Near Yet Far

Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Dn 3: 31, 29, 30, 43, 42 All that you have done to us, O Lord, you have done with true judgment, for we have sinned against you and not obeyed your commandments. But give glory to your name and deal with us according to the bounty of your mercy.

Collect O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning and showing mercy, bestow, we pray, your grace abundantly upon us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the treasures of heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Job 38:1.12-21;40:3-5; Psalm 138; Luke 10:13-16

Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” (Luke 10:13-16)

Near Yet Far One can be very near to God, and yet very far indeed from him. One of the most terrible things about deliberate sin is that, in a sense, the creature, in sinning, drags the Creator into a kind of association with it. In everything, the creature depends on the all-holy, all-powerful Creator. Every element of our being and all our action is radically dependent on the Creator for its existence. Were there not to be that ontological support constantly coming from God, the creature would instantly cease to be. I can only think because the Creator sustains me precisely as I think. At every moment of my existence I am in an intimate proximity with my Creator because I depend absolutely and radically on his creative act. This means that God is sustaining me as I do his will, and he is sustaining me when I contravene it. He has given me the gift of existence and of life, and when I abuse this by engaging in thoughts, words or deeds that are profoundly offensive to him, indeed that are a horror to him because of their moral evil, he does not withdraw that gift of being. He continues to offer it by his intent that I live and exist. He is closer to me than I am to myself when I am doing things that deeply offend his infinite holiness. He sees all, even when what he sees disgusts him. He sustains me as I neglect and despise him by my action. When we sin, we sin in the intimate presence of our Creator. A great motive for not sinning is to maintain a sense of the presence of God always. When we sin, we are very near to God while being very far from him. The first sin that was ever committed was an enormity — and it was committed in heaven, where God is in all his infinite glory. Lucifer rebelled, and many angels with him. They refused to serve — though the precise nature of the sin is disputed — and this, despite their being in the presence of God himself. So they were cast out, never to return. Even in hell, the demons are close to God because God sustains them in existence. Close to him, they hate him and are far from him.

It is the same when Jesus Christ came among men. Though near to him, they could be very far from him. He grew up in the village of Nazareth, and we remember that he returned to his home town during his public ministry, with the fame of a prophet great in word and works. He announced to them that he was the Messiah, and warned that they were likely to reject him. This they forthwith did. They rejected him, and even strove to kill him. These were people with whom he had been raised, with whom he worked and associated for thirty years. They had been very close to him, and they proved in the event to be very far from him. Being in the presence of God does not necessarily mean being close to him. Expelled from his home town of Nazareth, our Lord moved to Capernaum which would serve as a base in his public ministry beyond. In our Gospel passage today we see our Lord condemning the people of Capernaum, with whom he was living, to whom he returned for respite during his public ministry, and for whom he worked miracles and preached. “And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld’” (Luke 10:13-16). They were physically near to our Lord, but far from him in their hearts. The most obvious and famous of such persons was Judas Iscariot. He was a follower of Jesus Christ, and chosen among other followers to be one of the elite Twelve. He was privileged to be part of the “inner sanctum” of Christ’s circle and friendship, with the inestimable honour of sharing in his all-important redemptive work. He could have become a great saint. His feast-day could have been celebrated annually in the Church’s Liturgical Year till the end of time. He was very near to Jesus Christ and literally lived in his presence. But he fell away into the most monstrous of sins. He betrayed his God for a handful of silver. He was close to Jesus Christ, but far from him. He allowed his faults to destroy his relationship with the God who had chosen him to be near to him and to share in his work.

By the gift of life and being, we have ipso facto been placed in the undying presence of God. By our Baptism and by the reception of the Sacraments we share in God’s life as his adopted children. He has placed us very close to him. We ought ask ourselves, What am I doing about this? Am I drifting along in this relationship which he, my Creator, has established for me? In fact, though close to him, I may be far from him because of sin. Let us resolve to build on what God has so mercifully done, and work to establish an undying intimacy with the God who loves us with his infinite love.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Job 38:1.12-21; 40:3-5)

Job's Sufferings: God's Answer One of the great steps forward in human history was the rise of science. Science has been one of the principal factors in the shaping of modern man — and the new knowledge that science has brought. There are breakthroughs in our knowledge of the atom. Unexpected information is on the horizon. What this also shows is that there is so little that we know of what God has created for our benefit. By implication, God's knowledge is unimaginably vast, while ours is so poor. This consideration ought help us in dealing with a problem that has perennially afflicted man, a problem that is very close to him: the problem of evil, especially the evil and suffering that appears to be undeserved. Job could not understand how it was that he suffered so much when he knew that he did not deserve it. God's answer comes at the end, in Chapter 38. He reminds Job that there is so much in the world that he (Job) does not understand. But God does — so there is a reason for what God permits. So too there is a reason for the suffering of the just man.

With the coming of Christ, suffering would be transformed, and given a purpose beyond imagining.

(E.J.Tyler)

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