Gospel Reflection 2021/2022

Attempts to kill Christ THEN.

In the Gospels, we have heard the accounts of how there were multiple attempts to kill Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

• • When King Herod heard from the Magi that the infant King of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem, he was very disturbed and frightened. In his fear, he had tried to kill the new-born Jesus. [cf. Mt 2: 13-20]

• • In the Gospel reading this Sunday [cf. Lk 4: 28-30], the people in the synagogue were furious with Jesus because Jesus did not fit well into their expectations. And because of that, they had wanted to hurl Jesus down the brow of the hill.

• • When Jesus publicly declared that He was divine and He was greater than Abraham, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” the people were outraged and they had wanted to stone him. [cf. Jn 8: 58-59]

• • Later in His ministry, Jesus again got into trouble when He said, “The Father and I are one,” and “I am God’s Son.” Such ‘blasphemy’ was punishable by death. And they tried to arrest Him, but Jesus managed to escape from their hands. [cf. Jn 10:22-39]

• • And the final attempt to kill Jesus: the religious leaders conspired, Judas sold Jesus, the authorities tried Jesus in the kangaroo court and sentenced Jesus to death - our Lord died a horrible and humiliating death. [cf. Lk 22: 14 – 23: 56)]

The religious leaders and their cohorts thought they had succeeded in ending ‘the-Jesus-obsession’ that had swept across the land; they thought that ‘the-Jesus-fever’ would eventually subside after the crucifixion and death of Jesus. However, they were greatly mistaken. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, and appeared to His disciples and many others. Christianity, which was thought would be buried with Christ, had spread ‘throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth’ [Ac 1: 8].

Attempts to kill Christ NOW.

Even though Christ has conquered sin and death, yet the continued attempts to kill Jesus persist until this very day. Today, Christ and His Body (the Church) are STILL constantly being pushed to the edge of the cliff.

• IN THE WEST, with the rise of secularism and radical liberalism, the Christian identity and Christian root are being negated, rejected and erased. In order to be more politically correct, the terminologies of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini or ‘in the year of the Lord’) are being replaced with BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era). ‘Merry CHRIST-mas’ is offensive and unacceptable; ‘Happy Holiday’ or ‘Season’s Greeting’ is the politically-acceptable phrases. Crucifixes, statues of the saints and other Christian symbols are removed from public spheres. Christ and His Body (the Church) are frequently discriminated against, ridiculed, bombarded, censored and silenced. Christians are often deemed as a bunch of ultra conservatives, uncivilised supremacists and unreasonable chauvinists. In extreme cases, churches and chapels are vandalized, attacked, destroyed and set on fire.

• IN THE EAST, Christ and His Body (the Church) are also facing both subtle and violent persecutions. Some governments create unjust rules to curb the freedom of Christians professing the faith, celebrating the faith, living the faith, and sharing the faith. Christians are, more often than not, treated as the foreign interference, the thorns in the flesh, the enemies of the state, and the scapegoats for any arising problem in the country. It was reported in Herald Malaysia, 23 Jan 2022 that ‘5,898 Christians lost their lives last year (2021) because of their faith: this translates into 16 Christians being killed every day around the world!’

Christ will always triumph.

Yes, Christ and His Church have always been persecuted. Jesus has warned us [Jn 15: 18], “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated Me before it hated you.” The statistics is shocking and distressing, yet we know that evil will never have the last word because God is always with us: ‘They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’ [Jr 1: 19]

Empires have come and gone,

kingdoms have come and gone,

systems have come and gone,

Romans have come and gone,

Nazis have come and gone,

and the enemies of Christ have come and gone.

This we firmly believe:

Christ has triumphed, and Christ will always triumph!

OUR attempts to ‘kill’ Christ.

Reflecting further, the enemies within are worse than the enemies without. We could be Christ’s worst enemies.

How many times have we attempted to ‘kill’ Christ? Like the people in the synagogue, we want Jesus to fit into our expectations and fulfil our every whim and fancy. Or else, ‘He deserves to die!’ [Mt 26: 66]

Consciously or unconsciously, we attempt to push Christ out to the peripheries of our lives. Our hearts are coarse, our minds are dull, our eyes are closed, our ears are sealed, and our consciences are numbed to the truth of God, the voice of our Lord and the demands of the Gospel. We want a religion without discipline, discipleship without commitment, salvation without repentance, Gospel without sacrifice, and Christ without commandments. We are the ones who are guilty of settling for less and dumbing down our Christian faith. Like Judas, we are the ones who are compromising and betraying Christ and His Gospel. And yes, every single time when we deny God, when we sin, and when we reject God’s love, we are the ones crucifying Jesus again and again on the cross.

Christ and His Body (the Church) have enough enemies from without and from within. Like St Paul, we need the continual and profound conversion of our minds and hearts. Instead of becoming the enemies and persecutors of Christ, let us be true and courageous defenders of Christ our Lord.

Let our fervent prayer be:

“Watch over us, Lord. Deliver us from all evil.”