I would like us to reflect on three fundamental questions we must ask in order to deeper understand our faith in Jesus. 1) Who do we follow? 2) Where are we following him? And 3) where is he going? It is crucial to ask these simple, basic, and ultimate questions ourselves than to hold onto some of the answers given by church authorities.
Before we get into the questions ourselves, let’s ask these same questions to two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John who appear in today’s gospel lesson. So, we first ask them, “James and John, who do you follow?” They would respond with confidence, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Then we want to ask them the other two questions, “Where are you following him? And where is he going?” They really don’t answer these questions in the gospel lesson, but we can find out how they would respond from their saying. They ask Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” James and John think Jesus is going to have his glory. And that’s where they are following him. So for their own glory, they’re proactively preparing for themselves. Before any of the other 10 disciples gets something good from Jesus, they want to make sure that they are guaranteed with his right and left seats as they follow Jesus to his glory. They want to secure their positions as his right and left hands in his glory. This sounds like a great plan. And we see the other disciples filled with anger at James and John, which in turn shows they also think it’s a great idea. They should’ve asked Jesus for a favor before James and John did! They should’ve been more assertive, direct, and diligent about their future careers! But clearly, we know there is something off about this dynamic among the disciples. And there’s something we feel familiar about this. The disciples’ dispute over who will be Jesus’s right hand and left hand is like our everyday life at work, especially if you work in a place where everyone competes to be promoted. This is all too familiar. At the same time, we wonder, ‘Is following Jesus just like preparing my career, getting on a ladder, winning against all fellow competitors at my workplace?’ The answer is no. And we have this advantage of knowing more than the disciples about this whole enterprise of what it is to follow Jesus. Simply because they are the people in the story and we are the readers of that story. And we can say we know what the disciples do not know at this point. That is, we know where Jesus is really going and where we are really following Jesus. The glory that all the disciples look for isn’t so glorious as they think it is. It is the cross to which Jesus is going. And only through the cross comes the resurrection. All the images shown in the first and second lessons today point to where Jesus is going. In the Book of Isaiah, we have this well-known image of the suffering servant of God. This servant of God bears our infirmities and carries our diseases. We strike him, and he is even struck down by God and afflicted, says the Prophet Isaiah. He is wounded not for his own transgressions, but for our own and is crushed for our iniquities. He is punished for what he hasn’t done, but what we have done. By his bruises, we are healed. He is oppressed and afflicted. He doesn’t say a word to defend himself but like a silent lamb. He’s cut off from the land of the living. Jesus is going to suffer. That’s where he is going. The second lesson perceives Jesus’s decision to suffer and die as his free obedience to the will of God in which Jesus himself becomes the source of eternal salvation for all who follow him. The will of God to crush the suffering servant of God with pain that the Prophet Isaiah talks about and which sounds quite sadistic can only take place when Jesus’s own desire inclines his will to the will of God. So where Jesus is going is where God’s will is. Now back to James and John. Can they really follow Jesus where he’s really going? Jesus asks them, “You do not know what you are asking. You do not know where you’re getting yourselves into! Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Having no idea what he’s talking about and where he’s going, they ignorantly say, “We are able.” Jesus accepts their answer and promises them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those whom it has been prepared.” James and John still have no idea what they’re getting into. But they know they will not get what they ask for. They will not be Jesus’s right hand or left hand. And this means that it really is not important to Jesus, especially in the kingdom of God where things are supposed to turn upside down, completely transformed into something radically different from this world. So, what James and John are promised from Jesus is that they will follow him to the cross where they will also suffer and die. But they will be resurrected with Jesus. So, let me get back to the questions I raised at the beginning of this homily and throw them back to all of you! 1) Who do you follow? 2) Where are you following him? And 3) where is he going? Try to answer these basic, fundamental, and ultimate questions yourselves with your hearts. We can without thinking too hard say “Jesus” to the first question of who you follow like James and John as if he will get you whatever you ask like a vending machine. But then, knowing where Jesus is really going, we might want to pause for a moment and seriously consider if it's worth doing it. We might think to ourselves, ‘So I am following Jesus. But where is he going to take me? To the cross? To suffer and die?’ Even if we know that we will be resurrected with him as we die with him, we still might be hesitant to follow, looking for other ways to get to the resurrection without dying. Knowing where Jesus is going, we might then honestly ask ourselves one more question. Why would I follow Jesus to his cross? Why would I do that? Following Jesus takes me to situations where I am called to die to my own ego. This process of dying to myself is to incline my will to the will of God. Giving up what I selfishly want can be an example of dying with Christ. When we talk about this expression of dying with Christ, it is rarely the case in America that we become martyrs like St Paul or St Peter or St Oscar Romero. It’s more about letting our self-serving desires examined to the will of God and freely choosing to change my will to that of God. Setting aside my personal agenda to serve a greater good for my community is also one of them. Then here comes the same question we face. Why would I do that? Why would I give up my desires for others? When this following of Jesus is forced, it is harmful to our souls. We cannot coerce someone to do something. There is no freedom, but violence and mental prison where we are judged. The only motivating factor that can move our hearts and compel us to will what God wills is when we personally and intimately encounter the love of God. It’s only that love that can change our hearts. When that love touches us, it transforms us. We are able to have a glimpse of who we really are in the eyes of God. The way we understand ourselves, the things we justify ourselves with, all that validations and recognitions we search for from others become meaningless when the love of God sheds light on them. All my fault, guilt, and shame that judge me constantly are embraced and forgiven by God’s compassion. This love, my friends, is revolutionary. It shakes us. It wakes us up from the unreality we create to the reality of God who loves, restores, renews and resurrects our souls. This love enables and empowers us to freely and obediently choose what God wills. This love can transform our hearts because that love fulfills us, values us. That love is greater than anything in this world. Looking at the suffering servant of God, we see there is someone who loves me to death, who is willing to give up his life for me. There is someone who believes in me, hopes for me, and never gives up on me even when I feel worthless and people don't love me. That somebody is God himself who comes to the world through the womb of Blessed Mother. That is Jesus of Nazareth. So, my friends, I ask you again. Who do you follow? If you say ‘Jesus,’ is it that love that moves you to follow him? May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us forever and ever in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Pentecost+21/Proper 23B (Amos 5:6-7,10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31)10/14/2018 ![]() “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” This is Jesus’s answer to the question a devout model Jewish man’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ answer is far from what this rich young man expects to hear. He, after all, is shocked by Jesus’s response and goes away grieving. He isn’t able to sell what he owns and give his money to the poor. Jesus’ answer might have felt like a smack in the back of this rich young man’s head. This teaching of Jesus is not only a difficult and seemingly impossible command to follow but also is something that is countercultural and unusual to the Jewish understanding of wealth. Back then, the increase and prosperity of wealth is perceived as God’s blessing and favor, which in turn is a sign that that wealthy person is closer to God’s kingdom. But to give up all that one has sounds like giving up his desire to inherit eternal life or enter the kingdom of God. It’s like saying, “Give up that sign of guarantee that God has given you by means of wealth if you want to inherit eternal life as Jesus understands.” So not only following Jesus by selling all his possessions is realistically tough but also is against what is culturally and religiously normal in his time. This countercultural aspect of Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God actually brings me back to G. K. Chesterton’s image of the world upside down “with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool,” which I talked about three weeks ago. (The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Volume II, pp. 72) In this world turned upside down, what is normal becomes abnormal, what is magnificent becomes in danger of collapsing, what is considered a blessing becomes a curse, and what is rich becomes poor. Our first lesson from the Book of Amos talks about this upside down world of God’s kingdom. Only those whose world is completely turned upside down can literally take to heart the revolutionary teaching of Jesus in today’s gospel lesson and follow him. Then, has there been anyone in the past who literally took this teaching of Jesus to heart and followed him? Yes, but not too many but there are enough followers of Jesus to change the world. St Francis whose feast we celebrated last Sunday easily comes to mind. His religious conversion story of literally following what Jesus says in today’s gospel lesson is quite well-known. I would like to share the excerpt from Joan Acocella’s article, “Rich Man, Poor Man” published in the New Yorker on January 14, 2013. It is a bit lengthy but captures the moment St Francis follows Jesus: “Francis’s world was filled with violence—between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, between Assisi and other towns, and, in the town itself, between the merchant class and the local nobility. It wouldn’t have been a rare day when Francis saw somebody being knifed. In 1202, around the age of twenty-one, he himself went to war, in a battle between Assisi and Perugia. He was apparently glad to go. He got to wear fine clothes and ride an excellent horse. But Assisi was soon defeated, and Francis spent a year in a dank prison, with rats, before his father was able to ransom him. It was probably in prison that the change in Francis began. As his friends noticed, he had lost heart for revelry. Outside the city walls he found a little abandoned church, and he spent whole days there, praying. Finally, he began sleeping there as well. Pietro di Bernardone’s business...may well have been secured by his wife’s dowry. When she died, therefore, a good chunk of the family’s holdings would go to Francis, who, if he was going to be communing with God all day, would be a poor guardian of the enterprise. When Francis was about twenty-five, Pietro took him to the town’s ecclesiastical court and explained how the young man had disregarded his responsibilities. Francis agreed with what his father said, and renounced all claims on his family. Then, we are told by early biographers, he stripped naked, placed his clothes at his father’s feet, and said that from then on God, not Pietro di Bernardone, would be his father.” (Joan Acocella, newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/rich-man-poor-man) St