"God’s People Know Life Consists in Him”
August 4, 2013
The 11th Sunday of the Christian Season of Ordinary Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
Ecc. 1: 12-14; 2: 18-23 /Psalm 49: 1 - 12/Colossians 3: 5 - 17 /Luke 12: 13 - 21
His Excellency
Auxiliary Bishop
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
Who among you here believe in God? Who have been baptized? This means, in the language of St. Paul in the New Testament, “You are a new creation.” This means that you once had an old self; now, you have a new self.
Paul reminds us to consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, greed and all those things that were associated with the old self. The old self is dead; you are a new creation; you have a new self. The old self, once upon a time, walked in these things; but you are now a new creation. You are a new self; a new nature. The old is dead; it is gone; it has passed away. New things have come.
Jesus tells us that this new creation has a new life and it does not consist in riches and the other things that Gentiles pursue. The old self pursued the things that were futile and all the other things that the world pursued. In the gospel, Jesus made an example of this rich man who wasted his life accumulating, amassing things he did not benefit from.
I know of Filipino migrants to the United States and I have seen their houses. I knew one family and their financial quality of living in the Philippines. When they moved to the United States, on one job of the father, they already had a better quality of life materially. But, they were not content with that.
Filipinos ‘escape’ the Philippines and go to ‘green pastures’. When they get there, they already achieved something better, but were never content. They get into a rat race where they get one or two more jobs. They fill their houses with furniture and expensive appliances, but not with people and family members. They are gone the whole day working so that the house may be filled with material things. The people who own the house don’t benefit from those things that are being accumulated because their whole life is spent on accumulating on things.
In the little time that they are home, they look over the fence and see what their neighbors have and they try to keep up, so they don’t enjoy the things that they accumulate. When they accumulate something and find that it is short of what the neighbors have, then, there is this pressure inside of them to get something better. Thus, they don’t enjoy the fruit of their labor.
It has become a rat race, no longer a human race. It is also vain and futile. It is a waste of time, money, effort, joy, peace and life on things which have little or nothing to do with us and the Kingdom we belong to. Not only do we waste our time on material things. We also spend time on intangible things that have little to do with what we have for our lives that God has given to us. Rumors, controversies, trivia are things that are petty that won't add a cubit to our life span. It won’t change our lives whether we know about them or not. It won’t change things at all.
Before, the Archbishop would travel alone, and some of us priests would, as part of protocol, pick him up from the airport. Some people would ask me, “When is the Archbishop arriving? What time is he arriving?” Sometimes I would mock them and ask them, “Why are you coming with us to pick him up? Sometimes I would ask, “What difference would it make on your life whether you know the information or not?” Nothing! It would just scratch the ‘itchy’. No difference on their being a businessman, a politician, a father, a mother or a student. No impact at all.
When we see an accident on a road, motorists would stop by and look. Sometimes we say, “I want to look,” then drive away. The only difference it would make is it would back up the traffic which is not good. As far as you are concerned, nothing will change. You may be late for an appointment but nothing productive will come of it. If you are a doctor, maybe you would stop by. If you are a priest, maybe you would stop by for last rites. But if you have no business with it, then, it has nothing to do with you.
We, who use the internet, waste our time looking at things that are very petty and trivial. Some of us let the whole world know what color of shoes we are putting on today or how many times we sneezed this morning before coming to Church. It is a waste of time! Maybe, too, it is also a waste of time for other people who sometimes choose to waste their time reading about these things. We say that this is the information age. Is it beneficial?
We spend billions on space research. They are trying to develop space tourism now. A round trip ticket is about twenty million dollars, but for what? To see a Martian? So that you can be in a space suit for a half a year? Why don't we spend our money solving the traffic problem in the metro or solving graft and corruption in certain departments of government? Why don't we use our time, our effort, and the talents God gave us to beneficial use and actually solve the problems?
The things we waste our time on won’t add a single cubit to our life span. It won’t improve our quality of life because they don’t have anything to do with us. Isaiah asks us, “Why do you spend money, time or effort on that which is not bread? That which is not beneficial to you? On that which is not life? On that which does not have anything to do with you as a new creation in the Kingdom God has translated you into from darkness?”
We say, “All things are lawful for me.” There is nothing in the Bible that says, “Thou shalt not have a Facebook account.” All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. Not all things are beneficial.
