Twenty-Third Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: How To Live Together In Eternity 永恆生活的藝術
Chinese are known to be pragmatic. They are diligent because they need to hoard resources for the future. Their morality is based on the rights and duties which a relationship entitles. Emperors should be merciful 仁and mandarins loyal忠. Fathers should be beneficient慈 and children filially pious孝. Elder brothers should be friendly友 and younger ones respectful恭 etc. Therefore some moralists would find the Confucian version of uprightness直 a bit mind-boggling. Consider the following quote, “The Duke of She told Confucius, ‘Among us here are upright people. If their father has stolen a sheep, they will bear witness to the fact.’ Confucius said, ‘The upright among us, are different from this. The father conceals the misconduct of the son, and the son conceals the misconduct of the father. Uprightness is to be found in this.’ 葉公語孔子曰：「吾黨有直躬者，其父攘羊，而子證之。」孔子曰：「吾黨之直者異於是。父為子隱，子為父隱，直在其中矣。」” (Zi Lu, The Analects 論語．子路) In the father-son relation, beneficence and piety are the norms. Righteousness has to take beneficence and piety into consideration. Otherwise, righteousness will be flawed. Harmonizing righteousness and mercy is truly a challenge!
Confuciansim is just one among the many facets of Chinese worldviews. The Taoists beg to be different. As one of their aphorisms goes, “You cannot talk to a frog in a well about the sea because it is confined to the limits of his hole. You cannot talk to an insect of the summer about ice because it knows nothing beyond its own season. Similarly, you cannot talk to a scholar with limited views about the Dao because he is bound by the teachings which he has received井蛙不可以語於海者，拘於虛也；夏蟲不可以語於冰者，篤於時也；曲士不可以語於道者，束於教也。” (The Floods of Autumn, Zhuangzi莊子．秋水). They acknowledge the limitations of humanity and do not advocate pressing against Nature. Follow the Dao to lead a natural life because it is futile to be over ambitious. Dao is much higher than beneficence仁, righteousness義, treading appropriateness禮, prudence智 and faithfulness信 together. Here is how Laozi describes Dao, “The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao. The Name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. Non-Being is the Originator of heaven and earth; Being is the Mother of all things. Always without desire to fathom its mystery and always with desires to see its fringes. These two aspects originate from the same source but acquire different names through development. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，衆妙之門。” (#1, Dao De Jing道德經). Laozi refuses to pinpoint and to analyze. He prefers to be poetic!
The life span of humanity is short like a summer insect. So, how did the Son of God manage to convey the message of eternal life to us? God is timeless and extremely patient. His target is for all to exist together in peace. He does it step by step. The reality is such that human beings were created in God’s image. Since God is righteous, humanity also possess a sense of righteousness which is regrettably flawed, however. They enjoy playing God and want to see the wicked punished and the good rewarded. Thus, they were given, “But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:23-25) as moral guideline to restrain their fury. God also declares, “Vengeance is mine and recompense” (Deuteronomy 32:35a) but many a man happily ignores it. Alas! Men are too eager to take into their hands to see justice prevail. They enjoy labelling other people whom they don’t like to be “wicked” and punish them with all sorts of imaginable tortures! But this is not God’s righteousness because God does not want to see the wicked perish, “Do I find pleasure in the death of the wicked – oracle of the Lord God? Do I not rejoice when they turn from their evil way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23) God does not want to see the good turn into evil when they “punish” the wicked in God’s name because God cares for both the good and the wicked. Now, this is the righteousness of God. The question is how to change the mind of the good?
God took the first step to make the lives of their neighbour their concern. So, we have the first reading of today. Through the same Ezekiel, God says, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked, you must die,’ and you do not speak up to warn the wicked about their ways, they shall die in their sins, but I will hold you responsible for their blood. If however, you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, but they do not, then they shall die in their sins, but you shall save your life” (33:8-9). That’s truly one small step for man, one giant leap for mainkind. From then on, the fate of all humanity is linked and united. “He lives, you live; he dies, you die” unless you have shown your care and have warned the wicked before he dies in his sins! You can no longer watch in indifference or secret delights how the wicked are being punished for their sins because if you have not done your duty of warning the wicked, you die with them!
This is already a giant leap forward but not good enough. It is because the relationship remains one of neighbour. They are not too different from unrelated aliens living in the same neighbourhood, very much like people coming from all over the globe, living and doing business in a cosmopolitan city. In short, they are not brothers because they don’t have the same parents! So, the Father took the next step, sent the Son to incarnate and live among us as our brother so that those who accept Him as the Messiah may have the same Father! As brothers, it is still inevitable for some of us to sin against the others. Then, what are the rules of engagement in such situations so that the fraternal relationship may sustain? The situation cuts deeper than that dealt with by Ezekiel because it is between brothers. In the case of Ezekiel, there was nothing personal whereas the same acts, say watching online pornography or money laundering, are taken seriously personal by Christians. It becomes personal because I am my brother’s keeper (Genesis 4:19)!
Now how should we understand the Lord’s command of treating him “as you would a Gentile or a tax collector” (18:17). Don’t forget! Matthew himself had been a tax collector before the Lord called him. For Matthew, this vocation was an act of unconditional mercy from the Lord. Therefore, instead of rejecting the perverted members in the Church, we should show them more the mercy of the Lord. On the other hand, Matthew’s gospel is known to be written for the Jewish Christian community. Does it mean we should reject such a perverted member in the Church? Of course not. This Jewish Christian community was not exclusive. They cherished their Jewish identity and as a new Chosen People, they saw it their mission to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (28:19-20a).
Beloved brethren! As short-lived keepers of our brothers that are perverted or what not, we know our own shortcomings, limitations and needs of God’s mercy. Thus, we are empathetically duty-bound to ensure our brothers’ salvation. Amen.
God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: vaticannews.va
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