20140830 REMEMBERING OUR
HUMBLE BACKGROUND AS THE ANTIDOTE TO ARROGANCE AND INGRATITUDE
Reading 1, First Corinthians 1:26-31
26 Consider, brothers, how you were called; not many of
you are wise by human standards, not many influential, not many from noble
families.
27 No, God chose those
who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human
standards are weak to shame the strong,
28 those who by human standards are common and
contemptible -- indeed those who count for nothing -- to reduce to nothing all
those that do count for something,
29 so that no human being might feel boastful before God.
30 It is by him that you exist in Christ Jesus, who for us was made wisdom from God, and saving justice and holiness and
redemption.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:12-13, 18-19, 20-21
19 to rescue them from death and keep them alive in
famine.
20 We are waiting for Yahweh; he is our help and our
shield,
21 for in him our heart rejoices, in his holy name we
trust.
Gospel, Matthew 25:14-30
14 'It is like a man about to go
abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to
them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third
one, each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out on his journey.
18 But the man who had
received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 Now a long time afterwards,
the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them.
20 The man who had
received the five talents came forward bringing five more. "Sir," he
said, "you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have
made."
21 His master said to him, "Well done, good and
trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you
with greater; come and join in your master's happiness."
22 Next the man with the two
talents came forward. "Sir," he said, "you entrusted me with two
talents; here are two more that I have made."
23 His master said to him, "Well done, good and
trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you
with greater; come and join in your master's happiness."
24 Last came forward the man who had the
single talent. "Sir," said he, "I had heard you were a hard man,
reaping where you had not sown and gathering where you had not scattered;
25 so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in
the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back."
26 But his master answered him, "You wicked and lazy
servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have
not scattered?
27 Well then, you should have deposited my money with the
bankers, and on my return I would have got my money back with interest.
29 For to everyone who has will be given
more, and he will have more
than enough; but anyone who has not, will be deprived
even of what he has.
30 As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him into the
darkness outside, where there will be weeping
and grinding of teeth."
REMEMBERING
OUR HUMBLE BACKGROUND AS THE ANTIDOTE TO ARROGANCE AND INGRATITUDE
How often have we come
across people who are successful, accomplished, rich, powerful, influential
and famous, but have also become proud, arrogant, pretentious, snobbish,
condescending, demanding and intolerant? What is worse is that many
of them actually came from humble beginnings, financially and socially.
We often wonder how these people, who have gone through a life of poverty and
little social standing, could now act without compassion, understanding and
respect for those who are marginalized in society, or who do not enjoy the same
status in life as them. Given what they have gone through, one would
expect that they would be better placed to feel with and for such people.
What is the reason for
their behaviour? They have forgotten their humble background. Even
for those who enjoyed an elite upbringing, they have failed to realize that
what they now have came from their forefathers who worked hard to accumulate
wealth and built up their families. They, too, were once jobless and lived in
poverty, despised by the rich and the powerful. Indeed, it is when we
forget our humble beginnings, whether it be in terms of our family background,
education or career, that we become haughty and self-conceited.
Today, St Paul reminds his
fellow Christians and all of us as well, the importance of remembering of
our nothingness and how, through the grace of God, we have become what we are
today. He wrote to the wealthy and intellectually snobbish and
morally corrupt Corinthians, “Take yourselves, brothers, at the time when you
were called: how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how
many were influential people, or came from noble families? No, it was to shame
the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame the
strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning; those whom the world
thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are
nothing at all to show up those who are everything.” Indeed, if they came
to find the true wisdom and riches in Christ who made everything else pale and
insignificant to Him, it was by God’s graciousness and mercy.
St Paul could vouch for
this himself, for
although he came from a noble and influential family, well educated as a rabbi
and a strict orthodox Jew, he realized that all he possessed was “rubbish”
compared to his encounter with the Crucified and Risen Christ. It was out
of this humble experience of encountering Jesus along the road to Damascus that
changed his whole outlook in life and what true religion is all
about. Having experienced the unconditional love of Christ and
enlightened on the depth of God’s love and His unfathomable divine plan for
humanity, he knew that this revelation was given to him not only for himself,
but in order that he might reveal the mystery of Christ to all of humanity.
In the gospel, this
theme of gratitude and the corollary response of commitment prevail. The lazy servant in the gospel
kept the talent that his master entrusted to him, not so much out of fear as
out of sheer ingratitude. After all, his words belied his line of defense
when he said, “Sir, I have heard you were a hard man, reaping where you have
not sown and gathering where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I
went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have
it back.” If he was aware of how much confidence and love the
master had for him in entrusting him with the talent, which is worth about one
million US dollars in today’s terms, then surely he would have been so grateful
and sought to increase that amount through investment, even if it was done
conservatively. But he allowed it to stay idle, as if he had not even received
it, and almost forgot all about it.
In contrast the other
servants, including the master himself, were aware of the blessings they
received from God.
The master himself reiterated this fact when he said, “I reap where I have not
sown and gather where I have not scattered.” It is true that he worked
hard to grow his wealth, but in the first place, it had been given freely by
God. So in gratitude for God’s blessings, he worked hard to make it
grow. He was cooperative with the grace of God. He did not take
what was given to him for granted, but developed further what he had been
bestowed with. This was true for the rest of the servants who had
invested the money as well.
What about us? Are
we grateful for the talents we have received? Have we made use of
them for the service of God and humanity? Or have we forgotten what
we have received freely from God through our parents, relatives, and friends
and from the Christian community? Isn’t it true that some of us have
learned certain skills, like music or computer, or some trades but fail to use
them for the good of humanity and the Christian community? But even if we
do, does rendering of our services make us proud, arrogant, demanding,
dictatorial and boastful of what we have been given in the first place?
Has our success in business, in education or in our professions made us
consider ourselves better than others?
If we do, St Paul reminds
us thus, “The human race has nothing to boast about to God, but you, God has
made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and
our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom. As scripture says: if anyone
wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.” Indeed, let us learn
from the psalmist and be grateful to God for all that we are today.
Like the psalmist, let us sing out our praises, “Blessed the people the Lord
has chosen to be his own. Blessed the nation whose God is the Lord, the people
he has chosen for his own inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down he sees
all mankind. But see, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon
those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them
in spite of famine.”
Truly, let us keep
ourselves humble before the Lord and His people. The truly great
person is one who is so successful, popular and accomplished in the eyes of
the world and yet stays humble, unpretentious, without any airs in his dealings
and relationship with others, rich or poor, influential or ordinary, small or
great. He is truly the great man because of his ordinariness and
modesty.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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