In the gospel of John, there is an incident where Jesus was entrusting Peter His flock. He asked Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” Peter said, “Yes.” Jesus said, “Then, feed My sheep. Tend My lambs.” Jesus told him, “Follow Me.” Peter noticed this disciple that was very close to Jesus, the disciple that leaned on Jesus’ breast whenever they had meals, and the disciple to whom Jesus revealed who it was who will betray Him. When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “You are going to make me the first pope, but what about this guy? He is your best friend. He might get jealous.” Jesus told him, “If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?” It is like saying, “What is that to you with whatever I am doing with the other person?” Jesus said to Peter, “You follow Me. This is what I am telling you, not about him! You follow Me.”
What happened? A rumor spread that John would not die. John explains, “This is not the truth. This is not what Jesus said.” In the first place, what Jesus said was not for Peter. But Peter took that which was not for him and obviously spread the rumor about John that he will not die; that he is immortal. John said, “That is not what Jesus said.” Peter did not listen to the part that Jesus says, “As for you, you follow Me! The thing about John, what is that to you? It is nothing! You don’t have nothing to do with I will for him.”
What God tells us to do, that is that which we need to do. Psalm 131 says, “I don’t involve myself in things too difficult or too marvelous for me, those things which do not have anything to do with me, and that which God did not reveal to me.”
We are a new creation. We don’t live on bread alone, but on God's Word which is spirit and life to us. This is our business! This is ‘for us’ part. Our life is more than food and our body is more than clothing. This is the way we are built. We are not built for material things; we are not built to be fulfilled by these other things. We are built to be fulfilled by the things of God which He tells us to do and to observe. The Kingdom that we belong to is not eating and drinking.
In St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, he says, “Godliness is a great gain if accompanied by contentment.” He warns about not being involved in controversies, which result to envy, strife, slander. “Do not fall into the trap of loving money because the love of money is the root of all evil.” He says, “Flee from these things, you, men of God. You are a new creation of God. Instead, pursue the things of God and His kingdom.”
Paul says to Timothy, “Instruct those who are rich in this world not to put their trust in their riches.” It is not wrong to have riches but don’t put your trust in them but in God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy including riches. We are not to be enslaved to it. We only enjoy things when we are not enslaved to them. You enjoy your big TV at home after you have worked for it and if you actually turn it on and watch it. It is not to look over the fence to your neighbor’s house and see what screen size they have and you want to get a bigger screen.
You won’t enjoy the things God gives if you are enslaved to them in the first place. St. Paul continues and tells Timothy, “Take hold of eternal life to which you were called.” What were you called into? Eternal life – which we need to spend time on and to take hold of and which fulfills our calling in the Kingdom.
There was this American priest who loves to bless people especially the clergies. He has a very successful business. One time, he bought us dinner, a big group of fifteen people. He enjoys spending money on the most expensive wines. He enjoys blessing men of God. He wants them to taste of the good things that the otherwise couldn’t afford. The Primate and I were arguing how much these bottles of wine were. I remember that it was two thousand dollars, almost ninety thousand pesos, per bottle. This person ordered more than two bottles of after-dinner port wine. It was not counting the expensive wines during dinner.
Thinking of this yesterday, if you pour the wine into a gas tank of a car, will it run? If it is a five thousand or ten thousand bottle of wine, will it make the car run? What would it run on? It would be something it was built to run on, which is gasoline. No matter how expensive that is that you try to feed that car on, it will only operate or run on that which is actually built for.
We, as new creation, as people of God, try to live on other things, on things that were not built for. We say, “They are nice and expensive. The people of the world have them. The people that matter like the VIP’s.” But we are not simply built for them. It doesn’t matter how much they are. It doesn’t matter what name they bear. It doesn’t matter what initials you have on your bag. If you are not built for it, then, it is not for you. You will be better off on a fifty peso liter of gas because it was made for you. Our lives do not run on material things but on the things of God.
We are a new creation, and as for you and me, we are told by God to follow Him. You don’t say, “What about him? What about this and that?” God says, “You follow Me.” Seek His kingdom and His righteousness and then all these other things will be added to us. When they are, we actually will enjoy them because God richly supplies us with all things for the purpose of enjoyment not slavery. Then, it will not be futile and vain. Then, we will actually enjoy the life He willed for us to live.
This is the way it is in the kingdom of God!
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THROUGH
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