most important title is not what placed behind their names, but one put before their names, and this only has two letters: St. or Saint.

Our journey in this earth only makes sense if we are marching toward a destination beyond this world, and Jesus has pointed out to us that this goal is something spiritual, like angels. Thus, it is important for us to examine our lives whether we are preparing ourselves every day to life like angels, or we keep ourselves to busy with this earthly life. How we are going to prepare ourselves? We give more time to the spiritual things as well as spiritual aspects of our lives. Do we pray enough? Do we worship God often? Do we consult the Holy Spirit in our decision in our lives? Do we read the Bible regularly? Do we spend quality time with Jesus? Do we help and love others sincerely?

It is important to remember that our God is the God of the living, thus our lives continue even beyond death. Thus, the kind of life we live here on earth, will simply continue to the next life. If we live like an angel in heaven even now on earth, we will not have a problem to adjust in the next life. Heaven starts here and now.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]

November 3, 2019

Luke 19:1-10

In the time of Jesus, there are at least two kinds of taxes. The first tax goes to the Temple of Jerusalem. This is a “sacred tax”. Those who collect them are performing a sacred duty, and those who pay are fulfilling their due to God. Yet, the second tax is exacted by the Roman government. In order to effectively get the taxes, the Romans employs the local collaborators. The Jews are heavily burdened by this tax because they are unjustly hefty, and often collected by coercion. The Jews understandably loathe those Jewish tax collectors who willingly betray their own people and are involved in greedy malpractices. These are the worst sinners, unclean, corrupt and traitors.

Certainly, Joseph, Mary and Jesus as a poor family, are having a difficult time to pay taxes themselves, and perhaps, fall victims to greedy tax collectors. However, despite this bitter reality, Jesus has a different attitude towards tax collectors. He is known to be the friends of tax collectors and sinners [Mat 11:19]. He shares his table with tax collectors [Luk 5:30]. He presents the tax collector as the protagonist in his parable, while the Pharisee as the bad guy [Luk 18:9ff]. One of His disciples, Matthew, is used to be a tax collector before he leaves everything and follows Jesus.

Today, we listen to the story of Zacchaeus, not ordinary tax collector, but the chief. Despite his high position and richness, he is a small stature. Thus, people look down on him both in a physical and religious sense. Yet, Jesus does something remarkable: He takes the initiative to look upon Zacchaeus who climbs the sycamore tree, calls him by name, and gets Himself invited to Zacchaeus’ house. This is unthinkable: the God-man calls and enters the house of the number-one public enemy in town. We notice that Jesus does not perform any earth-shattering miracles, but Jesus’ simple and loving gesture touches deeply Zacchaeus’ heart. Right there and then, he repents and ready to repair the damages he causes. Jesus declares, “Today salvation has come to this house (Lk. 19:2).”

What Jesus does deeply disturb the minds of orthodox Jews who prefer to distance themselves from the sinners, to avoid the contamination. Thus, they jeer at Jesus. Yet, Jesus takes the opposite direction: to enter the house and share a table even with the worst kind of sinners, chief tax collector, for one reason: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Lk. 19:10).

The Gospel offers us two attitudes towards our brothers and sisters who are struggling in their lives. We can choose whether like the crowd, to distance ourselves, and let them rot in hell, and even discourage any effort to embrace them, or like Jesus to takes the initiative to help them, even with simple gestures. It is true that when we open ourselves, there is no guarantee that our effort will be successful, and sometimes, we will get betrayed and hurt. Mother Teresa of Calcutta took care hundreds of homeless, but some of them turned against her and threw nasty gossips, and yet Mother Teresa continued to serve till the end of her life. Jesus has made His choice, so also many of His followers, now the choice is ours to make.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP