“Together Exalting the Lord Alone”
June 29, 2014
The 3rd Sunday In Ordinary
Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
-and-
The 22nd Foundation Day of the International
Communion of the Charismatic Church
Isaiah 2:
10 – 17/Psalm 89: 1-4; 15-18/Romans 6: 3 – 11/Matthew 10: 34 - 42
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P.
Santos D.D.
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the
Charismatic Episcopal Church
Today is the 22nd CEC Foundation Day
celebration. Twenty-two years now, God has been using the CEC as His
instrument of restoration, unity and reconciliation. We have part in this
and we are thankful.
Laying a foundation
about CEC - our mission, our calling - as in a building, foundation is the part
that takes the longest to build. In the Parable of the Laborers in the
Vineyard, in Matthew 20:1-16, the owner of the vineyard called for workers.
He started early in the morning - first hour, third hour up to the eleventh
hour - and he looked for workers for a harvest in his vineyard. He
called all of these workers into his own vineyard. It was something that
the workers did not owe him; it was something given to them according to the
graciousness of the vineyard owner. He got them to work in the harvest in
his vineyard.
In Luke 10, Jesus told
the disciples that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few and so
pray that The Lord will send more workers into the harvest. Harvest is an
event of joy. Biblically, when it talks about harvest, actually,
they sing. It is a joyful event, something that would benefit
us. Harvest is what you eat – what you sell so that you can have
money and enrich yourself. Jesus also says, "All of heaven
rejoices over one soul that repents." This is harvest - even for one soul
that repents, the heaven rejoices. We are citizens of heaven and we must
rejoice over the fact that people respond to the gospel.
In the story, the early
workers at the end of the day complained because they were given the same
amount as those who worked for only one hour. They said, "We bore the heat
of the day and all the work and you gave us one denarius, which is the same
amount to these people who worked for one hour, and you gave to them first and
you gave to us last." They complained because they missed the
point. They did not have the joy of the harvest. The harvest itself was a
reward. The denarius was additional.
If we miss the point of
the grace of God given to us to participate in His work of harvest, then we
won't ever be satisfied. If you are not happy with what you have right
now, you will not be happy had you had more. As far as God is concerned, there
is nothing more to give. We are thinking, "God is eternally wealthy.
He can give to us." We also proclaim that He gave His life, what
more could He give? He gave us every spiritual blessing in heavenly
places. He gave us everything pertaining to life and godliness. If we
are not happy with that, there is nothing more for God to give to us.
Jesus, on the Table, gave His all. We are also to give our
all. He gave everything already. It is a matter of us, to borrow
the words of a song, “Of finding the joy of reaching His heart.”
When Jesus asked us and
told us to pray for more workers into the harvest, it wasn't so
much so that they can share the load or the burden as it is so that they can
share the joy. Before it is the work, it is joy. It is more joy than
work, load or burden and there is more than enough because our God is a God of
abundance. Actually, the one denarius was more than enough for everyone because
it was provided by our El Shaddai, the God who is always more than enough.
In the Parable of the
Talents, in Matthew 25, those who were faithful in doing the task that was
given to them, their reward was more work and more responsibility. The master
said, "You were faithful in a few things, I will put you in-charge of many
things." This was the reward. The master said then,
"Enter into the joy." More responsibility is joy. We need to
find the joy of reaching the heart of our Master. Participation in the
work of God is sharing in His joy.
Technically in the CEC,
for 22 years now, God has allowed us to participate in the joy of His work.
Even before that, He has already given us the grace to participate in the joy
of working in His vineyard for harvest because His desire is, "That My joy
may be in you and that your joy may be made full." What joy was He talking
about? It includes the joy of seeing somebody repent but also includes
those being persecuted. In St. Paul's case, it was being beaten by rods, going
hungry, spending sleepless night among others. It was all joy. The
reason we don't work is because we don't see the joy in the work.
Conversely, we don't see the joy because we don't work.
The heart of the Master is that He is ever-blessing, continually blessing.
Therefore, He is ever-blessed with joy.
There is this joke
about one person asking the owner of a business for a job. The owner gave
him a job. The day after the first day of this person, he goes into the
boss' office and said, "Why don't you give me my paycheck." The
boss said, "I already gave you a job, why are you asking for a salary?"
I used that joke because in the first place, we must see that there is a salary
in the work itself. This comes in the form of sharing in the joy of God.
I am not saying that there is no future reward but the participation in
the work itself is a reward.