Francis is able to do what the rich young man in the gospel isn’t able to. His giving up of all he has extends to the point where he strips himself off entirely and stands naked before Jesus. He lets go of all that gets in his way to be free. If possession has a sort of symbol of clenching your fist to take what’s out there to make them yours because you value them more than anything else, this nakedness of St Francis becomes a symbol of poverty, giving of his life, his entire self to God and others. Which also shows what he truly values. Jesus’s invitation to the rich young man to live the life of poverty is really about being free of whatever he’s holding onto in his life. So Jesus’s teaching of “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.” is his call to be completely free. In the case of the rich young man, it is wealth that he isn’t free of. What he has enslaves him to be truly free. So what Jesus is telling this rich man is this: “If you want to inherit eternal life, follow me. But you must travel light. You must be free of everything that you freely give yourself.” Let’s consider ourselves. In our cases, there are things that we are tied to, that we are not free of, that we hold onto. It’s not just money. Let’s be honest that we’re not like this rich young man, not even St Francis in that we are not that wealthy enough that Jesus would ask us to give up on them. But there’s something that we all hold onto, which may differ from person to person. What is it that you’re holding onto? What is it that like the rich young man you have a hard time letting go of? What gets in your way to be and feel free? We all have different answers to this question of what enslaves us from being free. But for this question of “What makes you free?” we as Christians actually have the answer. That is God. God makes you free. The Truth God brings sets you free. And for us Christians, Jesus is the embodied reality of God giving God’s entire self to the world. In Jesus, God does what Jesus tells the rich young man to do: Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. In the case of God, God comes to the world as a human being, give God’s very own son to the poor, to the world that lacks love, grace, and salvation. So, this is not so much about what Jesus does what he tells the rich young man to do. Jesus himself is the result of the giving of God’s entire self to the world. And in this very divine life, we can only join by being free from things we cling to as we follow Jesus. It takes time to let go of things one at a time, if not at once. In Judaism, there’s this word, Tikkun Olam. It means “to repair the world.” This is about doing something good for the world which is following the will of God for the world. I’m not sure if you have been to Zimmer Children’s Museum in LA. There is something called “the Tikkun Olam House.” At the top of the house, there’s a sign that says, “Where is your help needed?” And underneath it, there are three circular slots that represent what you can offer. The first one has a picture of a dollar that means money. You repair the world as you offer your money to the poor. This is particularly relevant to the rich young man in our gospel story. The one on the left is a clock, representing time. You repair the world as you give your time to the poor. This might be pertinent to those who are just so busy and have no time for anyone else. The middle slot is the most interesting one. It simply displays a big bright ball with radiating rays. What this slot means is that you give your undivided attention, focus, compassion or your long loving look to the poor. You give your whole self to them. Ultimately, This is what we see God doing in Jesus Christ. God gave God’s very own self to us in Jesus. And why does God do that? Because God loves. God is love. And when that love gets to us, we are set free. We know there’s nothing greater, deeper, more important and powerful than that love. Just like the rich young man, all of us are called to follow Jesus. To do so, we are also called to see what enslaves us from freedom, knowing that it is God alone who sets us free. What do we want to sell and give? What do we want to get rid of to be free, to travel light with Jesus? And this task of giving ourselves entirely doesn’t become a burden when that love of Jesus Christ touches us. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you need to be free of and from. Ask the Holy Spirit that you want to feel and experience God’s unconditional love. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you curious and interested in knowing that love. As we sacramentally receive God’s grace and love in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at the Eucharist, let us go to the altar of God, unloading whatever we’re holding onto, letting go of them, asking the Holy Spirit to set us free. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. This morning, I would like to spend most of my time on the creation stories. But my point, which I am telling you right now, is rather simple. And this is something I would love for you take away from this time. That is, God’s will for all of God’s creatures is all about how to be together, how to live together in order to flourish together as God’s image bearers. And Jesus for us Christians is the one who is the way to live that very life of love.
There are two similar but different creation stories In the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. Very simply put, the first creation story tells us the six days of God’s creating work and the seventh day of God’s rest. There’s a recurring phrase each time God creates something on each day. Seven times total in the first chapter. Can you guess what it is? It is, “God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) It’s almost like God sees what is created by God’s own hands and reflects on them with the ‘long loving look.’ Whatever God creates is good in God’s very own eyes. And of course, we humans are included in these creatures God felt and considered ‘good.’ There’s another interesting thing about God’s creating work. There are three times that God actually blesses some of the creatures. This time, the author of this first chapter in the Book of Genesis doesn’t say that God blesses what is created each time. God only does it three times for certain creatures. The first ones are “the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind.” And “God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’” (Gen 1:21-22) The second one is humankind in God’s very own image, male and female. Just like all the other animals, God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1:28). The last time God blesses is the seventh day. “God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” (Gen 2:3) Everything God creates and sustains its existence is good in its very nature. And out of all these good things, animals and humans are blessed in the eyes of the Book of Genesis. So I want all of us to look around. Look at others as well as your companion animals. Tell them, “You are good. You are blessed.” Also tell yourselves, “I am good. I am blessed.” This is not some kind of trick to make us feel good about ourselves or to produce more dopamine in our brain. This is a biblical view on God’s creatures. “God saw that it was good.” Today, as you can see, we are celebrating the Feast of St Francis by having our companion animals blessed. So we do this blessing of the animals in remembering St Francis who is the patron saint of animals. But this practice of blessing them does have a biblical ground. God blessed them before we bless them. And St Francis has been a great example of blessing God’s creation. In a way, we’re not only imitating St Francis but really God’s work of blessing God’s creation. We’re participating in God’s mission of blessing all that God creates and sustains. The other creation story from the second chapter of Genesis says something different about God’s creation of a human being. It’s more about how God created a person. It says, “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” There’s no mention of a man being good in God’s eyes. But as we heard from the first lesson this morning, there’s something not good about it. Let’s hear this again. “The Lord God said, ‘It is no good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’” Here, God sees loneliness that every person feels. That aloneness is not good. Which means that yes, all creatures are good. But when they’re left alone, it is not good. This is not solitude, but isolation and aloneness where one feels lonely, if not abandoned. And to make this not-good condition good, God decides to make him a helper as his partner. This translation, ‘a helper as his partner’ is to be understood more as “someone who is matching or corresponding to him,” not merely a helper or an assistant. (Gordon Wenham, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, p. 40) What’s quite interesting about God’s next move to solve this issue of human loneliness is that God creates animals first and completes God’s project of humanity with creating a woman. I perceive this as that the man first has to learn to live together with other animals as he names every single one of them. This naming act is his commitment to have a relationship with each creature of God. As we name our companion animals, that dog or cat or fish is not just another dog or cat or fish, but someone dear to our hearts who is so loving and compassionate to us. It’s like the man has to be trained first in taking care of things by naming all the animals before God gifts him with the woman who would fulfill that void of loneliness and complete him as the image of God. And now, looking at the current events of our country, particularly what’s happening with the recent nomination and confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice, we face our human sinfulness once again. Rather than working hard to live together, respect one another, and take care of one another from harm, we somehow un-name our neighbors, especially those who have been suffered and harmed. Our country, particularly those in power mute the voices of those who have been assaulted sexually, verbally, and spiritually. This sinful action creates something that is not good in God’s eyes. Loneliness. Isolation. Aloneness. Abandonment. This may be what those in power are creating and those who are suffering from the abuse of that power are going through. But as Christians, we have work to do. Jesus shows us the way by becoming the way himself. In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus forbids divorce, not to set a marriage policy for all Christians but to protect the vulnerable who were women in this context of the gospel account. In his time, women were just like nowadays abused and abandoned by their husbands, if not worse. Wives were considered as men’s property. What Jesus teaches is that men shouldn’t abuse their wives by abandoning and divorcing their wives. Don’t abuse her. Don’t hit her. Don’t cheat on her. Don’t abandon her. Instead, be faithful to the one who you’re responsible for. Treat her with respect. Thank her. Love her wholeheartedly as your own. Jesus’s compassionate focus on those who are socially most vulnerable extends to children. Children’s social status wasn't great either. Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” What Jesus shows is that we can only enter the kingdom of God here and now when we are in solidarity with the most vulnerable, weak, poor, and oppressed. You want to belong to the kingdom of God? Receive the most vulnerable. Listen to their crying voices. Join their suffering. As you do that, it is not just for the sake of joining but also for their flourishing, doing your best to become authentically who they are by becoming authentic who you are yourself. Our Christian duty is then to remind the world what God said. God saw that it was good. And God blessed all the living creatures, particularly animals in which humans are included. Wherever loneliness, aloneness is being created by the sinful hands of this world, we are to go proclaim what God said about the world that it was good, the good news! We are to bless them. And in doing so, we are to be together with them, to live together in love, and to flourish together. May the Holy Spirit remind us once again what we prayed together this morning: “As you take care of us, so also we ask your help that we might take care of those who trust us to look after them. By doing this, we share in your own love for all creation.” (Collect for St Francis) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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