20141119 FAITH IS
TO TAKE CREATIVE RISKS FOR THE KINGDOM
First
reading
Apocalypse
4:1-11 ©
In my
vision, I, John, saw a door open in heaven and heard the same voice speaking to
me, the voice like a trumpet, saying, ‘Come up here: I will show you what is to
come in the future.’ With that, the Spirit possessed me and I saw a throne
standing in heaven, and the One who was sitting on the throne, and the Person
sitting there looked like a diamond and a ruby. There was a rainbow encircling
the throne, and this looked like an emerald. Round the throne in a circle were
twenty-four thrones, and on them I saw twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in
white robes with golden crowns on their heads. Flashes of lightning were coming
from the throne, and the sound of peals of thunder, and in front of the throne
there were seven flaming lamps burning, the seven Spirits of God. Between the
throne and myself was a sea that seemed to be made of glass, like crystal. In
the centre, grouped round the throne itself, were four animals with many eyes,
in front and behind. The first animal was like a lion, the second like a bull,
the third animal had a human face, and the fourth animal was like a flying
eagle. Each of the four animals had six wings and had eyes all the way round as
well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing:
‘Holy,
Holy, Holy
is the
Lord God, the Almighty;
he was,
he is and he is to come.’
Every
time the animals glorified and honoured and gave thanks to the One sitting on
the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders prostrated
themselves before him to worship the One who lives for ever and ever, and threw
down their crowns in front of the throne, saying, ‘You are our Lord and our
God, you are worthy of glory and honour and power, because you made all the
universe and it was only by your will that everything was made and exists.’
Psalm Psalm 150:1-6 ©
Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.
or
Alleluia!
Praise
God in his holy place,
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise
him for his powerful deeds,
praise his surpassing greatness.
Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.
or
Alleluia!
O praise
him with sound of trumpet,
praise him with lute and harp.
Praise
him with timbrel and dance,
praise him with strings and pipes.
Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.
or
Alleluia!
O praise
him with resounding cymbals,
praise him with clashing of cymbals.
Let
everything that lives and that breathes
give praise to the Lord.
Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel
Acclamation 1Jn2:5
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Whenever
anyone obeys what Christ has said,
God’s
love comes to perfection in him.
Alleluia!
Or cf.Jn15:16
Alleluia,
alleluia!
I chose
you from the world
to go
out and bear fruit,
fruit
that will last,
says the
Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 19:11-28 ©
While
the people were listening, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near
Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself
then and there. Accordingly he said, ‘A man of noble birth went to a distant
country to be appointed king and afterwards return. He summoned ten of his
servants and gave them ten pounds. “Do business with these” he told them “until
I get back.” But his compatriots detested him and sent a delegation to follow
him with this message, “We do not want this man to be our king.”
Now on his return, having received his
appointment as king, he sent for those servants to whom he had given the money,
to find out what profit each had made. The first came in and said, “Sir, your
one pound has brought in ten.” “Well done, my good servant!” he replied “Since
you have proved yourself faithful in a very small thing, you shall have the
government of ten cities..” Then came the second and said, “Sir, your one pound
has made five.” To this one also he said, “And you shall be in charge of five cities.”
Next came the other and said, “Sir, here is your pound. I put it away safely in
a piece of linen because I was afraid of you; for you are an exacting man: you
pick up what you have not put down and reap what you have not sown.” “You
wicked servant!” he said “Out of your own mouth I condemn you. So you knew I
was an exacting man, picking up what I have not put down and reaping what I
have not sown? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? On my return I
could have drawn it out with interest.” And he said to those standing by, “Take
the pound from him and give it to the man who has ten pounds.” And they said to
him, “But, sir, he has ten pounds . . .” “I tell you, to everyone who has will
be given more; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken
away.
“But as for my enemies who did not want me
for their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence.”’
When he had said this he went on ahead, going
up to Jerusalem.
FAITH IS TO TAKE CREATIVE RISKS FOR THE KINGDOM
SCRIPTURE READINGS: REV 4:1-11; LUKE 19:11-28
The Church’s liturgical year is drawing to a close with
the Feast of Christ the King, which will be celebrated in just a few days’
time. On this feast, we will celebrate the establishment of the Kingdom
of God which Jesus was sent to accomplish. In celebrating this feast, the
Church anticipates a time when the whole of creation will come under the reign
of Christ when His kingdom message takes root in the hearts of all.
However before this kingdom could be established, it was
necessary for Jesus to be faithful to God’s plan and take the risk of dying for
the kingdom. Hence, today’s parable is prefaced with Jesus nearing
Jerusalem and His resoluteness in going to the place of His passion, death and
resurrection; the symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem where He would receive His
appointment of kingship upon His exaltation at the ascension.
Accordingly, it was important for Jesus to tutor His
disciples to follow Him in risking their lives for the kingdom. In Jesus’
case, going to Jerusalem was certainly a calculated risk that He took, because
He knew that His enemies were increasing in hostility towards Him. Yet,
He also knew that without His death as His signature for all that He stood and
lived for, the kingdom would never become a reality. He knew that His
death would be the only way to unveil the unconditional love of His Father in
human lowliness. Thus, it was in fidelity to His mission that He took
the risk of going up to Jerusalem, much against the discouragement of some
of His disciples.
Indeed, the parable of today is concerned with whether
we are willing to take the risk in using our talents for the sake of the
kingdom. For this reason, although none of the servants had lost any
of the money entrusted to them by their master; yet the one who so carefully
“put it away safely in a piece of linen” was condemned. Because of his
cowardice and conservative outlook, there was no growth in the master’s
investment.
The truth in life is that when there is no risk,
there is no gain; and where there is no growth we remain stagnant. Not
growing also means decay. Anything that does not grow is already
dead. This is clearly exemplified in the world of finance today. In
the past, the safest way to protect our money and make it grow was to keep it
in the bank and let it earn interest. But to do so today would be like
the man who kept the talent in the linen cloth. The fact is that
inflation is rising each year; and the miserable interest that the bank gives
would not even offset the real income that we have lost to inflation.
Even if we are receiving that paltry interest, we are losing the real value of
our money.
This same principle is relevant to every area of our
lives, including our spiritual life. If we want to live dynamically and
not rot gradually, then we must always take calculated risks in living.
Without risks, we cannot enjoy the life of the kingdom. Of course, taking
risks means to have faith that God will see us through. Taking
creative risks presumes a real faith in God. Trusting in divine
providence certainly does not exempt us from prudent planning and
courageous and creative risk- taking. So the question that confronts
us is this: what risks are we willing to take in order to live the life of the
kingdom?
On the personal level, perhaps we have already
taken a major risk in embracing the Catholic faith, some at the risk of
alienation by family and friends, or of being ridiculed for observing
‘out-of-date’ moral practices of the Catholic Church. For those who remain
steadfast to our moral principles, this is certainly commendable. But
this is not sufficient to share the life of the kingdom. Saying “yes’ is
only to arrive at the threshold of the kingdom life. What is even more
important is to be able to continue to take risks by giving ourselves more
and more each day. Are we willing to take the risk of forgiving those
who are apparently incorrigible, especially when they are our loved ones; of
being humbled in speaking the truth always; speaking out against immorality in
the world of relativism; trusting our friends; spending time in prayer instead
of working and providing the family with a more comfortable lifestyle, or the
risk of self-emptying, relying more on God than on ourselves? To that
extent we are willing to take these risks; to that extent the kingdom life of
love, joy, peace, unity, forgiveness and generosity is ours.
Even then, this is only on the personal level. On
the ministry level, are we also willing to take risks in changing the
way things are done; to venture into new areas of ministry, revamping our
approach towards ministry, adopting new ways of serving the Lord, opening ourselves
to different ways the Spirit is moving the Church and new ways of expressing
our faith? Or are we so shackled to our traditions, history,
narrow-minded theology, rules, regulations and practices that we are paralyzed
from change? If we are frozen by past traditions then we are again
like that man who kept the talent in the linen cloth so that like that talent,
we remain unexposed and apparently unharmed.
Yes, the stark reality of life is that traditions are
made, not born. Traditions are not static realities but they must change
in order to be kept alive. The irony is that tradition must change in
order to remain the same! Truth must always be re-expressed in new ways;
otherwise the old expressions would not be properly understood by contemporary people.
Yes, we are empowered to change traditions in creative fidelity, modify
traditions; certainly not to discard them altogether but preserving the essence
and taking the risk of setting new directions. If not, our Church will be
sterile and gradually we will become a dying breed, because there is no life,
no self-renewal, and no dynamism. Unless we are ready to invest our faith
in God’s divine providence, God cannot spring surprises. When we are too
much in control, then God will stay out of our lives and our kingdom!
Indeed, we have the shining example of Pope John XXIII
in taking risks. If he did not take the risk of convening the Second
Vatican Council in spite of his advanced age, the Church would have lost ground
because she would have become irrelevant to the world. Similarly, if
Mother Teresa did not take the courage to leave her order and start the
Missionaries of Charity, Christ would not have been so credible and known in
the world especially among the poor.
Yes, today, we are called to imitate the early
Christians who were under persecution. We know that the book of
revelation was written for them in order to inspire and encourage them to
continue to take risks for Jesus Christ and His kingdom. It was
their blood that became the seed of the Church. But because they were
willing to pay a price for their faith in Christ; because they were willing
to take creative risks in a courageous manner; they were given the reward of
eternal life in the kingdom. If we follow their example, we too will one
day join the elders and the rest of the Christian community to worship God who
sat at the throne.
As we look back at our lives, we must ask ourselves
whether we have grown. If we have not, perhaps, we have been playing
safe all the time. Having taken no risks, no ventures, we cannot expect
to have any gains. Let us pray for the gift of faith and courage so that
we can be more daring in taking risks for the good news; to engineer new
approaches to the ministry and to live our vocation differently. If we
do, then we will be richly rewarded, for we will experience the power of God in
our human weakness and lowliness. Then we will know that in the final
analysis, the kingdom of God and the kingdom life is not brought about by our
own ingenuity and planning and human effort but that it is the work of
God. We are only instruments.
But if we fail to respond and take risks, we will not live the
fullness of life. At best, we will live only mediocre lives, not
dead, not alive either. If we are not adventurous, then we will live a
stale and empty life. He who tries to save his life will lose it. We will
drift through life, not growing but groaning each day. But worse still
are those who have not even begun to accept Jesus as their king in their
lives. To reject Jesus as our king is ultimately to put ourselves out of
the kingdom. Then, like those people in the parable who rejected their
king and got executed; we too will condemn ourselves to a life of misery
because we put ourselves out of His kingdom.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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