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This Sunday, we will be celebrating Bible Sunday. It is not only a
time to get down to reading the bible, which I am sure some of you are already
doing or have done. Maybe, there is something more, something deeper. Maybe, it
is a time of reviewing what God has been doing throughout salvation history and
how we are called to be a continuation of this story in our times and in our
lives.
Jesus came to bring the reign of God to us. But what is this reign?
2000 years ago, among the Jews there was great oppression of the poor and weak,
sick and widowed. The peasants who were mostly farmers were forced to give up
the best of their crops each harvest to the government. The people had to pay
high taxes and tithes and each family had to be extremely cautious to avoid
being in debts and their lands taken over by the larger landowners. The
Pharisees were also oppressing the people and putting huge burdens on them with
all their rules and beliefs.
Jesus saw the sufferings of the people and He came to tell us who God
the Father truly is. Merciful, compassionate, generous, and most of all, a God
who hears the cry of the poor. And He has already been working among humankind
to bring about a world in which God’s victory is arrived at in each person,
each creature. Jose Pagola wrote in Jesus
– An Historical Approximation: “Jesus did more than denounce whatever is
opposed to God’s reign. He also recommended a way of living more in accordance
with the Father’s will. He sought more than individual, personal conversion. He
was trying to introduce in the towns and villages a new model of social
behavior… He’s not talking about a miraculous intervention of God, but a change
of behavior that can lead to a fuller and more secure life for all… Jesus was
proclaiming the reign of God as a reality that requires the restoration of
social justice.” Jesus Himself lived a life in which God reigns. This is how we
are called to live too. And this is the work we must continue as disciples sent
on this mission. Giving sight to the blind, setting the captives free…
There are many people around us who are suffering oppression of some
kind. Many who might not even be aware that they are oppressed. They do not
have sight. Even in our offices, workplaces, by superiors, fellow colleagues,
etc. People who are pressured to work overtime either by an unrealistic
workload or by peer pressure. The need to look as if one is so hardworking in
order to maintain a good reputation as a worker. While all other aspects of
life are affected as a result. Like it or not, we oppress ourselves too when we
judge and belittle ourselves in the very subtle messages we send to ourselves
unknowingly each day.
There are also many roles that we can play in helping the oppressed
and working, like Jesus, to restore social justice. There are passive and
active roles, and we have been given different gifts. In the Gospels, not much
is being said about Mary during Jesus’s ministry but it is not hard to think of
her as playing a very passive supportive role in all that Jesus was doing.
Supporting Him in ways that would free Him up and help Him focus on His
ministry. Mary of Magdala used her wealth from her business to fund the
expenses of Jesus’s ministry, while at the same time, being herself very
involved in what Jesus and His disciples were doing. Other women would have
helped by doing the cooking and seeing to the chores. But these tasks were very
much according to the gender culture of that time.
It is a good time this week, then, to discern – individually and
collectively as a legion praesidium – how we are called specifically to restore
social justice in our world, in our lives. Collectively, if not as a whole
group, perhaps even in pairs. Have a grace-filled Bible Sunday.
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