A PROPHET LIKE MOSES

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Deuteronomy 18:15-20

In the book of Deuteronomy, God made the following promise to Moses:

“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him..” (Dt 18:18 - ESV)

According to the New Testament, people saw in Jesus the prophet promised to Moses (Jn 6:14; Act 3:22-26). Contrary to all Christian tradition, Islam claims that the Deuteronomy passage announces the coming of Muhammad. The Quran simply says that “the Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet”, is “mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel” (Sura 7:157). It claims as well that Jesus himself announced the “good news of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad.” (Sura 61:6).

However, it is a far-fetched attempt at seeing in the Bible what is not there in any way. To interpret correctly any passage of any book, one must read it in the context. It is made clear that the promised prophet will come from “among their brothers”, that is from the people of Israel. Muhammad, considered a descendant of Ishmael, half-brother of Isaac, can be counted as one from “among their brothers”. However, Ishmael, born of the slave, was a slave as well and he was put aside and rejected. He had no right to Abraham’s inheritance and the promise made to Abraham passed to Isaac and through Isaac to Jacob. God’s covenant was made with the descendants of Isaac, not the descendants of Ishmael, who cannot be counted as brothers by the people of Israel. 

The promise made in Dt 18:18 makes it very clear that the announced prophet must be a member of the people of Israel. This misreading and misinterpreting of biblical passages by the Islamic tradition is an attempt at legitimising Muhammad as a prophet, even though such an attempt does not carry weight.

A true prophet must be a prophet like Moses. Nobody can assume the role of a prophet, but the one who was called and sent by God like Moses. Throughout the centuries, even in biblical times, there appeared many people who claimed to be prophets and presented their message as being God’s message. Those are false prophets and the false prophet must die:

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” (Dt 18:20).

How can we recognise a false prophet? The Lord gave Moses the answer:

“… when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” (Dt 18:22).

A true prophet humbles himself before the Lord and puts his life totally at the service of the Lord. He does not seek power and wealth and he is ready to suffer to remain faithful to the mission entrusted to him. He may be rejected and despised and he will not change his message to gain popularity. He puts his trust in the Lord. That is the way the great biblical prophets behaved. That is the way Jesus, the prophet like Moses, behaved.

This Sunday’s gospel presents Jesus as the prophet who came to teach people “with authority” and liberate them from oppression so that they live as children of God and manifest in their lives the glory of God. May the Lord Jesus Christ set us free from every power that oppresses us.

INVITED TO REPENT AND BELIEVE

III SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Jonah 3:1-5,10

The first reading in this Sunday liturgy presents Jonnah being ordered to go to Nineveh and preach about the impending punishment due to their evil behaviour. 

The whole book of Jonah is puzzling because it seems to go against the conventional and traditional wisdom of the people of Israel. As a prophet - certainly a fictional prophet - Jonah is different from all other prophets. He decided to run away from God, going as far away as possible from the direction God had given him. It is as if he knew better than God, thus choosing to follow his way and do his will instead of God’s will. He could not understand how God would send him to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, the worst enemy of the people of Israel. Why would be God concerned with them? The Prophet Isaiah had spoken about Egypt being God’s people and Assyria the work of his hands (Is 19:25). In spite of that, the people of Israel looked down on the gentiles and despised the enemies as being destined to destruction. Jonah’s attitude was the prevalent attitude among the Jews. However, God is always full of surprises. And the book of Jonah is proof of that. God cares for all, even the enemies. He wants the salvation of all, using many different ways of calling people, leading them to recognise their sin, repent and turn back to God. 

Jonah could not run away from God and, even though unwillingly, he went to Nineveh. People listened to his preaching and repented. Seeing their repentance, God abandoned his intent on punishment. In the end, his threat of punishment was the last resort to make people aware of their self-destructing behaviour. God will do everything for us to understand that he wants life and salvation because he loves his people.

In the gospel of Mark, Jesus began his ministry with three simple statements:

1. The Kingdom of God is becoming a reality;
2. Repent
3. Believe the Good News.

God’s presence and action of salvation are present and being manifest among us in Jesus’ ministry. We are called to recognise our sinful behaviour, to repent and to turn back to God. Then, we are invited to believe in Jesus and in his message, the Good News of God’s merciful love. The people of Nineveh set an example for us. Like them, we must repent and change our behaviour. Then, we are ready to become Jesus’ disciples, accepting him as the Saviour.

