How Not To Put God To The Test? 如何不試探天主？

First Lent Sunday, Year A
Theme: How Not To Put God To The Test? 如何不試探天主？

Life is a journey full of temptations. Not until we breathe our last, temptations always encircle us because as creatures we have needs to meet, viz. physiological, psychological, social and spiritual needs. We thank our Lord Jesus Christ because the Word of God took flesh to redeem us (John 1:14). He is willing to embrace our fragile creature nature to undergo temptations and sufferings for us. Yes, the Son of God obeys the will of the Father to undergo temptations and suffering in order to save us.

Matthew wrote for Christians with Jewish background. Therefore, he arranges the materials to cater for the socio-cultural background of his audience. For example, he made up a genealogy of Jesus Christ in 3 groups of 14 generations in order to show that Jesus Christ is the long anticipated Messiah who is a descendant of King David. In Hebrew, the word “David” consists of 3 alphabets whose numeric sum is 14, thus the 3 groups of 14 generations (Matthew 1:1-17). The temptation narratives can be found in two of the Synoptic gospels, Matthew and Luke. The order of temptations is slightly different. Scholars believe that Jesus must have experienced more than 3 temptations but He only left us the most essential ones for our sake. In turn, the Evangelists arranged the materials and wrote to cater for different audiences in mind. So, how did Matthew cater for the Jewish Christians?

The Exodus of Israelites lasted for forty years in the wilderness. Many incidents happened during these forty years but three (four) of them showed how ungrateful and rebellious the Israelites had been. Therefore, the temptations of Jesus lasted for forty days to symbolize the forty-year Exodus of the Israelites in the wilderness. The Israelites had failed God miserably in their venture into the Promised Land. As the Messiah, Jesus waded through their failures and won for us the Kingdom of Heaven.

Right from the start, some six hundred thousand Israelites came out from Egypt (Exodus 12:37). Just think about it, feeding six hundred thousand mouths in the wilderness for a few months is already a military nightmare, not to mention forty years! No wonder some Israelites started worrying about the shortage of food (Exodus 16:3) and meat (Numbers 11:4). Later they grumbled about the lack of water (Exodus 17:2). Lastly, when their leader/liberator went up a high mountain for forty days and nights to receive the so called “Covenant” and vanished (24:18), many Israelites demanded Aaron to make a golden calf to lead them back to Egypt (32:1)! The Israelites had failed miserably three rounds in the wilderness. As a Jew, Jesus Christ the long anticipated Messiah had won back for the Israelites three rounds what they had previously lost! Matthew arranged the materials chronologically to cater for his Jewish audience. On the other hand, Luke did not carry this burden of proof in his narrative. His arrangement agrees more with the development of human psychology in general.

For four hundred years in Egypt, the Israelites had multiplied in numbers from a tiny household of seventy mouths (Genesis 46:27) to six hundred thousand. They had been slaves for too long and were not mature enough to build a kingdom. So, through the leadership of Moses the liberator, Joshua his successor and various “Judges”, the Israelites went through battle drills, trainings and tests to enable them to build a kingdom in subsequent years. While the Israelites succumbed to the physical needs of hunger in the wilderness, Jesus did not. When Satan suggested a short-sighted solution to meet the physical needs of hunger, Jesus replied by quoting the Torah, “It is not by bread alone that people live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3), showing that men are more than material animals. They have souls and are spiritual beings and their souls are living (Genesis 2:7)! In other words, not only had Jesus overcome one temptation, but He has also restored the dignity and spiritual dimension of humanity.

