XVIII Sunday of the Year

CRAVING SOMETHING MORE…

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

Readings for the XVIII Sunday of the Year

The book “Acres of Diamonds” narrates the tale of Ali Hafed. Hafed, a wealthy Persian, owned a large farm with orchards, fields, and gardens. He had a lovely family and was a contented man.

Contented till an old priest told Hafed that if he had a diamond the size of his thumb, he could own a dozen farms. Hafed asked: “Where can I find these diamonds?”

The priest said: “Search for a river that runs over white sands between high mountains. In those sands, you will find diamonds.”

Hafed went to bed discontented. Craving diamonds, he sold his land, and travelled the world… till he became so broken and defeated that he committed suicide. 

Sometime later, the man who purchased Hafed’s farm led his camel to the garden brook. As the camel drank, the man noticed a flash of light from the white sands of the brook. He dived into the brook and pulled out a glistening stone. He had discovered the diamond mines of Golconda.

Had Hafed remained at home and searched his own land, he would have had “acres of diamonds” instead of wretchedness and death in a strange land. 

Whether fact or fiction, Hafed is a symbol of everyone who is discontent with what one has, who constantly seeks “something more”, a search which invariably/ inevitably leads to disappointment and frustration.

Hafed is a symbol of the Israelites during their journey to the Promised Land. In Egypt, they longed for freedom. In the desert, they yearned for food and water. When Yahweh provided them manna, quails, and water, they craved novelty. Israel’s story is a story of craving and dissatisfaction.

Hafed is a symbol of the crowds – in today’s Gospel – who “came… looking for Jesus” searching for bread to fill their hunger. Jesus led them gradually to the truth that their search would find fulfilment in him. Like their ancestors, they remained dissatisfied with what he offered them, and sought something more.

Is Ali Hafed a symbol of me? Am I content where I am and with whatever I have? Does my hunger for contentment and meaning find fulfilment in Jesus the Bread of Life or do I search for “diamonds” everywhere when the greatest treasure is with me? 

May I realise and discover the “acres of diamonds” I have all around me.

XVII Sunday of the Year

HELP PEOPLE… HELP THEMSELVES

2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15

Readings for the XVII Sunday of the Year

We have many and conflicting requests for help. For instance, we are working on an important task, and someone needs help. You return after a hard day at work and want to relax, and your child has a project/ needs a drop/ wants something bought or maybe unwell.

Jesus experienced something similar.

Today’s gospel opens with him going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He withdrew after John’s beheading to avoid danger after the execution or to grieve over his loss. He cannot be by himself; the crowds follow him, and he is faced with an unexpected demand, with an intrusion on his privacy. 

We usually counter such situations in one of two ways. One: ignore these calls because these conflict with my plans/ needs. Two (if I’m someone who cannot say “no”): always put aside my plans and respond even when I cannot and/ or do not want to respond. Neither response is appropriate; neither is the one that Jesus made. 

Jesus had compassion on the people and satisfied their hunger. But it is important to recall two points.

First, Jesus did not wave a magic wand to produce food. He asked the disciples to provide food for the crowds and worked with the “five barley loaves and two fish” which they gave him. He drew on their resources!

Second, he “withdrew again to the mountain alone” because he did not want to make the people dependent.

Sometimes compassion is helping people by giving them resources and oneself. More often, compassion is helping people find their own resources and themselves. 

An anecdote might help us to understand! A young girl was watching chicks hatch. There were a dozen yellow chicks huddled under the mother hen; one egg was not hatched. She could see a little yellow body pulsing and struggling through the cracks in the shell. The kid picked up the egg and peeled the shell to free the chick. The chick gasped and stop breathing.

The little girl ran to her mum with tears in her eyes and told her what had happened. Her mum explained that each chick must struggle to break through its shell; it becomes strong through that struggle. She concluded: “There are some things that you cannot do for others; they have to do these themselves.”

Will I, sometimes, reach out to meet people’s needs, and at other moments “withdraw” so that they become independent? Will I discern when to help people and when to help them help themselves?

XVI Sunday of the Year

HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM

Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34

Readings for the XVI Sunday of the Year

The oncologist walked through the parking lot with just one thought: the dire diagnosis he had handed Jim. Advanced pancreatic cancer. He noticed an elderly gentleman handing tools to someone under his stalled car. That someone was Jim! Doc yelled: “Jim, what are you doing?” Jim crawled out, dusted off his pants, and said: Doc, my cancer didn’t tell me to stop helping others.” He waved at the man to start the car. The engine roared to life. The man thanked Jim and drove off. Jim got into his car and took off as well. 

His pain did not stop Jim from seeing another’s predicament and reaching out to help. 

We have heard about similar stories of compassion. Perhaps we have experienced such compassion. 

The greatest story of compassion is about God’s compassionate love for his people, of his constant and caring presence with his people through shepherd judges and kings. 

However, as the first reading portrays, some shepherds showed no concern for the needs of their people. God’s response is swift: he will be their shepherd and raise new shepherds for them. 

