by Mr. Titus Menezes
This evening, we will look at scripture text from the book of Romans 8:15-17. But you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.(NRSV)
What is the meaning of heirs?
- A person who inherits or is entitled by law or by the terms of a will to inherit the estate of another.
- A person who succeeds or is in line to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office.
- One who receives or is expected to receive a heritage, as of ideas, from a predecessor.
In our ordinary or physical life, a heir is usually the closest kinsman – parents and siblings. At marriage, a person acquires an even closer relative – one’s spouse (two become one Mt 19:5) and then kin: children. Similarly in our spiritual lives when we are baptized into Christ we acquire a new closest kinsman – Jesus. Whoever loves father or mother or son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mt 10:37
The closest kinsman was considered to be also one’s redeemer. It was both his right and his obligation to rescue a kinsman from poverty or slavery. In the OT, in the book of Ruth for example, Ruth 3:1-2 - Naomi said to Ruth "My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz…………..
In the NT, Jesus has become this redeemer Eph 1:5 – He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ. Verse 7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
Through the sacrament of baptism, Christians have received the spirit of sonship. Rom 8:15-17 And this is what we are going to reflect on. I began with the text – but you received a Spirit of adoption. Why spirit of adoption? Jesus was the only begotten Son of God; we have not been born of God directly and hence the word adoption comes. Putting it differently, we are spiritual orphans, physically we have our parents but for our spiritual side – nobody. So at baptism, we receive the spirit of adoption and are incorporated (become a part) into God’s family.
It is our privilege and our task to fully cooperate with this Spirit of Jesus. This Spirit will help us actualize our inheritance as coheirs with Christ. If we co-operate wholeheartedly, we will steadily and patiently progress to becoming like Jesus.
Friends a question that must be already popping up in your mind is: What is this inheritance that Paul is talking about? To address this, we will literally be covering the bible end-to-end and speaking from the Blessed Trinity point of view. I begin with the opening prayer we hear at Mass 2 Cor 13:13 - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion or fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. It speaks of the Trinity and us: the Church.
We begin with the first person of the Holy Trinity – The Heavenly Father. Whenever problems occur in our life the first thing we do is blame God for that problem. Matthew 13:27-28 - 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' If God intended good, how did the bad come? Such problems and circumstances instead of creating a block with God should serve as a reminder of the activity of the enemy. 1 Peter 5:8-9 - Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.
The spiritual battle between forces of good and the forces of evil has not ended. We know how difficult it is getting for all of us with each passing day. Our late Pope John Paul II in one of his encyclical when speaking of spiritual warfare explaining the sin of Adam and Eve spoke of the perverse genius of suspicion. The enemy is a genius and his intelligence surpasses ours but this genius is a perverse genius. His strategy has always been to sow suspicion in the minds of God’s creatures against God himself. And how successful he is! He is able to show man that God is in opposition to man and that he wants his downfall while the truth is that God is a loving and caring Father.
A question that you may have is why is the enemy so pre-occupied in tarnishing God’s image and name? Why does he want human beings to be against God? We can find an answer to these questions in the book of Genesis chapter 1. We have always looked at it from a creation point of view but lets look at it from a spiritual point of view. Lets keep the knowledge of history / geography aside.
Genesis 1:2-4 - The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Into this darkness God stepped in and took the first step and he said "Let there be light"; and there was light. Light was a symbol of good while darkness symbolized evil. A question that you may have is why did God not totally destroy the darkness? Lets hold this question for some time. God allows day and night to alternate and even in the night he creates moon and stars to rule the night. When God created day and night He said it is good and when He created man he said it was very good. For every parent their child is very good irrespective of behaviour.
Later he separated land from the waters Gen 1:9 and the land he called earth and the water the seas. He then went on to create living beings and so life is another symbol of good whereas the absence of life is symbolically death or evil.