During the second temptation in which Satan told Jesus to throw himself down from the parapet of the Temple, Jesus answered, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test (as you did in Massah)’” (Matthew 4:7; Deuteronomy 6:16). What happened in Massah? “There was no water for the people to drink, and so they quarrelled with Moses, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses replied to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to a test?’” (Exodus 17:1b-2) Had Moses been exaggerating? I do not question Moses’ status as the spokesman of God. However, being God’s prophet doesn’t mean Moses can be exempted from challenges, disrespect and quarrels. If we think along this line, we’ll miss the gist of the issue. Let’s hear what the Redactor says about the issue, “The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled there and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord in our midst or not?’” (17:7) Yes, it is the etymology of the names Massah (tempted) and Meribah (quarrelled). It also indicates the core of the problem, namely that the Chosen People doubted God’s accompaniment!

Doesn’t God know the issue of giving water for six hundred thousand people to drink? Of course He knows! Isn’t God able to meet their needs? Of course He is! But in reality, we have seen too many good and innocent people suffer. We test God when we ask why God allows natural disasters such as earthquakes to kill so many innocent people. We doubt His presence among the disaster victims. We test God when seeing workers unfairly lay off without an opportunity to explain their cases, without compensations and denied appeals, we blame the morality the governing body commands. We doubt whether God’s justice would ever prevail … It is very common nowadays. But be warned against the opportunities of heart-hardening, the Psalter and the author of the Letter to the Hebrews have this to say, “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah … There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works … They shall never enter my rest” (Psalms 95:8-11) and “Let us strive to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11).

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the most undisputed exemplar of faith in the words of the Lord. In the Nativity of Jesus Christ, she understood nothing through and through. Yet she humbly “Kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19, 51). Thirty (eighteen) years later in Cana, the host of a wedding had run out of wine. The BVM simply stated the fact before her son, “They have no wine” (John 2:3). She knows that her son knows and is confident that her son is able to relieve the imminent embarrassment of the host. She does not complain or argue when her son seems to refuse her implicit request but simply turns to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you” (2:5). In short, the BVM demonstrated how NOT to put the Lord to the test!

Brethren! Lest we harden our hearts and put the Lord to the test, let’s be humble and follow the exemplar of the BVM to reflect on what we don’t understand in our hearts. May the BVM intercede for us during this Lent season so that we may undergo temptations and become stronger and at the same time humbler to prepare for the joys of Easter. Amen.
God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: mrbiblehead.blogspot.com

Meditation on February Earthquakes

Meditation on February Earthquakes

Deacon Alex Kwok

On February 6, two powerful earthquakes of more than 7.5 magnitude devastated southeast Turkey and northwest Syria. The death toll is more than 47,000. As the aphorism goes, “It never rains but pours”. On February 20, the day after the Turkey government announced the end of rescue efforts in all but two hardest hit provinces, another 6.3 magnitude aftershock struck Turkey’s southern Hatay province again …

Why do I invite all of you to meditate on these natural disasters? It is simply because we’re genuinely blessed to be living in Hong Kong. We have been enjoying prosperity and security for more than half a century. Yes, there were landslides after torrents of heavy rains, wild fires burning down squatter areas and typhoons sinking ocean liners. And yet, we have managed to rise again stronger after each disaster. As an aphorism goes, “While in safety, meditate on catastrophes 居安思危”. All of us need to stay alert and be prepared because we don’t know when and what the next disaster will strike just as we don’t know in what manners the Lord will come again!

Few disasters are genuinely natural. Human greed and power abuses contribute to an unnecessarily higher death toll because governments turn a blind eye to sub-standard constructions. As of the time of writing, the Turkey authorities have issued more than 100 arrest warrants over collapsed buildings. Let’s pray that justice prevails. On the another hand, we stand in awe before earthquakes, tornadoes and volcano eruptions etc. They remind us of our frailty and insignificance before Mother Nature and her Creator. Of course, there’re still people who prefer scientific explanations to God’s will which is in fact very difficult to defend. We’ll be getting into murky waters trying to explain why God allows so many innocent people to die in these disasters. Passing the buck to natural sciences and human corruption is easier to get off the hook, but our heavenly Father smiles in their faces by keeping alive a few chosen ones after the 72-hour “golden window” for rescue. Two women were pulled out of rubbles alive after more than 210 hours! Science and technology have to shy away from explaining God’s mercy and miracles!