The model of these new shepherds is Jesus, who is filled with compassion for people. In today’s Gospel text, Jesus manifests his compassion twice. 

He has compassion on his disciples, who return weary after their missionary travels, but are interrupted by the “many who were coming and going” so that “they had no time to eat”. Jesus takes them to a lonely place. But there is no “lonely place”! The people see where the boat was headed and get there first! 

These are the “poor of the land” considered ignorant, labelled sinners, and treated as outcasts by the pharisees and scribes. Jesus has compassion on them. His tiredness does not stop him from seeing and responding to the people’s need. and he tends the flock by teaching them. By not sending the people away, Jesus gives his disciples a profound teaching and an illustration of the tender love of God for his people.

The Lord invites us to have this caring and compassionate love. 

To whom and how am I going to be caring and compassionate in the week ahead? How do I handle “interruptions” to my moments of rest/ leisure/ work?

XV Sunday of the Year

CALLED AND SENT

Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:7-13

Readings for the XV Sunday of the Year

She begins her program with a Bach symphony. She next plays an Irish air, then a Bob Dylan folk song, and finally a jazz improvisation. The venue: a hospice. The audience: one, a 70-year-old woman with terminal cancer. Through her music she provides a measure of peace for those walking their last steps in this world.

She is a “little” Carmelite nun! She’s just 5’ tall, does not have a professional qualification (in her words: “I am only tenth pass.”). But people from every walk of life – bishops, priests, religious; teenagers, couples – and every religion come to seek guidance. She is one of the best spiritual directors I have met.

With their “walking sticks” – a guitar and a listening ear – these two unnamed apostles reach out to the needy. They make us realize that we don’t need much to be apostles of compassion and healing.

 

This is emphasis of today’s liturgy. 

The first reading is about the prophetic ministry of Amos, a sheep-breeder from Tekoa, Judah. God sends him to Israel, where he denounces social injustice and religious laxity. He goes to a foreign land and pulls them up for their laxity! He claims that he is not a professional prophet: “I am not a prophet, nor a prophet’s son.” God’s word: “Go prophesy” is his only qualification. 

The Gospel is about the mission of the Twelve. They are unqualified for the mission: no social position, no education in scripture/ theology. Plus they had Jesus’ instructions: “no resources! What do they carry with them? A walking stick, authority from Jesus, his message, and trust in him. 

All of us, by our baptism, are called and chosen. St Paul emphasises that in the second reading. We are called and chosen and given the mission to proclaim the good news, to reach out to the sick and the downtrodden. 

We do not have to be “professionals”, qualified priests/ prophets/ theologians to proclaim the good news, to reach out to God’s people. We have the sole qualification we need: BDC… Baptised Disciples of Christ!

Do I believe that God has called me and given me the mission to be his messenger to the people in my life? How am I going to proclaim his message in the week ahead? What is the “the walking stick” I will use to reach out to people?

XIV Sunday of the Year

REJECTED

Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6

Readings for the XIV Sunday of the Year

In 1960, religious persecution broke out in Sudan. Paride Taban fled to Uganda. There he studied for the priesthood and was ordained. When the Sudan situation stablized, Fr Taban returned and was assigned a parish in Palotaka. His parishioners always had white priests before who gave them clothing and medicine. Fr Taban was like them—black, poor… with nothing material to give them. His people would not accept this poor black man as a priest.

The story of Fr Taban is an example of the rejection every prophet encounters. Prophets in Hebrew history and in Christianity have met with resistance and hostility. 

We have an example in the prophet Ezekiel in the First Reading. God calls him to proclaim his message to his people and warns him that he will meet with resistance. God challenges Ezekiel to be a prophet regardless of the people’s response.

The Second Reading is an excerpt from a section called the “letter in tears.” Paul’s appeals to his beloved Corinthians: They have betrayed him by shifting allegiance to the “super-apostles” who have seduced them with their eloquent speech. All that Paul has is a “thorn in the flesh”.

In the Gospel, Jesus’ townsfolk are astonished at his wisdom and at the reports about his miracles. But they know he is the carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph, and they have grown up with him. They see the outward person, but they do not listen to his words. Their prejudice and familiarity make them blind. They reject him.

We are not different from the Israelites, the Corinthians, and the Nazarenes. God constantly speaks to us through people we know. We do not recognize his voice because the message is unpalatable, because the messenger has weaknesses, because the messenger is someone we know very well or someone we dislike. 

The Word of God challenges us on two fronts.

It challenges us to receive God’s Word irrespective of the messenger’s status/ power/ origin.

It reminds us that every Christian, because of his/ her baptism, is called to be a prophet. We may be afraid and feel incompetent; God will work through our fear and incompetence. 

Will I discover and listen to the prophetic voice of God in ordinary people? Or am I impressed by showy rhetoric but impervious to the grace that comes through weakness?

How will I, a simple and ordinary person, be his prophet?