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Tuesday – Nineteenth Week – OT2
Readings: Eze 2:8-3:4; Mt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14.
1/ First Reading: NAB Ezekiel 2:8 As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you. 9 It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll 10 which he unrolled before me. It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe! 3:1 He said to me: Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said: 4 Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.
2/ Gospel: NAB Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child over, placed it in their midst, 3 and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” 10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” 11 () 12 “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? 13 And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. 14 In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
I. THEME: Leadership according to God’s way
A country is lost or a house is separated, in a large part is due to the wrong leadership. Instead of governing people in justice and love, the leader unjustly treats people and causes division between people. Instead of paying attention to the development of the nation and upgrading people’s life, the leader is only content with material gain and enjoyment.
Today readings teach leaders how to govern in order to bring peace and security for people. In the first reading, the Lord taught the prophet Ezekiel the most important point in leadership is to obey Him; disobedience and rebellion only lead to bad results for oneself and bring the nation to destruction and exile. In the Gospel, Jesus taught his disciples that the greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself as a child to listen to God and to serve others. He also needs to have love to search for his lost sheep.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: The prophet must obey God and speak what God wants him to speak.
1.1/ The vision about the scroll: Since the king and leaders of the Israelites didn’t worship God and keep what He commands, so they must endure all bad results: the nation was lost, their houses and the temple were destroyed, and all people were on exile. During their exile in Babylon, God continually sent His prophets to announce to them that He shall save the remnant who repent and return to Him. He shall let them back to their country to re-establish it and to rebuild the temple. In order to achieve that, they must listen to prophets.
Through all the reports of the vocation of peophets, we can see the importance of God’s words in their prophetic missions. In Isaiah’s calling, God’s angel purified him by picking a hot charcoal and touching his mouth. In Jeremiah’s calling, God commanded him to eat a small book. And in today passage, God commanded Ezekiel to eat the whole scroll by saying, “As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you: be not rebellious like this house of rebellion, but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.”
In the scroll which God gave to Ezekiel, has both the sorrowful past and the hopeful future. What were written in the front of the scroll can be what shall happen in the future; what in the back can be what had happened in the past. The prophet described the scroll as follows: “It was then I saw a hand stretched out to me, in which was a written scroll which he unrolled before me. It was covered with writing front and back, and written on it was: Lamentation and wailing and woe!”
1.2/ Ezekiel obeyed God and ate the scroll: The obedient attitude of Ezekiel was opposed to the rebellious attitude of the Israelites who refused to listen to God’s words. The prophet wrote: “He said to me: son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. He said: Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.” The scroll was “as sweet as honey” implies the sweetness of God’s words. God’s words became Ezekiel’s words. When the prophet was permeated by God’s words, he can go and preach them to the house of Israel.
2/ Gospel: Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
2.1/ Humility is one of conditions to enter the kingdom of heaven.
(1) Human ambition: The disciples approached Jesus and asked him, “Master! Who is the greatest in heaven?” They asked Jesus this question because they were so used to worldly values and standards, such as: high position, fame and power. The greatest one is the person who has a highest position and a greatest power; for examples, the king or the leader of a nation. We can see that the disciples’ purpose when they followed Jesus is to govern with him when Jesus recovers the Israel kingdom. This ambition was shown when the mother and her two sons, James and John, made a request to Jesus so that they can sit one at the right and the other at the left when Jesus reigns. The other ten apostles were indignant with the two brothers about this request.
(2) The condition to enter the kingdom of heaven: Jesus called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” Two main ideas which Jesus wanted his disciples to understand here: First, the standards and values of the kingdom of heaven are different with what of the world. Secondly, to enter the kingdom of heaven, they must humble themselves and become like children.
2.2/ The good shepherd: To help his disciples to be familiar with the kingdom of heaven’s values and standards, Jesus continued to teach them two lessons:
(1) Don’t despise the lowly: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
The world pays attention to the high position, the power and the rich; Jesus taught his disciples to love and to care for the small (mikros). This Greek adjective used as a noun here is different with the noun used for a child above (paidíon). This adjective has two meanings:
– those have a small figure such as a child or a dwarf;
– those aren’t important, have no position in society, the poor, the illiterate.
The second meaning is proper for this sentence. Jesus’ disciples must be on the side of these people to protect and to care for them as God’s children. Each of them have a guardian angel to protect for them before God. Whoever insults or causes damage to them, the guardian angel shall report to (x/c Tob 3:8-9, 12:12-14).
(2) Must search for the lost sheep: Jesus taught his disciples, “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
The worldly people pay attention to the crowd to be popular and well-known; they can’t understand why one leaves ninety-nine sheep on the mountain to look for the lost sheep. God, as the Father, loves and cares for each individual, especially to the one who gets lost. He knew each one, loves and cares for each one, and shall not be satisfied until He finds the lost one. He is only completely happy when He sees all sheep are gathered into one flock and under a good shepherd.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– The successful leader first of all is the one who listen to God, and then must find all opportunities to preach and to practice these words in life to benefit oneself and others.
– To become a child isn’t meant to do all what they do, but to humble oneself before God and completely put one’s trust in His providential guidance.
– The leader according to God’s standard isn’t the one who gives order to others, but loves and serves all people, especially the poor and the widow.