Now lets go to Revelation, the last book, last two chapters. The same symbols what I spoke of from Genesis 1 and 2 reappear in these last two chapters of Revelation. Revelation 22:5 - And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.(NRSV). There will be no more night. Darkness or evil is completely defeated and destroyed. Revelation 21:1 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.(NRSV). The sea was no more - another symbol of evil has been wiped out. Revelation 21:4 - Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."(NRSV). Death will be no more the third symbol I mentioned of. Evil is done away with only good remains. What God began so well in the first two chapters of the first book he completes in the last two chapters of the last book.
Light and life are the words on which the whole talk revolves. How at each stage of salvation history this has been manifested and is manifesting. God did not wish to do things all by himself but in His great love willed that we His human children become members of his team. He wanted the victory of good over evil to be a result of divine-human partnership rather than His work alone. This is the plan of God.
So go ahead and multiply, fill the earth and have dominion over it. In NT we read Jesus saying – go make disciples of all the nations. Mt 28:19 – the purpose of multiplication is to make disciples of all the nations to bring in light and life and in the process hasten the coming of the kingdom of God.
God created man in His image and likeness so that like Him, man will overcome evil. He is our creator and our Father and wanted to have a Father-child relationship but the evil one managed to sow the seed of suspicion and eventual separation and ‘fail’ the plan of God. But imagine somebody has poisoned the mind of your child against you. Would you just weep and sit or would you do something to restore the relationship? God too felt immense pain and wanted to restore that relationship and in His wisdom sent His Son Jesus to do it – to redeem us from our sin and the clutches of the enemy – to make us pure and holy just as He is.
iIn God’s eyes we the redeemed are his children first and sinners second. This status is accorded to us on account of our baptism. 2 Corinthians 5:17 -So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The Lord’s Prayer is proof of this. The prayer begins with our Father – a relationship first. Much later do we ask for the forgiveness of sins even after we have prayed for our daily bread. So for the Father we are children first and sinners second. This is the unconditional love of the Father. The example of the prodigal son - the Father celebrated the son’s return and in no way condemned him.
Lets move on the to the 2nd person of the Trinity – Jesus. God so loved the world – His creation and could not bear the pain of seeing him separated from Him. He wanted man to be His partner to overcome evil and so He sent His Son into the world. I will focus on the mystery of the cross as a part of this divine-human partnership.
The cross is a mystery. Paul mentions in his letter to the Corinthians that to the human mind it is foolishness and not wisdom. Yet the strategy of the Father and of Jesus was that Jesus was to empty Himself and be lifted on the cross. No human mind can ever grasp this way to salvation. Such death was only for a criminal. The cross was difficult for Jesus. During the temptations in the desert Jesus had to choose between the way of the cross or the way of the world. Satan tried to exploit the sonship of Jesus.
If you are the Son of God then
- turn these stones into bread
- jump down from the top of the temple
- worship me
and we know the replies Jesus gave. That was the word part but see what Jesus did on the cross
- He gave up His body and blood for the salvation of man
- He drew people to Him by being lifted on the cross and that at the mention of his name every name in heaven and on earth will bow down and worship Him.
The cross was the bridge between man and God. The relationship was restored. What are the elements that make up the cross? They can be summarized in two small words:
- Pain – physical and mental
- Shame – humiliation whatever empties a person of his dignity and rights
When the Romans used the method of crucifixion, it was not with the intention of giving physical pain so much as that of shaming and humiliating him although the physical pain was also great. What is easier to bear: a headache or an insult? Followers of Christ have to be ready to face slander and gossip today rather than death threats. The tremendous benefit that humanity has from the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross is the real forgiveness of sins. 1 John 1:7 - the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. This is grace: grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus finally gave up His breath the curtain of the temple was torn into two. What separated man from God i.e. sin was atoned for in the death of Christ and we were made one with God. A prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled. Ezek 36:26 – I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And I will be your God and you will be my people… To walk in the statutes is to cooperate in the plan of God. The death of Jesus was a part of this great plan. Friends if we want to be true disciples, in other words heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ to be a part of this great plan of God then Phil 3:10-11 list three stages:
- I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and
- the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
- I want to know Christ personally, I want to know him at the heart level only then will I be able to understand the suffering he underwent and be in a position to share and unite with this suffering.