Yes, the cloud of Ukraine war is still hovering over us for more than one year but compassion and solidarity brilliantly shine forth in this Turkey cum Syria disaster. Despite ideological and religious disagreements, international donations, rescue and relief efforts pour in and race against time to help local authorities to save the victims. Our parish too managed to collect more than two hundred and twenty thousand Hong Kong dollars in 8 masses on just one Sunday! Who can say humanity is irredeemable, or that we are unable to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44)?

A paradoxical incident came to light among the international relief efforts. Pakistan sent the very same relief materials which Turkey had sent her during devastating floods in 2022! It would cost Pakistan an international embarrassment but for Turkey, those returned materials are what she is badly in need at the moment. How down to earth the Sermon on the Mount is! Be merciful and generous and “do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow” (5:42) seems to go against the flow. However, the incident mentioned above shows clearly that our almsgivings will be more than a hundredfold valuable when we need them back! Jesus’ teaching rings true when he says, “Store up treasures in heaven” (6:20). But how?

Brethren! Is it too obvious that you don’t see? We are building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. So we don’t need to fly to the moon to store up treasures! Moreover, the King says, “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (25:40). Like Turkey’s helping Pakistan in 2022, probably Turkey never intended to store up relief she happens to need in 2023. Who knows, perhaps a cup of water you give today may one day come back to quench your burning thirst.

Brethren! It is Lent now. It is a season of purification. Let us stand in awe before the Lord to implore His mercy. Let us be generous in communion with the needy through fasting and almsgiving. Amen.
God bless!

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Picture credit: latimes.com

Can We Be Perfect? 我們能成全嗎？

Seventh Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Can We Be Perfect? 我們能成全嗎？

The Hebrew Scriptures were compiled when the people of the southern Judah kingdom were exiled to Babylon. Their cultural, economic, political and religious centre, the first Temple in Jerusalem was burnt down before they were exiled in 586 BC. This exile is known as the “Babylonian Captivity” which went through two stages, the first of which lasted roughly for twenty years. The second stage lasted for fifty years and ended when the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire and sent the Jews home to rebuild their Jerusalem Temple. For some people, the Babylonian Captivity lasted for seventy years while for others, fifty. Whether the duration was seventy or fifty is not essential. The significance of the Babylonian Captivity for the people of the southern Judah kingdom was to affirm their identity as the Chosen People of God. Their religion had transformed into Judaism and the people into Jews! Abiding by the Law, not solely offering sacrifices in the Temple became the path to salvation. It was because after the Assyrians had conquered the northern Israel kingdom which consisted of ten tribes of Israelites who were exiled, dispersed and subsequently vanished in human history! Thus, the people of the Judah kingdom in the south were anxious to establish their identity during their turn of exile. They did not want to suffer the same fate as the ten tribes in the north! Now that their Temple was destroyed, they could only resort to compiling the Hebrew Scriptures to establish and preserve their identity.

The Hebrew scriptures consist of three parts: Torah, Prophets and Holy Writings. Roughly speaking, the Torah consists of the Law of Moses. Prophets include their history before the Captivity and the writings of major and minor prophets. Holy Writings consist of the wisdom literature and some readings for 5 festive celebrations. The Hebrew Scriptures need to answer at least two crucial questions. “Why do the Chosen People of the Creator God suffer under the hands of Gentiles?” and “Do the Chosen People have any hope in the future?” The Hebrew Scriptures explain that the Chosen People has disobeyed their God who is not only almighty but is also righteous. Therefore, God sent the Gentiles to punish them. However, God is also merciful. Therefore, their sufferings would not last forever. There is hope in the future because God will send the Messiah to deliver them.

So, what should the Chosen People do for now? God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments observing which was sufficient to redeem them. But when we take a closer look, the Torah has set a lofty and seemingly impossible goal for them, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:26). Thus, God’s intention is more than redemption. He wants to elevate humanity to partake in His divinity. However, are we able to attain divinity? Throughout the ages, men took short-cuts and did the easier part. They observed the letters of the Law and gradually forgot its spirit. Thus, the Father sent Jesus Christ to restore the distorted world. Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). Not only does Jesus come to fulfil the teachings and prophecies of the prophets, but He also comes to restore the spirit of the Law. Observing the Law in the spirit of the Law will heal our hearts of the wounds sustained by sins, thus enabling us to partake in the divinity of God in the future. Taking short-cuts of obeying only the letters of the Law will miss God’s original intention and effect of giving us the Law!

In previous weeks, we read of how Jesus points out the true spirit of various commandments. For example, not only shall we not kill, but we also need to manage our anger because anger is the very root of all violence (5:21-26). Not only shall we not commit adultery, but we also need to uproot our lust because it is better to lose one of our members than to have the whole body thrown to hell (5:27-30). Not only should we not take a false oath, conjuring God up to strengthen the credibility of our witness, but we also should not swear at all because speaking anything other than the truth is evil and stands against God (5:33-37) because God is the Truth.

Today, Jesus goes further. He tells us not to resist evil and gives the infamous licence to non-Christians to tease us, namely “turn the other cheek” (5:39). Jesus challenges us to “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (5:44-45a). If we understand perfection to be inferior to holiness, then Jesus seems to have watered down the impossible goal of holiness in Leviticus mentioned above, probably to accommodate our inadequacy by saying, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48) to wrap up the first section of the Sermon on the Mount. Once again, we’ll ask, “Can we be perfect?”

This brings us back to the beginning when God forbade Adam to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and cautioned him that when he ate from it he would die (Genesis 2:17). Why didn’t God want us to know good and evil? And yet, God planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. It is hard not to see this as a trap! As of the time of writing, I could only explain that Adam was not yet ready to eat the Forbidden Fruit. When the time came, God would give Adam this knowledge. If he disobeyed, dire consequences would arise as history has shown. For example, we don’t teach the general theory of relativity to kindergarten children, do we? Regrettably, Adam was not patient enough to wait and the rest is history. Consequently, we’re only equipped with incomplete knowledge of good and evil. One of the flaws is the oversimplification of situations by dichotomizing them into either black or white, good or evil. Most of the time, we’re unable to see evil in “goodness” and vice versa. When we see some evil in an action, we judge the action totally evil and refuse to see/are unable to see any goodness in it!

Just think about it. Who is born intrinsically evil? I’m sure infant Hitler was as adorable and innocent as the Holy Infant! When he grew up frustrated, subsequently attained power, started a war to kill millions of people, had love ever been totally evaporated from his heart? Who, except God, is capable to pass judgment?
When we enjoy what our hands provide and be content (Psalms 128:2), do we have enemies? Evils arise when we become obstacles to others’ greed and lust. Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:1-16) is a case in point. Naboth was undoubtedly innocent and was murdered. To add fuel to the fire, God spared the life of Ahab when he tore his garments and put on sackcloth, fasted and went about subdued (21:27, 29). And yet, this is righteousness, divine righteousness and not human righteousness! What could Jesus tell the kindergarten kid in us about divine righteousness? He says, “For He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45b). He invites to transcend ourselves to attain perfection (5:48). Otherwise we are not different from those we label as tax-collectors and pagans (5:46-47). Previously, Jesus instructs us to surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). Attaining perfection surpasses human righteousness.