THE DIGNITY OF THE BODY

II SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20

In this passage of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul calls on us to reflect on the importance and the dignity of the human body.

Throughout the centuries, Christianity has been influenced by Greek philosophy, which sometimes overshadows the biblical understanding of being human. In Greek philosophy, there was a dualistic understanding of the human being, which is made up of body and soul. The body was considered a shell in which the soul dwells; at death, that shell will be discarded and the soul will be liberated. In the third century, Mani founded the Manichaeism, a religion which had a big influence for a long time. St. Augustine was a Manichaean before becoming a Christian. Manichaeism professes a strict dualism of good and evil in a permanent struggle. The body belongs to the realm of evil, which entraps the soul until it will be liberated by death.

The biblical way of looking at the human body is quite different. In Genesis, we are told that “the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground” and then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gn 2:7). The human was formed by God who made it alive with his breath. Then, at the appropriate time, “the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14), meaning that with the incarnation of the Son of the living God, the human body can become a source of blessing and salvation.

St. Paul is well aware of the dignity of our bodies due to the body of Christ. Our body “is the temple of the Holy Spirit” and “you have been bought and paid for”. Then, our body “is for the Lord”. This implies that “God, who raised the Lord from the dead, will by his power raise us up too.” “That is why you should use your body for the glory of God.”

This means that we must respect our body and, through it, become closer to the Lord, remembering that our “bodies are members making up the body of Christ”. Whenever we use our bodies to separate ourselves from the Lord, we are wronging our bodies. Paul uses this type of reasoning to show how fornication and prostitution are out of place, diminishing the dignity of our bodies. The use of the body for self-satisfaction and pleasure without any other consideration is the fruit of our selfishness, which ignores the demands of true love. This is only possible where there are self-giving and commitment, which lead us to be at the service of those we love.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Co 6:18).

THIS IS MY SERVANT, MY CHOSEN ONE

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD - Mark 1:7-11

As we celebrate the Lord’s baptism, we are called to reflect upon and then renew our baptism. In the gospel, John the Baptist compares his baptism to the baptism Jesus will administer: “I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”

John baptised with water, as a sign of repentance and conversion. People recognised and confessed their sins and asked John for guidance for them to walk along the righteous path. John draws their attention towards the Messiah who is coming: “Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am.” 

We may say that, in this Sunday’s passage, Mark invites us to look at John and Jesus side by side. John is aware of his subsidiary role. He came to prepare people to welcome the Messiah with a sincere and pure heart. In an attitude of humility, John accepts his role and puts himself at the service of the Messiah: “I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals.”

As for Jesus, we are told that he left Nazareth in Galilee and went to John who lived in the fringes of the desert by the river Jordan. Maybe Jesus walked along with many other people who did the same journey to hear the prophet and to be baptised by him. We may ask: Why did Jesus present himself to be baptised? John himself was puzzled when he saw Jesus and told him: “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” (Mt 3:14). However, although he was sinless as the Son of God, Jesus accepted the role of the Servant of Yahweh, who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” and “the iniquity of us all” has been “laid on him” (Is 53:4,6). By his baptism, Jesus demonstrates his willingness to share our human condition enslaved to sin. However, John’s intuition was right: Jesus was not a common man from Galilee; he was the Messiah. And what followed immediately after the baptism proves it. A theophany took place. With “the heavens torn apart”, the Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him. We may say that Jesus receives an investiture as the Christ (Messiah). And a voice from heaven confirms it: 

“You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.”

Jesus is the beloved or, as Isaiah says in the first reading: 

“Here is my servant whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” (Is 42:1)

We were baptised with the baptism of Jesus, that is we were baptised with the Holy Spirit, who makes of us children of God. In the baptism, we were grafted in Christ so that we are with him one body. Being in communion with Jesus Christ, he leads us to be in communion with the other human beings.

WE SAW HIS STAR AS IT ROSE AND HAVE COME TO DO HIM HOMAGE

SOLEMNITY OF EPIPHANY - Matthew 2:1-12

In many countries, where the sixth of January is not a public holiday, the solemnity of Epiphany is celebrated today.

The magi represent all of us who belong to the gentile nations. Guided by a star, they started a long journey looking for the Messiah. In the end, they found him and “falling to their knees they did him homage”. 

We are called to see the light, to search for Jesus in whom we find life and salvation.

Remembering the Christmas celebration in Lubengele Parish, Chililabombwe, Zambia, we may sing along: Ku mulu eko afumine