THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
September 5, 2021
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – B.
A Sicilian proverb says: “The justice of God is better than
the justice of the world.” And a Jewish proverb adds: “The world exists on
three things: truth, justice, and peace.”
The justice of God is far beyond and above how this world
defines justice. Among the many attributes given to our God, he is also called
God of justice. What must we understand through this attribute? Something very
simple. It says that God makes no difference or discrimination between rich and
poor, or great and small. He loves them all the same way and would that, they
should also love each other the way he loves them.
Our world, our countries, our societies, our associations,
groups, and families, will be a better place and know the real peace only when
we will dare to give a seat of honor to justice and bury our hypocrisies and
indifferences. “Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of
all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between
rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in
a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a
requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this.” CCC.
1941.
Regrettably, many people today, are deaf and mute to this
call. Only a messianic action could help open our ears and hearts to seek the
justice that could change the face of the world. In the first reading, Prophet
Isaiah announces that Messianic time. God tells his people frightened by events
and happenings to be strong, and to fear not for, he will come for their
vindication and restore them in their right. This divine restoration will open
the sight of the blind, lose the tongue of the mute, and the ears of the deaf
will be cleared.
We live in a world where, out of indifference, many people
play the three monkeys and injustice goes crescendo. We pretend to see nothing,
to ear nothing, and so unable to say nothing about injustice. Though the poor
one suffers and his rights are abused, we stand mute, deaf, and inactive or
indifferent. As long as it does not affect us, it is not our problem. Through
the healing of the mute and deaf, the Lord Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us that
the prophetic time has come. The time for tongues to be loosed and ears to be
cleared so that, all may act courageously for the restoration of justice and
build peace and harmony in the world.
The different steps of today’s gospel miracle are
insightful. We read that, “people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech
impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him.” The people in question were
not indifferent to the situation of this man. The man could not express his
needs by himself, for, unable to speak. So, others became his voice. Many of
our fellow brothers and sisters are voiceless today, subjected to abuses and
social inequalities. We are challenged to become their voice, to speak on their
behalf.
The Evangelist Mark says that the Lord took him aside. A
call for us to, sometimes, withdraw from the midst of some situations in order
to find from outside some more relevant solutions. There is a saying that, “One
does not stand amid ants to remove the ants biting him.” The man was deaf and
mute amidst a noisy crowd. By taking him aside, the Lord opened his senses and
restored his ears and tongue. “He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then
he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”” Jesus was
not distant from the man. He took him, touched him, spoke to him, and ordered
him what to do. These are processes we should also apply when relating to our
needy brothers and sisters. Take them close to us, touch them, feel their
needs, and make them feel our concern for them, and do what is in our capacity.
Words alone are not enough to restore justice and harmony in
the world. Actions are also needed. And even, as say the dictum, “actions speak
louder than words.” God, in His justice, comes and feels our needs and acts for
our restoration. The “Ephphatha!” Jesus addressed, was not directed only to
this man but also to you and me, and again today. He calls us to be opened to
see, to hear, to feel, and so, to say something about what our brothers and
sisters are going through. “Ephphatha!” in order to get out from any kinds of
indifference and hypocrisy. “Ephphatha!” to become an instrument of justice.
For, true justice, the justice that comes from God, does not cohabit with
indifference, and where people are hypocrites and self-centered.
The Apostle James, in the second reading, makes it a more
insistent call for all Christ-followers. He tells us that our Christian
communities should not be deaf to the word of God and the cries of the poor.
Christianity is not mere words or partiality. We must be welcoming toward all,
without any discrimination or classification, just like God makes no
discrimination in loving us. Poor or rich, we all are loved by him. So too,
must we behave among ourselves. The Christian life cannot tolerate
discrimination based on social status or casts. We all are brothers and sisters
in Christ. This must not be only in words but act on our bodies. It is only at
this price that justice and true harmony will be found and we will know how
just in our God.
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