Brethren! Still, is it possible for us to attain perfection? With human efforts alone, it is truly impossible. But God always stands by us to lend us a helping hand. How can I be so sure? It is because of the reassurance God gives in Leviticus 19 when we read eight times the phrase “I am the Lord” like a chant! Of course, you may interpret it as God claiming His authority over us. However, from another perspective, God may be pledging us that despite our frailty, He will faithfully support us to fulfil the Law. So brethren! Trust in the Lord and invoke the coming of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37). Amen.
God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit:saintbenedict.com

Righteousness Surpasses Pharisees’ 超越法利塞人的義德

Sixth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Righteousness Surpasses Pharisees’ 超越法利塞人的義德

God gave humanity the Ten Commandments through Moses to redeem them. Observing the Ten Commandments was sufficient for us to be justified and be saved. That is why Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). He makes it clear that His mission is not to overthrow the Old Testament in order to establish the New. Instead, the New Testament is to fulfil, to accomplish the Old. Some of us may feel disappointed but the fact is, Jesus has only given us just one new commandment (John 13:34) and no more. Moreover, this new commandment does not contradict or override the Ten Commandments. What does Jesus mean by “to fulfil the law”? He does not come to rewrite the law but to restore its spirit, the original intention of giving the law. It is because throughout the ages, men gradually drifted away from the spirit of the Commandments and kept them more in a literal manner not only because it is more easily to do so, but also because a new class of legal experts has arisen to build a human tradition around the Commandments.

In themselves, the Ten Commandments are vague but they were sufficient in ancient times when life was simpler. “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13) becomes vague when social life grows in complexity. For example, if I intend to kill a person whom I hate but somehow he survives. Suppose he is only blinded or maimed by me. Have I breached the Commandment? Humanity hates ambiguity and wants certainty. Furthermore, they want justice to prevail! So, new regulations were set up to catch what had been missing! “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” (21:23-25). There is no more uncertainty, right? But how can you cover all possible circumstances? Take another example. “The seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work …” (20:10). But it is obviously impossible not to do any work on the seventh day. So the scribes and Pharisees who were famous opponents of Jesus in the gospels helped by interpreting them in more concrete and more manageable manners. They came up with the concept of “Sabbath Day’s Journey”, a distance of 2000 cubits from the centre of worship (Joshua 3:3). Certainty and order were re-established and life had become more tolerable again … until the next wave of societal advancements!

The Pharisees used to be national heroes in the establishment of the Jewish identity during the Babylonian Captivity. The Judaism they set up served the Jews well even when there was no more Temple, when there was no location to offer sacrifice to God. Thanks to the prophets. They were able to spiritualize sacrifices. For example, the Psalter says, “For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn” (Psalms 51:18-19). With the support from the Prophets and Holy Writings, the Pharisees arose to challenge the traditional status of priests who only accepted the Torah/Law. With the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian Captivity gave the Pharisees an opportunity to interpret and spiritualize the Commandments. Gradually, their interpretations of the Commandments had become the “standard/norm” which were some objective and unambiguous criteria to pass judgments on whether the Commandments had been breached. Priests were side-lined to perform sacrifices only.

Brethren! Beware! There is a small Pharisee inside each and every one of us! Jesus once warns us, “Look out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees … the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6; 12). The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees was the core of the Old Testament. In short, they taught that offering sacrifices and observing the law would bring us salvation. They were not totally wrong, only incomplete because they had not given sufficient attention to the role of grace. That is why Jesus came to fulfil the Old Testament by highlighting God’s work of mercy! The argument between human efforts and divine grace has been going on throughout the ages. Pelagianism was one such typical position. In 2018, Pope Francis promulgated the Apostolic Exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate” to talk about the call to holiness in today’s world. The Pope mentions two enemies to holiness. One of them is Pelagianism, i.e. justification by personal efforts, the worship of the human will and their own abilities. It is expressed in a variety of “ways of thinking and acting: an obsession with the law … a punctilious concern for the Church’s liturgy, doctrine and prestige, a vanity about the ability to manage practical matters, and an excessive concern with programmes of self-help and personal fulfilment …” (GE #57). In other words, Pelagianism is “the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” which Jesus has warned above. Therefore, if we insist on receiving the Holy Communion by tongue because it is more pious and elevate the practice to become norms which everybody should follow, if we refuse infant baptisms when parents’ marriages are not sacramental, if we complain Vatican for allocating funds to feed the hungry instead of renovating churches, if the Roman Curia prevents women from ordination, signs secret deals with atheist regimes and if we spend more time and energy studying theology of spirituality instead of praying, the small Pharisee inside us has gained the upper hand!