Romans 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to / to match the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. The first and the second stage lead us to the third stage - the reward of heaven. This is our hope.
There is no other way to be a partner in God’s plan than this. Jesus calls each one of His co-heirs to share personally in this mystery of the cross – to become more and more like Him. It means always being the self-denying and self-giving person. An important point to note from our theme verse which makes us co-heirs of Christ is that it requires we be totally conformed to the image of Jesus i.e. not only do we rejoice in the pleasant aspects – strength, consolation, joy but also in the essential demands of the cross.
When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.
Before I conclude on the Jesus section I would like to read from John 8:12 - Jesus said "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." This verse is a strong pointer to this whole divine-human partnership. Jesus the light and the life of the world – no more darkness, no more death. John 1:4-5 - in Him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
And finally the third person of the trinity – The Holy Spirit - He is the most misunderstood or the least understood person of the Holy Trinity.
John 6:63 - It is the spirit that gives life. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Jesus. Gal 4:6 – God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Just as the Father sent the Son in the power of His Fatherhood, in the same power, He now sends the Holy Spirit. But that's not the only power – the Holy Spirit also comes with the power of redemption accomplished by Jesus on the cross – its continuation of the work of Jesus. He does not come with a different mission.
A beautiful insight given by our late Pope is to the self giving nature of God.
- The first self-giving of God was when the Father created each human in His image and likeness
- The second self giving was when Jesus came into the world and died to save us all
- And from Pentecost till the end of time the third self giving of God happens when the Holy Spirit fills our heart and lives.
Each person of the Trinity was progressively revealed. First the Father, then many centuries years later, Jesus, and then finally, the Holy Spirit. All the images we have of the Holy Spirit have one thing in common i.e the dove alighting, wind blowing, the fire burning, oil flowing – these are not stationary, they are moving from God to man in his infinite love and power to stay with us and bless us. The Holy Spirit is God in action.
The prayer with which I began says fellowship of the Holy Spirit. What is fellowship?
- Companionship, Company
- A community of interest, activity, feeling or experience; the state of being a fellow or associate
- A company of equal or friends
The Spirit wants to have our companionship, our friendship and share interests and activity. Fellowship is based upon things in common:
Purpose : Psalms 133:1-3 Belief : Acts 2:42
Conviction : 1 Peter 3:8 Work : Nehemiah 4:1-23
Hope : Hebrews 11:39, 40 Faith : 1Samuel 20:30-42
Suffering : Daniel 3:16-30 Need : 2Corinthians 8:1-15
This is the fellowship the Holy Spirit wants to have with us. Where does He reside in us? Once again Gal 4:6 has the answer - Gal 4:6 – God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!". The Holy Spirit resides in our hearts and wants to have fellowship with us in our hearts – the core of our being.
Many are frightened of the Holy Spirit because Jesus said any one who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. It is not so much of the words spoken as much as the refusal to be converted, refusal to accept the salvation which God has to offer to man. When we continue to persist in evil saying, we do not need salvation: we bring spiritual ruin and we do not give a chance of God to work in our lives.
The Holy Spirit has many functions and let us see a few of them:
- The Holy Spirit makes us holy - and whoever opens himself up to this action is sanctified. So at baptism, we are freed from sin and receive new life and enter into a relationship with God. The Holy Spirit makes us partakers of the divine nature (1 Pt 1:4) and we become sons and daughters of the Father. Notice the word ‘partaker’. We enter into a partnership with God.
- The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray – having made us holy, the function of the Holy Spirit is to put is in touch with God and this is achieved by prayer. Prayer involves the raising of one’s mind and heart to God. It is not mere human effort. We can never reach God by our own effort unless there is some person from above who can show us. Gal 4:6 comes handy once again – God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Rom 8:16 – it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit. When our human spirit is in fellowship with the Holy Spirit only then can we establish communication with God. Rom 8:26 - Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. (NRSV)
- The Holy Spirit enthrones Jesus as Lord - 1 Cor 12:3 - No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to enthrone Jesus in our hearts in a real way. Romans 8:16 – it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. To say Jesus is Lord is to accept a change of direction, a re-orientation of our lives away from the things of the world and towards what is from God.
