quinta-feira, 27 de novembro de 2014

GOD AND THE NEEDY ONES



Reflection from Ezekiel 14: 11-12.15-17; 1Cor 15: 20-26.28; Mt 25: 31-46

        These texts speak that God is a King-shepherd who protects and identifies himself with those who are needy. The merciful love for others is the condition to enter his kingdom. In this sense, let us welcome the message of this liturgy with gratefulness and openness, reflecting about the mystery of the kingdom of God and its performance through the mission of Christ.

      The prophet Ezekiel denounces the irresponsibility of the leaders of the people of Israel which caused the exile, a period of sorrow and suffering for the people. But in this message, the prophet announces also that God is sensible and very attentive to his people. He will assume personally the situation of his people as a true shepherd, leading them to new reality. This prophecy performs its achievement in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. According to Saint Paul, Jesus overcomes all powers on earth, through his death and resurrection, saving the humanity and establishing the Kingdom of God his Father. All human beings are invited to belong to this kingdom. The union with Christ is expression of this participation and it lead to eternal life. So, belonging to Christ is to belong to the Kingdom of God, guarantee of eternal life.

         This text of the gospel is known as “The final judgement” and many of us think that Jesus is a “judge” who judges the human actions, rewarding ones and punishing others. But we learnt through his own wards that “God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour” (Jo 3, 17). So, his mission is not to judge but to save. The judgement is established by the own actions of the people. According to this text, Jesus is a king-shepherd. This king has the intention to gather all around himself with special care for those who are needy. He identifies himself with them and establishes them as referential to save others. He motivates other people to do good deeds to them and gives reward to those who embrace this cause. So, the loving care we have to the needy ones is condition to enter the kingdom.

      The evangelists show that Jesus rejected the title of king in the glorious moments and accepted it in the moments of defeat. His resistance to this title was because the political mentality of the people about this issue. But he himself uses the title of king in this text to help us to understand the right meaning of his kingdom and his mission as king. His kingdom is not from this world and cannot be seen (it is there or it is here). Jesus never defined the kingdom of God, but said that it is already present in our midst and we can feel its event. In its earthly achievement, the reality of the kingdom of God is not very far from human reality. It is lived through the good values of ours cultures and, in the same time, overcome them.

       The nucleus of Jesus’ message is the announcement of the kingdom of God, because Jesus does not announce himself but the kingdom. AlphaIn Jesus the kingdom becomes a concrete reality. The inaugural discourse about this meaningful event is done to the people rejected by society: the poor. In their faces Jesus taught us to recognise his own face. The kingdom belongs to them and they belong to the Kingdom. In his good actions to this people, he evidences that a new time has already started, changing many things in the world, such as: the sick are healed, the dumb are speaking, the blind are seeing, the poor are evangelized and sinners have found God's forgiveness. The merciful love of Jesus for them is the beginning of this new time. It should reach its achievement in the definitive kingdom when the love for God and for neighbour will be lived to its fullest.

        We are invited to recognize in the gestures liberators of Christ the salvific action of God and to follow his faithfully footsteps, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. For us, the search of this kingdom should be a priority, because in it we find the sense of our life and mission. Jesus entrusted to us His kingdom and we trust our lives to him. It is a mutual trust. Follow Jesus is to accept the kingdom; resistance against Jesus is opposition to the performance of the Kingdom. When we are available to the plans of Jesus, He uses us as his tools to continue announcing the gratuity of his kingdom, inviting other people to join forces with him in a discipleship ever more generous and authentic. Although he can do it alone, he wanted us because he knows that we need him very much; for that he says, "Without me you can do nothing" (John15: 5).

Fr. Ndega

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