So, how does our righteousness surpass the Pharisee’s? When our thinking and action spring from the love of God and the love of our neighbour, we are justified.

It is not sufficient just not to kill nor to injure. We need to control our anger. God warned Cain, “Why are you angry? Why are you dejected? If you act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it” (Genesis 4:6-7) Anger is a temptation which we can rule over. Remember, men were created in the image of God (1:26). So, how can you say to your brother “Raqa” or “You fool” (Matthew 5:22)? Not only are you venting your anger, but you are also criticizing God and His master-pieces! How dare you! Instead, you should think of what is good for both your brother and yourself. Jesus’ advice is, “Leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (5:24). When you want to please God, think of what is good for your fellow master-pieces first!

It is not sufficient not to commit adultery. We need to respect our bodies which were created by God. To make room for further growth and advancement, we were incomplete when we were created. Most of us need to seek fulfilment through becoming one body with our spouses (Genesis 2:24). This fulfilment is more than mere carnal pleasures but also spiritual interflows as well. When carnal pleasures are divorced from spiritual satisfactions, it becomes lust which has generated a huge pornography industry all over the world! It is a degradation of other persons into objects. Thus lust disrespects God! How can you please God when you look at a woman with lust (Matthew 5:28)!

Jesus sounds rather harsh when He teaches, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No’. Anything more is from the evil one” (5:37) Why do people tell ‘white lies’ to console dying patients? Why do government officials evade criticisms by putting up a lot of irrelevant details to cover up an issue? Why do magistrates nowadays mete out disproportionate punishments ‘to send out a clear message to the public to deter similar crimes in the future’, when deterrence is proven not to be an effective nor morally acceptable justification for criminal punishments? Is it because the people concerned are not ready to accept the truth? Therefore, for their well-being, not telling the truth is the right thing to do? Then who is legitimate to pass judgment on when they will be ready, if not now? I doubt very much the motivation to tell lies is for the good of the other parties instead of personal gains! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13). When we do not respect truth, not only are we not loving our brothers, but we also disrespect God the Holy Spirit!

Brethren! Invoke the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love to help us fulfil the law. Amen.
God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: jingdaily.com

What’s the Right Thing to Do? 做甚麼纔對？

Fifth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: What’s the Right Thing to Do? 做甚麼纔對？

Nowadays, the table salts we make use of daily are chemically produced and thus are very homogeneous. Not so in ancient times when salts were extracted by drying up sea water or were dug up in rocky caves. Since they were impure and it was possible for the “salt” to appear to lose its taste (Matthew 5:13b). Technically, those salts were admixtures of different chlorides which might not be as salty as sodium chloride NaCl, the salt we’re familiar with. Thus, salts did not lose taste as such. Of course, since they were admixtures and the distribution of “salty taste” might be uneven. In times, some portions might seem to have lost their taste when most of the sodium chloride had been consumed and became no good for anything.

The gospel passage today is part of the Sermon on the Mount which is not a theological treatise but a Magna Carter, a moral constitution which each Christian should observe. It answers the question: for Christians, what’s the right thing to do? Matthew portrays Jesus Christ as the Supreme Teacher who is greater than even Moses and parables are employed to communicate the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven in simple and easily remembered terms. After outlining the Beatitudes, Jesus starts by using light and salt to teach the crowd what the right thing to do is. “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world” (5:13-14) Later, we read that “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (5:16). For Christians, the criterion of doing the right thing is to make people know and glorify the Father. It is simple as such!