These functions of the Holy Spirit makes us children of God and if children then heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We can never achieve this status if we are not born and led by the Holy Spirit.
Each person of the Trinity is heavily involved in bringing light into our lives and eventually into the world. This is the divine-human partnership of defeating darkness and bringing victory to light. This is the thread running right from the beginning of creation till today and till the end of time. The joint mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the church which is the body of Christ. Recall the drawing made explaining the grace of Christ, love of God and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
This draws us to the concluding part – the Church – the body of Christ - Paul in his letter to the Ephesians ch. 5 speaks of Christ being the head and the church the body. Just as with our life the head has no meaning without the body and vice versa – again the partnership. Earlier I spoke of the Trinity but now it involves you and me in the Church. 1 Peter 2:9-10 - Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people… you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. See the sanctification process – God’s people – chosen race – royal priesthood – holy nation. You were called out of darkness into His marvelous light. And what is this light? To throw out darkness and spread light. The mission of the church begins
The Church exists to evangelize and witness. Again this is not on our own strength as many of us believe but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us consider the four gospels and what is their message?
Matthew 28:19-20 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…. I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Mark 16:15,20 - And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ……..and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it. (NRSV)
Two elements are common to these texts:
- the task of spreading the Good News
- the assurance that the Lord is with us
Both the gospels speak about going out to preach the Good News. The other two gospels have a different focus:
Luke 24:48-49 - You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised.
John 20:21-22 - As the Father has sent me, so I send you…..Receive the Holy Spirit.
- the task is the same as in Matthew and Mark
- the assurance of the help of the Holy Spirit.
But the stress by these two groups is different – while Matthew and Mark is to preach the Good News, Luke and John stress on come and see – witnessing of what the Lord has done amongst us.
We the Church i.e. Christians – the children of God have a dual role to play – not only are we to evangelise but also to witness – come and see that the Good News is not theory but it actually works. Not all of us may be able to go out to give the Good News but all of us are called to be witnesses. To give us help for this calling, the Holy Spirit provides us with at least three sources of power for daily Christian living – to allow us to be able to fulfill this divine-human partnership. I will just give brief mentions as each one is a talk by itself.
1. Eucharist
2. Word of God
3. Marian devotion
Then there is prayer, praise… we have heard about it… but I will dwell on these today..
Eucharist - The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life.” CCC1324. Christian life is essentially a spiritual life, so the Eucharist is essentially the source and summit of Christian spirituality.
What do we understand from source and summit?
- Christian spirituality flows from the Eucharist as its source, the way light streams forth from the sun
- Christian spirituality is supremely (completely) realized in the Eucharist as its summit or high-point to which all of our actions should ultimately be directed.
Christian spirituality then is a 2-way street
- it leads us from the Eucharist as our starting point out into the world of daily life and
- it takes us back home to the Eucharist after our sojourn in the world
The Eucharist is a source of grace:
- It is Christ Himself under the appearance of bread and wine (CCC 1324, 1373-1381)
- It is the sacramental re-presentation of Christ’s saving sacrifice on the cross CCC (1362-1367). It is a sacramental re-presentation and not a ritual or enactment. The sacrifice of Christ is made present here and now.
- It is the sacrifice of the Church. The Church which is the Body of Christ participates in the offering of her Head Eph 5:21-32. In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. (Explain body and head groom and bride). So the sacrifice of the church is two fold:
o The Church offers Christ, the spotless victim, to the Father
o The Church in union with Christ offers herself to God in the Spirit
By this we receive the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice and make ourselves available to more graces. In this way the Church is built up in her members as the body of Christ and temple of the Holy Spirit. What the head receives, the body receives too. This partaking in the Eucharist unites us or joins us the Church with Christ. What Christ received, we receive too because the Head and the Church, the body are one – we become co-heirs or joint heirs. And because Christ is the Son of God, the Church receives the title of children of God. We are heirs and joint heirs.
