How Much Can We Take? 我們有多大能耐？

Thirteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: How Much Can We Take? 我們有多大能耐？

For us Chinese, the gospel passage today seems to be an obstacle. It is because filial piety enjoys the primacy among all virtues in traditional Chinese morality. Chinese culture emphasizes filial piety for a reason. Parents emphasize it for obvious pragmatic reasons. They don’t have to worry about their livelihood in old age when their children are filial pious. Government emphasizes it because filial piety can easily be extended to obedience of the laws, loyalty to the Emperor and patriotism. As a Chinese aphorism goes, “Filial piety is the first of all virtues.” Therefore, Jesus’ teaching in the gospel passage today seems to go against this aphorism. Jesus says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37a).

This contradiction is in fact superficial. Let’s travel back to Confucian’s time and imagine the Emperor of Zhou Dynasty says the same words to you. Would you feel offended? Of course not! Confucianism teaches people to love their parents in deeper ways. For example, not only should children take care of the physical needs of their parents but they should also be mindful of not putting their parents in shame. Children should also go in length to entertain the psychological needs of their parents as well. There are famous stories of youngsters and adults doing extraordinary feats to make their parents happy and comfortable. By extrapolation, people need to obey the laws, to defend their countries with their lives and to be loyal to the Emperor for the honour and safety of their parents. Now don’t Catholics acknowledge Jesus Christ to be their King? If we feel offended, we put our loyalty in doubt!

We have to admit our limitations and be humble. There are greater and nobler causes than ours and above those even greater causes etc. Personal goals are “below” familial, below communal, national, humanity and divinity etc. Not only is Jesus Christ our King, but He is also our God! Just think about it. How long do your parental relations last? Seventy years or may be a hundred years. But what about your relationship with Jesus Christ your King? Eternity, right? Thus His causes are the highest and they are simply “the love of God” and “the love of neighbour”! They should be achievable otherwise they are meaningless. Moreover, the Blessed Trinity is the very embodiment of love and mercy. Out of His boundless love, God will help us achieve those greater causes. Yet, we cannot expect the achievement comes without costs and difficulties, perceived or imagined. With their humanity tainted by sins, men need motivation to do harsh jobs. Now, let’s meditate how God motivate us to work hard.

First of all, what is the “harsh job” at hand? We are in the middle of the evangelization discourse in Matthew. Two weeks ago we read of Jesus’ choosing and sending the Twelve to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Last week, He warned us of persecutions resulted from proclaiming the truth. Today Jesus continues saying, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me” (Matthew 10:40). Simply put, we are Jesus’ ambassadors of reconciliation. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel of reconciliation with God to the world (2 Corinthians 5:20). Then, what makes people receive our proclamation? Of course, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and not our eloquence or persuasion. No doubt, our words and deeds impress. Just as what the Shunammite woman in the first reading today says to her husband about Elisha, “I know that he is a holy man of God” (2 Kings 4:9) Let’s examine ourselves. After baptism, we partake in the threefold ministry of Jesus Christ, namely king, priest and prophet. As prophets, do people see us as holy men of God like Elisha? Are we too shy to reveal our Catholic identity? How comfortable are we to say graces before meal in a restaurant in front of a roomful of strangers? How ready are we to lend a helping hand to the needy, to stand up for the abused in our workspace, to advocate for the exploited and marginalized in our society? In short, how much are we infused with the Holy Spirit to pursue God’s causes? Of course we don’t expect to be transformed into a superman overnight through baptism. We need to remind ourselves of the need of continuous formation after initiation so that our relationship with the Trinity will grow deeper day by day.

Now, what would be effective in motivating us to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven? In order to accommodate our fragility, the Lord makes use of utilitarian languages again. Let’s see how it works by returning to the story of the Shunammite woman mentioned earlier. She extended her hospitality to Elisha by furnishing a small room for him to take a rest whenever he came to town (4:10). She received Elisha because she knew that he was a man of God. With this hospitality, she was rewarded to have a son born to her (4:17). After some years during harvest time, the son died and Elisha raised the boy from dead and returned him to the mother (4:35). Sons brought security and honour to mothers in biblical times. Jesus probably alludes to this story when He teaches today, “Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward” (Matthew 10:41a). So, receiving a prophet, the Shunammite woman received a prophet’s reward of security and honour and whatever. But Jesus does not stop there. He continues, “and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward” (10:41b). So, who is “a righteous man” in the Bible, and who receives this righteous man and lastly what’s “a righteous man’s reward”? Don’t forget, this righteous man must be at least on a par with prophets!

The story of the enigmatic priest of Yahweh, Melchizedek, literally “king of righteousness” immediately comes to mind. He brought out bread and wine to bless Abram after his victory (Genesis 14:18). In return, Abram gave him a tenth of everything (14:20b). First of all, how righteous is Melchizedek? The bread and wine Melchizedek brought out suggest that he is a pre-image, a type of Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Psalter points out that Melchizedek reveals the eternal priesthood of Jesus (Psalms 110:4). So, when Abram offered tithe to Melchizedek, he was actually worshipping God in the person of Melchizedek! Now that Abram has received “a righteous man” because he is “king of righteousness”, what reward did Abram get? God reaffirms His covenant with Abram a second time in the following chapter! Abram would have descendants like stars in the sky and they would occupy Canaan (Genesis 15:18-21). In Old Testament times, having land and children was a sign of God’s blessing. But it was just the beginning because as the New Testament unfolds, God loves to give us more, Himself!

Brethren! We partake in the threefold ministry of Jesus through baptism. We have become righteous through baptism as well as ambassadors of reconciliation, i.e. prophets! When people receive our proclamation, they will receive “prophet’s reward” and “righteous man’s reward” through us! Brethren! Haven’t we received those rewards to begin with? We are actually carriers of those rewards and have been benefitting from them. How can we not keep passing them on? The more we pass on those rewards, the more we benefit from them! Of course, the merciful Lord will not force us to pass on those rewards because each of us is unique. Some of us might not have the charisma to be preachers or missionaries. Yet, there must be something in us which will contribute to the actualization of the Kingdom of Heaven. Brethren! Discover them and make good use of them! God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: thetorah.com