The WORD in other words (2009) Fr. Roland U. Aquino, SVD – St. Jude Shrine, Manila
Tuesday 15th Week in Ordinary Time
The Gospels are not always good news about love, healing, forgiveness, heaven, meal fellowships, miracles, death, and resurrection. They are also good news about anger, reproaches, punishments, rejection, brokenness, helplessness, betrayal, indecision, uncertainties, condemnation, hell, and judgment.
The Gospels show an angry, indignant, and scolding Jesus. It is not a favorable picture of Jesus of course. But sometimes such image is needed to bring to a wider, better perspective the seriousness and urgency of his preaching about the Kingdom of God. It is like a contradiction as in saying that sometimes one has to be cruel in order to be kind.
Jesus is not blind to what is contrary to God. He is a prophet who denounces what is bad, and proclaims what is true, even it means hurting a friend, severing relationships, turning people away, or frightening his listeners. “I come to cause division,” he said (Lk 49,51). This is because one has to choose a definite stand for God. To decide for God and His Kingdom is absolute. There is no compromise.
Jesus is angry about unrepentance, indifference, and indecision. Despite the mighty deeds and miracles he performed in Bethsaida and Chorazin, nothing has been done to even suggest conversion, repentance, and change of life.
Fear of hell, sin, punishment, judgment, fire, damnation, and torment are words of value in the Bible. They matter in every religion. They are important in matters of the faith, in making commitment, and in the choices one makes in relation to God. The book of Sirach says: “In everything you do, remember your last days and you never sin.” (7,36)
There is more to anger and sin; there is more to the scolding by Jesus. Behind his anger and beyond the unrepentant Bethsaida and Chorazin is an invitation to the love of God. God’s love is far greater than sin. God’s forgiveness is infinite. It always brings the possibility of change and renewal within us. Sin is not always hell. There is no hopeless case with God. When we become angry at our sinfulness and begin to develop a fear of the certainty of hell, then we find ourselves turning to God who lovingly welcomes us with His embrace of gentleness and forgiveness.