The simile of salt points to the core of morality. Like salt which was impure in ancient times, our actions are an admixture of good and bad deeds. It is impossible for a person to be 100% evil or 100% saintly from cradle to grave. In other words, we have to acknowledge that saints have a past and sinners a future. Though humanity was damaged by the Original Sin, we are still redeemable. From this admixture imagery, we may arrive at the following conclusions:
First of all, Christians should not be discouraged by the faults and wrong choices they have ever made and will be making in the future. Jesus Christ loves us as a whole, embracing all our rights and wrongs. In His divine gaze, we are salts with different degrees of impurities. But in His gospel, Jesus Christ does not require us to be 100% pure in order to be saved. His requirement is simple: “whoever endures to the end will be saved” (10:22; 24:13). In other words, keep doing the right thing to the end and we’re promised to be saved. And when we fail and know our faults, we should “repent and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). This means that as long as our hearts haven’t been so hardened by sins that we refuse to repent, we still have a second chance; a third chance … and a seventy-times-seventh chance (Matthew 18:22)!

Secondly, I would like to comment on perseverance before going further. Let’s assume that we know what the right thing to do to help a brother and we should forgive his failings seventy-times seven. But in real life, when a person shows no sign of improvement/progress, how long should we persist before we stop? That person can be as insatiable as a black hole, sucking up all our time, emotion and money etc. Lord! How am I able to endure to the end? Have I chosen the wrong person to love at the very beginning? Does the Lord in fact want me to be a channel of His love for another brother instead of this black-hole? Many saintly people speak of loving until it hurts. Perhaps, it is more productive for us to exercise some prudence when we do the right thing.

Thirdly, what are the impurities?
Since the Enlightenment, people attempted to establish moral principles independent of God. There are different schools of ethics to advocate various objective principles of moral actions. For example, utilitarianism defines an action to be moral if it produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It is not something new. The High Priest Caiaphas demonstrated it when he “had counselled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people” (John 18:14). But one crucial point is missing in cost-benefit-analysis, viz. the motive. If an anonymous donor gives 100 million to feed starving children in Africa while another business man does the same in front of TV cameras for 10 seconds, whose action is moral? We must take motive into account! For Christians, since God is love and love is never self-seeking. Therefore, whatever actions whose motives are not for the good of the others cannot be right. Alas! Not only our actions are an admixture, but the motives of an action are also mixed! Human beings are too smart. We enjoy killing two birds with one stone. Therefore, an action can be motivated by several motives to achieve several goals at the same time! The motive of the anonymous donor is simply to save children while the business man obviously wants fame on top of charity. In real life situations, there are even ulterior motives only the agents know … Perhaps we should take a break and enjoy the following video clip to reflect on the complexity of moral discussions. (Remember to read the Description on YouTube.)

Before we go, I would like to draw your attention to a more profound layer of moral discussion. In real life situation, an agent and his action appear to be inseparable. Without an agent, there can be no action, right? But we are taught to separate the agent from the actions when we discuss sins and sinners. That is to say, we separate sinners from their sins. Sinners we should forgive and show mercy but sins we abhor. That makes sense. Sins and sinners are not identical.
Now, Jesus did not say, “Your good deeds/salt is the salt of the earth”. Instead He says, “You are the salt of the earth”! Similarly, He did not say, “Your good deeds/light is the light of the world”. Instead He says, “You are the light of the world”! Jesus seems to be making good deeds our identity, the Christian identity. No wonder Pope Francis calls the Beatitudes the identity card of Christians (Gaudate et Exsultate #63). By the time we and our good deeds become identical, perhaps we don’t have to worry about black-holes.

Brethren! Indeed we should. Let us be exemplars of virtues and start with, not glamorous ones, but humble ones like salt! I’m sure we won’t be able to attain virtues overnight. We need to persevere but start with humble ones first! Amen.
God bless!
2020 Reflection