Twenty-First Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: No Need For A Perfect Rock 無須完美的磐石
Human beings are fragile. If they are able to successfully accomplish any sizeable project, either they follow a “good” leader or Yahweh intervenes to help them finish. Alas! “Good” leaders are also human. They are mostly good initially and deteriorate in time. One of the many paths of deterioration is lust. Many good leaders were charismatic and attracted many followers of both genders. Very few leaders are able to resist convenient sex! Another is authority. In order to do greater things, leaders demand more power and privileges from the followers. When their power expands, their egoes expands as well. Sooner or later, the inflated egoes of the leaders would turn around to corrupt and destroy them.
The Bible is relatively honest. It does not paint idealized portraits of leaders. For example, Yahweh commissioned Gideon to be a Judge to deliver the Israelites from the attacks of Midians, Amalekites and Kedemites. He succeeded and the Israelites wanted to make him king. Gideon appeared to be prudent and refused “I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord must rule over you” (Judges 8:24). Instead he demanded gold rings from the spoils. “The gold rings he had requested weighed seventeen hundred gold shekels … Gideon made an ephod out of the gold … All Israel prostitued themselves there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household” (8:26-27). What was an ephod that would become a snare to Gideon? Ephod אֵפוֹד means two different things, a sleeveless vestment worn by a priest and a statue. From the context, we can be sure that Gideon had made a golden idol! Why a “Jerubbaal” who dismantled Baal’s altar (6:31-32) would later build an ephod shows how unfaithful humanity could be!
“Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. His concubine who lived in Shechem also bore him a son, whom he called Abimelech” (8:30-31). Abimelech אֲבִימֶלֶךְ means “My father is king”! So Gideon was not truthful. He claimed that the Lord should be the King of the Israelites but he could not cover up his desire to be a king by naming his son Abimelech! Moreover, seventy sons were proof enough for a lustful leader!
After Gideon had died, this Abimelech killed all his brothers except Jotham who managed to escape. The lords of Shechem and Beth-millo came together and made Abimelech king (9:5-6), negating Gideon’s word! Abimelech was truly a brutal strategist. When his relation with the lords of Shechem turned sour, Abimelech took the initiative to attack them, captured and burnt down many cities. In Thebez, the lords and all the people shut themselves in a strong tower. Abimelech came to set the tower on fire. A certain woman cast a millstone down and fractured his skull. Abimelech ordered his armour-bearer to kill him so that people would not say, “A woman killed him” (9:50-54). As a king, Abimelech would not endure the humiliation of death in the hand of a woman! Later, King Saul did a similar act in order not to endure a humiliating death in the hands of Philistines. (1 Samuel 31:4). Histories throughout ages and civilizations are littered with such brutal fratricides to ascend the throne. King Solomon of Israel and Emperor Simon Li of China are merely more well-known cases! It seems that human beings have never learnt! Yahweh had already spoken through Samuel the last Judge the demerits of feeding a human king out of vainglory (1 Samuel 8:10-22) and yet the Israelites insisted! We’re not surprised. Probably it is a curse on the political institutions of empires in general and hereditary monarchy in particular! When will humanity ever learn?
On the surface, the Bible is outdated to advocate theocracy. Emperors were endorsed by God to govern their subjects and sooner or later, they would claim absolute authority. But theocracy is a double-edge sword which cuts both ways. While emperors might make use of God to demand absolute obedience from the commoners, people would also make use of God to disown tyrants! In ancient times, God was the only available person who could counter-balance tyrants. Nowadays when people abandon God, they need to look for other means to protect themselves against tyrants.
In the first reading today, we learn that not just kings but all levels of government officials are held accountable to God. Isaiah announced an oracle against two mandarins in the court of King Hezekiah of Judah. At the time of oracle, Shebna was the master of the palace (Isaiah 22:15). God would strip him of his office because Shebna had hewn for himself a tomb on high in the rock (22:16) and gloried in chariots (22:18). The office would be given to Eliakim, son of Hilkiah the High Priest (22:20). God would give Eliakim great authority, “I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open” (22:22). But Eliakim would also fall in the future (22:25). Probably Shebna should have hewn his tomb on a lower level which was more appropriate for his position. From the story of Solomon, we know that chariots meant lucrative business. So perhaps Shebna was haughty and was fattening his own pocket in the capacity of the master of the palace! That might explain why the Lord wanted to replace him with Eliakim.
Later, Sennacherib, king of Assyria invaded Judah. He sent a commander with a great army to Jerusalem. Eliakim had by then been the master of the palace, Shebna became the scribe and Joah the chancellor. The fall of northern kingdom Israel prompted Judah to establish alliance with Egypt to resist Assyria instead of repentance and turning to God (2 Kings 18:18-21). Most likely, those three people advised king Hezekiah so. Now, they came to meet the commander who threatened them to surrender. Eliakim and Shebna and Joah requested the commander to speak in Aramaic and not in the language of Judah lest the people would know the situation (Isaiah 36:11)! Was this the proper action of “a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah” (22:21b)? With this measly piece of information, we can only speculate that those mandarins were putting their own benefits above those of the people! How regrettable! No wonder Isaiah also foretold the downfall of Eliakim!
God delegates authority to those stewards/civil servants to serve the people. It is up to them to obey God and to do God’s will; or to abuse the authority for their own benefits. Many leaders have fallen and succumbed to absolute authority, lust and vainglory because they believe themselves to be great! To a certain extent, God is wise to choose the weak and the fragile to lead. It is because the previous failures of those weaklings make them immune to the Achilles heel of the good and the great. Simon Peter was a typical illustration. He knew how bad and fragile he was, for example his three denials. Then he understood that merits should go to Yahweh. Had the Church been successful in discharging her duty, it would never have been her efforts and merits. Credit should go to the Lord! Therefore, it is NOT necessary for God to pick a perfectly solid ROCK to lead the Church. It is because, God and not the Church will be doing most of the work through those weaklings! I believe you know well how God picked 300 soldiers out of 32,000 (Judges 7:3, 7) to defeat 135,000 Midians (8:10) “lest Israel vaunt itself against Me and say, ‘My own power saved me.’” (7:2b) No. God is not trying to show off. It is an Occam’s Razor. God eliminates all factors except one so that there is only one possible conclusion without confusion, viz. God is our Saviour.
Beloved brethren! The Catholic Church is not merely a human institution based on a piece of fragile pebble. It is undeniable that she is scandal-infested. Let’s put our faith not in humanity nor in any political institutions, but in the love of the merciful Lord who is forever faithful. The Church is His Spouse through whom the Lord shall actualize our potentials and sanctify us all. Amen.
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: accentsinart.com
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