So by partaking of the Eucharist, we receive Christ into our lives and in the process receive His life and light: the light and life promised to throw out darkness and death.
The Bible - The Word of God
Psalm 119:130 - The unfolding of your words gives light.
Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
John 6:63 - The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
The Word of God is the light and life and we can draw this into our life by a daily scripture reading. Romans 10:17 - Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. We can claim the inheritance of Christ only in and through faith. The inheritance will not just happen without our knowledge and participation. Hebrews 11:1 - Faith is the assurance (guarantee) of things hoped for, the conviction (confidence) of things not seen.
And finally Marian devotion (Mary – Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church) - Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death"; it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:
After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers." CCC 964-965. By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith, hope and charity.
The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer.... She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' . . . since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head." CCC 963
"Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church." She becomes the new Eve.
If we are the body of Christ and Christ was born of Mary then we the Church – the body of Christ, the redeemed are her children. Then co-heirs with Christ and heirs of God. To conclude on Mary, we all recite the Hail Mary –
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you – whoever is filled with grace, the Lord is with them
blessed are you amongst women – the new Eve
and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus – and what is Jesus made up of – the church – His body. Blessed are we the redeemed. Mother of God and mother of the church.
As I was preparing this section, the picture of Mary with the crescent moon and serpent below her feet came to mind – symbolizing her crushing out darkness and death.
Friends I have covered the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Church and the help available to us in the Eucharist, the Word of God and Marian devotion with a view to address our theme verse Romans 8:14-17.
Coming back to the text:
• For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
• When we cry, "Abba! Father!", it is that very Holy Spirit bearing witness with our human spirit that we are children of God,
• and if children, then heirs,
• heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ
• if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Only those born and led by the Spirit of God are children of God. A dual witnessing is happening – when we say Our Father, the Holy Spirit bears witness or confirms to the Father this is a child of God. And if we are children of God then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If in fact we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Last week I spoke of discipleship quoting Philippians 3:10-11
• I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and
• the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
• if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Both saying the same thing on suffering - by becoming like Him in his death so that we may attain resurrection or be glorified in Him. we have to identify ourselves with Christ on the cross. Friends it is not enough to share in the joyful (Christmas) and luminous (miracles and wonders) mysteries but also in His sorrowful (passion and death) mysteries so that one day we will share as well in His glorious (resurrection) mysteries.
So now the question – What are we heirs to: We are heirs to the kingdom of God. In ordinary life we inherit the property of our parents as their children. So too here we inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 14:17 - For the kingdom of God is not food and drink (and money) but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The kingdom of God is both in the present and in the future
- the kingdom of God lies ahead of us
- it is brought near in the Word incarnate
- it has come in Christ’s death and resurrection
- it has been coming since the Last Supper and in the Eucharist it is in our midst
- it will come in glory when Christ hands it over to His Father (CCC 2816)
So we don't have to wait to be inheritors of the kingdom after we have passed through this world. We can inherit and enjoy the kingdom here and now.
How important am I to I AM? What is my role in this kingdom?
Today we have many sports played at night – day and night cricket matches. As night descends powerful lights placed at strategic positions flood the ground with light. It’s as good as day light. Take a closer look at those light panels and you will see many small lamps in an array which cause that massive flooding of lights. Individually those lamps may not be able to throw light beyond a few metres but collectively we can see their performance.
We as members of the Body of Christ are like those small lamps, individually our lights may be small much but collectively, we can flood the place with light. Each of us has a role to play. Not one of us can say I am new or old – whatever is the light possible even if a flicker, we have to shine it.
Mt 5:14-16 - "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. This is our role - to be the light, to carry on the light initiated by God at creation so that Revelation 22:5 is fulfilled.
And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. We sing give me oil in my lamp keep me burning – give me Your Spirit Lord that I might be the shining light. The Father, Son and Spirit gave and are giving, it is now our time as heirs and co-heirs to give and hasten the coming of the kingdom.
I end with … All glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end.
It refers to the glory - the Kingdom of God as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end – a new heaven and a new earth where there is only light and life forever and ever AMEN.