In the rebellion of
Korah against Moses in Numbers 16:9, Moses asked, "Is it not enough for
you that God brought you to Himself to do the service of the tabernacle and to
minister to the people? Don't you find joy and reward in serving God?”
If we ask ourselves that, we probably need to repent because that alone is a
privilege and an honor from our gracious God. In His kingdom, there is
absolutely no reason for us to complain. There are things that need to be
addressed, but nothing to complain about because His grace is sufficient for us
to address those things.
In the song,
"Raise Up An Army of God," it says, "O God our glorious Maker, we marvel at Your grace that You would use us in
Your plan." It
is God's grace that He uses us in His plan. "Rejoicing at Your favor, delighting in Your ways, will gladly
follow Your commands." This
is not exactly what we do. Sometimes, we don't rejoice at His favor. In
the first place, we don't see it as a favor but an inconvenience to us so we
don't rejoice. "God is disturbing my life, inconveniencing me.
This is not joy. I am not thankful for that. He is bothering me." It
is a pleasure, an honor and a favor. We are to give thanks and not to
complain. The right understanding and the right attitude are prerequisites
to being the army of God. Remind each other when we forget. It is a
favor - God's gracious favor. There are other things to learn, but we
start with the right attitude and right understanding.
Zaccheus' salvation was
not just about a heaven in the future, but the joy he found in the present. He
found the joy of discovering who Jesus was and His ways. He delighted in Jesus'
ways. He said, "If I defrauded anyone, I am very willing to pay
four-fold." The jealous religious leaders missed that. They became
jealous of him. Grumblers, complainers don't have joy. When they
find the joy, they won't grumble anymore over a denarius. For eleven hours,
those members missed that which was supposed to be joyful for them. May that
not happen to us. Ask for God's grace.
In 2Corinthians8, the
Macedonians were given God's grace and they found the joy in blessing others.
They gave voluntarily and generously with an abundance of joy. They were
the ones who beg Paul to participate in this work. Their circumstance was
that they were in a great ordeal of affliction and they were in deep
poverty. They were hungry but yet they begged St. Paul for them to
participate in blessing the Judeans because they have been in poverty and in
need.
I don't believe that
the early Christians, the martyrs who were persecuted under Roman emperors when
the day comes when we all gather in the presence of the Lord, will say,
"Jesus, it is so unfair! We were fed to the lions; we were burned
alive. We were skinned; we were sewn into; and these people in the 21st
century complain because they have no internet at home or on the
road?" They won't do that because the joy will overwhelm them and
they will forget the past, the "unfairness" of the past.
I know of a woman who
gave birth to six children with no anesthetics or pain killers. She is not so
big, not so strong, but she gave birth to six children. She
smiled after each delivery. She never told her husband, "You did not
share in the labor. I carried the baby for nine months. Don't touch my
baby." She never put her children in a guilt trip by saying, "You are
the cause of my flabby skin." She never did this because she
forgets all of these things because of the joy. It is about the joy! When you
see the joy, all things melt like it is in the presence of the Lord. I am not
saying there is no challenge in work. I am saying that there is joy in work, in
the participation, in the ministry. Don't miss this!
In the 22 years in the
CEC there are challenges of highs and lows, but first of God's grace. He
wants to share His joy so that His joy may be in us and so that our joy may be
full. God is good all the time! He is eternally good. Men may fail and
disappoint you and hurt you sometimes, but God doesn't. We are still
being perfected as God is perfect. I can't say this enough: the participation
in the work and in the ministry of God is His grace. We cannot boast of our
accomplishments; we cannot boast of our efforts; we cannot boast of how much we
have suffered for Him because it is first grace.
Isaiah 2 tells us how
that the pride of man has no place in this Kingdom. We cannot boast
except in the Lord. Romans 2 says that our old nature died - the prideful
nature. We live unto God now because the old self is dead. You cannot exalt the
dead, only God. It is futile. Galatians 2:20 says, "I have
been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me. The life that I live now I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and
gave Himself up for me." This was so important that it was preached to the
first pope. This was spoken by St. Paul to St. Peter when he was rebuking
him. It is only the Lord that is to be exalted.
In the gospel, it says,
"He who loves his life loses it; and he who loses and gives his life,
finds life." What is life? What is the life that God wants us to have?
Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit! This is what His
kingdom is all about. He who loves any person or thing more than Christ, is not
worthy of Him and does not receive the reward of life. We are not to love
anyone more than Him. We are to love everyone because of Him. There is no
contradiction between this gospel and what He says to, "Love Me and love
your neighbor." It is not a competition. We love our neighbors because we
love the Jesus in them. So, we are to receive, we are to accept anyone,
everyone in His name. Not for their reward, but for His exaltation. We
receive and accept everyone - from the prophet to the least of His brethren, to
any of His little ones. There is reward, not only in the future but in
the present.
The CEC started in what
was called the convergence movement of three streams - the liturgical,
charismatic and evangelical. We are not Roman; we are
Catholic. To me, it is providential that CEC Foundation Day comes after the
Feast of Corpus Christi because the CEC is all about restoring the one Body of
Christ, going back to being Catholic and being undivided. There is only
one Body and one Lord. Convergence is not just about theology, ritual
or worship format, but towards unity, oneness and reconciliation. It is
toward Jesus' prayer in John 17. We are for convergence, not divergence.
We are for cohesion, not division. In the process, we are going to
restore and foster unity and relationships. It will involve a lot of
resolving of issues, disagreements, conflicts, friction, offenses, but also of
reconciliation, respect, and acknowledgment of differences and strengths and
weaknesses because each one of us is still being perfected.
Reading a part of Pope
Francis' homily which he delivered at St. Peter's Square last Wednesday:
"There is no ‘do-it-yourself’ in the
church, no freelancers. How many times do we hear Pope Benedict describe the
church as a ‘we’ church? Sometimes you may hear someone say, 'I believe
in God, in Jesus, but I don't care for the church.' This is wrong. There are
those who believe you can have a personal, direct and immediate relationship
with Jesus Christ outside of the communion and mediation of the church.
These temptations are dangerous and harmful. They are, in the words of the
great Pope Paul VI, ‘absurd dichotomies.’ (Dichotomy = a division between
2 things that are represented as being opposed to each other).
It's true that
journeying together is challenging, and sometimes it can be tiring. It may be
that some brother or sister might cause a problem or even a scandal. But the
Lord entrusted His message of salvation to humans, all of us, as witnesses. It
is through our brothers and sisters with their gifts and limitations, that
Jesus comes to us and makes Himself known. This is what it means to belong to
the Church. Remember: being a Christian means belonging to the church. First
name: Christian, last name: church member.
Let us ask for the
grace of never falling into the temptation of thinking we can do without
others, without the Church, and save ourselves on our own. We cannot love God
without loving our brothers and sisters no matter how sinful; we cannot love
God outside of the Church; we cannot be in communion with God without being in
the Church; and we cannot be good Christians if we are not with all those who
seek to follow the Lord Jesus, as one people, one body. This is the
Church."
There is this saying,
"In essentials, unity.
In non-essential, liberty; freedom; diversity. In all things, charity." This is a very good foundation
for unity. In essentials, like doctrine, we are one. We share
a common Creed. Non-essentials – “You are not a Christian if your candle
is low in the Altar.” “Should you dunk a baby when you baptize them or hold
them under water until you are sure that they have repented?” This does
not matter; it is non-essential. We must have diversity and freedom in
expressing ourselves. "In the Church, you must not clap your hands because
that is sacrilegious. You must not jump or if you do not jump, you are not a
Christian." These are non-essentials. The most important thing is in
everything we do, there must be love and charity.
The founding CEC vision
is: making visible the void. There has always been unity given to the
Church from the beginning, but that has become void because it has become
invisible. It is still there and we are to preserve it, but we have not
exactly been making it visible. We must make the void visible - that which
has become void. This is the unity of the Church.
One Archbishop in the
Episcopal Anglican Church has been working with the present Pope for
unity. He and the Pope agreed that we are to make that unity
visible. It is not different than the founding vision of the CEC. We are
to make unity visible. On the 10th anniversary of the CEC, also marking the
consecration of the Patriarch Adler, a prophet, he said in his homily,
"The CEC will not be known for its doctrine. The CEC will be
known for its relationships. How we treat one another, how we relate to
one another, how we love one another.”
It is not the three
streams and I am not saying that these are not necessary, but they are
secondary. Relationship is what we will be known for. After all, they will
know we are Christians by our love. This is harvest. This is what
we are privileged and honored to be participating in. Blessed are we whom God
graciously invited to this harvest, to this vineyard and to this work.
And yes, it brings joy and promises reward, but it is all about the exaltation
of God alone because this is the way it is in the kingdom of God.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
HIS EMINENCE, THE MOST REVEREND LUIS ANTONIO "CHITO" GOKIM TAGLE D.D.
ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA,
AND
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
