IXth - Sunday in Ordinary time

DEUT 11: 18-26;ROM 3:21-25;: MT 7:21-27

Ever heard of counterfeit $100 bills? sure, a lot. Ever heard of counterfeit toilet paper? No. Why not? Because it is not worth it. The existence of counterfeits indicates how precious a thing is: the more precious it is, the more counterfeit you get. Spirituality is a very precious commodity. The proof is in the amount of counterfeit spiritualities in circulation. Counterfeit spirituality did not begin with us.

Acts 19 reports a curious incident that happened when Paul was preaching in Ephesus. Paul was performing so many miracles in Ephesus that the other religious ministers in the city became envious of him. They were losing their members to Paul. So some of them decided to observe and copy what Paul was doing. Paul was doing mighty works and casting out demons by invoking the name of Jesus. They thought they had discovered his secret formula, and they took off to go and implement it in their own ministry. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest called Sceva, who were professional exorcists tried to use the name of Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them and handled them so badly that they fled out of the house naked and bruised all over. The moral of the story: Who you are comes before what you do or say.
This is what Jesus is trying to teach his followers in today’s gospel story. He gives thumbs down to some people who say words of faith. “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” (Matt 7:21). He even gives thumbs down to some people who do works of faith. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers’” (vv 22-23). By saying “I never knew you,” Jesus indicates that the fundamental and most important thing is him knowing us and we knowing him. In other words, the relationship between Jesus and us is more important than the performance we put up in terms of words and deeds. We have to be Christians, people who know Christ, before we can act or speak Christian. We must have a direct, personal relationship with Christ. This is what gives meaning and potency to the words of faith we speak and the works of faith we perform. Otherwise we are no better than the seven sons of Sceva.

The seven sons of Sceva represent all those who try to profess the Christian creed outwardly and perform Christian works and projects but without being Christian on the inside. The seven sons of Sceva did not surrender their lives to Christ; all they wanted was to profit from the amazing grace that is available to Paul, the servant of Christ. They did not love Jesus; they loved something that Jesus gives. It was self-interest through and through. Paul professed Christ because he wanted to know him, love him and serve him.

Professing the faith by word of mouth is good. Involvement in concrete works of faith is great. But for these to have any meaning for eternal salvation, we must, first and foremost, cultivate a direct and personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We can make all sorts of grandiose plans, we can even see our plans benefiting other people as these plans are laid and carried out. But if our plans remain OUR plans, set in OUR terms, and without consulting God, at some stage, cracks in their foundation will begin to show.

Take the case of a talented architect who wanted to show off his
skills in architectural design. He goes to his drawing board and
drafts what he regards as his masterpiece design. He never bothers to
consult other experts like a soils or a seismic engineer perhaps, to
see if his design can be executed on the ground he had chosen as
planned. Had he done so, he would have discovered that his design must
adapt to the actual soil conditions, and not the soil conditions adapting to his design. He will have to adjust or alter his plans and submit to the limits and boundaries imposed by nature.

Something similar can be said about following God's will. Human plans
must be exercised within God's will, for it is God's will that must be
its solid foundation. Otherwise, human will and freedom would just
sway unsteadily when left unguided, and exposed to the many forces in
the world. And so, the parable of Jesus makes real sense: the wise
man, the one who follows the will of God, builds his house upon the
rock; the foolish man, the one who follows his own will, builds his
house upon the sand. The rains fell, the floods came, and the house
upon the sand is gone. But the house upon the rock remains.

Some times we pledge to be obeying God’s will and in practice behave as if we know better than God. An elderly Scottish woman was making her way through the countryside. Each time she came to a crossroads she would toss a stick into the air. Whichever way the stick came down was the direction she went. At one intersection, however, an old man saw her toss her stick into the air not once, not twice, but three times before resuming her journey. The old man was curious. "Why are you throwing your stick like that?" he asked. She squinted and replied, "I'm letting God direct my journey by using this stick." "Then why did you throw it three times?" asked the curious old man. "Because," she said, "the first two times He was pointing me in the wrong direction." We may laugh at this. But some times we go by our human wisdom than relying on Divine wisdom.

Our faith is primarily for living in, not for looking at or talking about. It must be lived in deed and truth” (1Jn 3:18).In his encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI, recalls that “the Christian message is not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known; it is one that makes things happen and is life changing. Christianity is not an ideology, or a simple ethics program; it is, above all, a personal commitment with Somebody.
Let’s build our spiritual edifice on the living stone of Jesus by doing the will of the heavenly father in heaven.’ May the Lord be praised now and for ever.