Let’s Talk About Rabbits 兔年談兔

Let’s Talk About Rabbits 兔年談兔

By Deacon Alex

In the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit, may I wish you all an agile and fertile year ahead like rabbits. Rabbits look innocent and have long been domesticated, becoming our friends. They supply us with food and clothing. Culturally, the rabbit has been employed as symbols in various areas. For example, Aesop left us the famous fable of “The Tortoise & the Hare” to warn us not to be overconfident. Rabbits appear in modern children stories as friendly characters. Their fertility inspires the construction of the famous Fibonacci series in mathematics. Nowadays, many people keep them as pets.

Rabbits also occupy a place in the Chinese culture. For example, in Chinese literature, the moon is often romanticized as the “Jade Rabbit 玉兔” because legend has it that there is a rabbit on the moon accompanying the lonely Chang’e 嫦娥 who has stolen the elixir of immortality from the archer emperor Houyi 后羿, taken it and flown to the moon. There is also a well-known poem about the story of Mulan 木蘭 who joined the army in her father’s stead. After the war, her comrades were surprised to discover that Mulan was a girl fighting alongside with them in battles. The final stanza of the poem says, “(When stationary) The legs of male rabbits are restless撲朔, the eyes of female hazy迷離. But when they run side by side, who can tell the female from the male?” From this stanza comes the idiom “pu shuo mi li撲離迷離” which means “mysterious”. But the most well-known idiom is “Crafty rabbits have three lairs狡兔三窟” which has a biblical connection!

Lord Mengchang 孟嘗君was a statesman of the Qi Kingdom齊國 during the Warring States Period 戰國時代 in ancient China. He was famous for hospitality, keeping around three thousand guests at any one time. One day, Lord Mengchang asked one of the guests Fengxuan 馮諼 to help him collect debts in a local county and buy what he lacked. Instead of collecting debts, Feng wrote them off, telling the county people how Lord Mengchang cared about their livelihood. When he returned to the Lord, Feng reported that he had purchased for him benevolence and righteousness. Lord Mengchang was unhappy but did not drive Feng away. Later, when Lord Mengchang lost favour with the Qi king and was forced to leave his own household for the local county, he was surprised to meet a huge welcome party! Then he understood what Feng had prepared for him. But Feng said that one lair was not safe enough for a rabbit. He had to do two more things for the Lord in order to secure his safety and later his political ascent. The famous idiom was derived from his three strategic manoeuvres. Do you find this story familiar? Yes, Jesus tells us the Parable of the Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1-8) to teach us to make prudent use of temporal goods for eternal life. Biblical scholars have long been puzzled and have difficulty explaining the last verse. Why did the master praise the dishonest steward who had embezzled him (16:8)?

Had biblical scholars known the Chinese story of Lord Mengchang and Fengxuan, they would have easily come up with a satisfactory explanation. By reducing the debts, the dishonest steward had created a three-win situation: the debtors were relieved, the master was highly praised for his benevolence and the steward had a safety net if the master fired him! That explains why the master praises the prudence of this dishonest steward! As a Chinese, we’re honoured to have the Son of God made use of our plot as His teaching materials.

However, prudence is not wisdom. Chinese are very pragmatic in thinking ahead with Plan-B, Plan-C and Plan-D etc. But as a Catholic, being prudent and pragmatic is not good enough. Instead, we are called to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). We trust in the Father and He will provide (Genesis 22:8). Jesus Christ teaches us to be clean of heart so that we will see God (Matthew 5:8). Furthermore, He reassures us once again that we should “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (6:33).

Brethren! We don’t need any extra lairs. Let’s invoke the Holy Spirit to breathe fire into our hearts, purify them so that we desire God and God alone. Amen.
God bless!
Picture Credit: hotstar.com