Soldier of Salvation
Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8
There was a village in Cameroon, in years gone by, where anyone caught stealing received the mark of what he/she stole on the forehead. There were two men who stole a sheep, and they were caught. ST= “Sheep Thief” was written on their foreheads. One of the two men was too ashamed to remain in the village, so he migrated from the village. The other man stayed on and tried to change his ways. He became a very charitable and humble man. Many years down the road, children who were born after the incident and never knew the meaning of ST on the forehead of the man, started calling him a “Saint” because of the ST on his forehead and because of his good lifestyle. His perseverance in doing good transformed his identity from “sheep thief” to a “Saint.”
The context of the battle between Israel and Amalek, recounted in our first reading, is in the wake of Israel’s delivery from slavery in Egypt. Although God worked miracles and wonders to lead Israel out of Egypt, Israelites were not to fold their arms in the battle, they had their fair share of contribution to make, both spiritually and physically, as they journeyed towards the Promise Land. Today, God teaches us that he works in tandem with human efforts – 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration. Israel not only met with resistance from Pharaoh before leaving Egypt, Israel met with several temptations and oppositions on her way to the Promise Land. One such resistance is today’s battle with Amalek. As Joshua fought, Moses’ arms were supported by two Israelites, in an orans or praying position. It is not so much the fight and killing, but that God saves human beings through human efforts.
The mistake a lot of people make is to think that salvation is achieved on a plata of silver; that human beings could go to bed and leave God to do everything for them. NO! Human agency and cooperation with God are very essential to both personal and collective salvation. If there is one lesson to be learnt from the first reading today, it is the lesson in human cooperation with God’s graces and gifts to us. As a matter of fact, God’s blessings and punishment, while our sojourn on earth lasts, is meted out to us through human agencies. God uses human beings to bless us and to chastise us. God uses Israel as his instrument of punishment to defeat Amalekites for their evil ways. When Israel too became unfaithful, God used other nations to punish Israel, like the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles.
God has no favorites, and he does not approve of violence. The fact that God does not approve of his children killing one another is demonstrated in today’s gospel; the gospel of today presents us with a different image of God, through a bloodless situation. The encounter between a widow and a bad king ended in a win-win situation, because even a bad person is still a child of God and God wills his/her salvation. The blood of Christ, shed on Calvary, was for the salvation of all peoples. When God created, in Genesis, all was good and he blessed the whole of his creation. In other words, God wants his “original blessing” to dwell with us upon earth, for his plans for us is for goodness and blessing, and not for disaster and sorrow.
In the Jewish societies at the time the gospels were written, the symbol of a widow was that of loneliness and helplessness, since her husband had been taken away from her. But the widow of today’s gospel is strong – she never took “no” for an answer. With no might and weapons, she got the king to do her biddings. The king was called unjust, but the persistence of the widow helped an evil and bad king to do the right thing. Unlike our first reading, where bad people were defeated by Israel in a war, Jesus shows us, in the gospel today, that the good and the bad and the ugly are all children of God. In fact, the good have responsibility toward the bad and the ugly – to convert them.
We can look at our first reading from a different angle. The raised hands of Moses assured the victory of Israel against the Amalekites: this is a physical victory. Looking at the Cross of Christ, the victory of human salvation was won with the hands of Christ raised and made stead by the nails of his executioners: this is a spiritual victory. Physical victory divides human beings into victors and vanquished, but spiritual victory makes everyone a child of God. Jesus came for the spiritual salvation of all peoples. He invites human beings to see what unites them, and not what separates them. The imperfections of the Old Testament are transformed into divine perfection in Christ. Not wars, but peace; not divisions, but unity; not favorites, but children of God, the God who allows his rain to fall on the good and the bad, and his sun to shine upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
“The God who created you without your help, will not save you without your help,” says St. Augustine. This saying captures the lessons of this Sunday, from the perspective of Paul, in our second reading, and the story with which our homily began. In our story, a “Sheep Thief” became a saint because of his persistence in doing good. This means that God’s Holy Spirit can help anybody willing to change his or her sinful ways into a saint! Anyway, the Christian challenge is how to confront this generation with the truth, audacity and love of the gospel. For too long, Christians have left the good news of salvation to dwell in sacred Scriptures. This is WRONG! Sacred Scripture needs to come to life, to become concrete and visible. There is only one way to do this – to INCARNATE the gospel and become a soldier of salvation. We saw that in Mary and Jesus: “The Word became flesh, and he dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This was possible through the Holy Spirit and faith.
The exclusive duty of a Christian, therefore, is to transform himself/herself into a visible copy of the gospel – a soldier of salvation. His/her life should become the mirror through which the gospel is seen and touched. Even illiterates, who can neither write nor read, may see us and come to faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is necessary, if a Christian wants to achieve this incarnation of the Word of God. Mary’s fiat – let it be done to me according to your word – was her display of faith. This is the challenge Paul put to Timothy, and God puts it before you and me today. Luckily, the window of the gospel helps us to comprehend the meaning of faith. She shows us how faith works – never to quit, up until God has answered. But it was a double blessing, the unjust judge did justice, at least for once; he was converted because of a widow’s persistence!
It is true that the widow in our gospel reading got what she wanted. But we have to be careful about what we ask for, if we must receive it. We cannot ask for just anything, God wants us to ask for his Holy Spirit, which he promises never to refuse to anyone who asks. This is another perspective to the gospel. Many people think that faith is only for miracles and extra-ordinary works. Our gospel concludes with God’s promise to give his Holy Spirit to those who ask of him. Therefore, it is not what we want that we need to pray for, but what God wants: God wants us to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is only one reason for this: with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in a Christian, there is transformation. Remember how timid Jesus’ disciples were before Pentecost, but they became bold and workers of miracles, in the power of the Holy Spirit; remember how the descent of the Holy Spirit fructified the womb of Mary and the Word of God became flesh; remember how the Spirit of God, at creation, hovered over formless void bringing about order in disorder. This same Spirit is still working in the hearts and lives of those who are God’s friends.
If Paul urged Timothy to preach the gospel in season and out of season, to insist on the truth of the gospel, to be faithful to the teachings of the gospel, all these simply mean one thing – those who do not, do not have the Spirit of God; hence, they need to invite him into their lives. Are you able to and do refute errors on the basis of the gospel of Christ? Is your life modeled after the gospel of Christ or after political and scientific knowledge? Do you counsel sinners to bring them back to the right path? If you cannot answer in the affirmative any of these three questions, you need to invite the Holy Spirit anew into your life.
Assignment for the Week:
Make it a point of duty to pray the prayer to the Holy Spirit everyday this week (“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and . . .”)!