THE REWARDS OF LOVE AND SERVICE

20151110 THE REWARDS OF LOVE AND SERVICE

Readings at Mass

First reading

Wisdom 2:23-3:9 ©

God made man imperishable,

he made him in the image of his own nature;

it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,

as those who are his partners will discover.

But the souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God,

no torment shall ever touch them.

In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die,

their going looked like a disaster,

their leaving us, like annihilation;

but they are in peace.

If they experienced punishment as men see it,

their hope was rich with immortality;

slight was their affliction, great will their blessings be.

God has put them to the test

and proved them worthy to be with him;

he has tested them like gold in a furnace,

and accepted them as a holocaust.

When the time comes for his visitation they will shine out;

as sparks run through the stubble, so will they.

They shall judge nations, rule over peoples,

and the Lord will be their king for ever.

They who trust in him will understand the truth,

those who are faithful will live with him in love;

for grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

Psalm

Psalm 33:2-3,16-19 ©

I will bless the Lord at all times.

I will bless the Lord at all times,

  his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.

  The humble shall hear and be glad.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked

  to destroy their remembrance from the earth.

The Lord turns his eyes to the just

  and his ears to their appeal.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

They call and the Lord hears

  and rescues them in all their distress.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;

  those whose spirit is crushed he will save.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

Gospel Acclamation

Mt4:4

Alleluia, alleluia!

Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 17:7-10 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, “Come and have your meal immediately”? Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards”? Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”’

THE REWARDS OF LOVE AND SERVICE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: WISDOM 2:23-3:9; LK 17:7-10

People who give up their lives selflessly in love and service for others are very difficult to find.  Most of us expect some kind of reward for what we do. Everything that we do is determined by the principle of profit.  Most of us are more concerned how much we can get for what we put in.  Such egoistic outlook is due to the fact of our fallen nature.  This is indeed what the author of Wisdom is suggesting.  According to him, we are made in the image of God’s nature but because of sin, death entered the world.  And thus, we have lost our likeness of God.  To lose our likeness of God simply means that we have lost the very nature of God who is unconditional love and who created us freely to share His life.  Instead, we have become selfish and inward-looking, always seeking for reward.

Indeed, this is the theme of today’s gospel reading.  This parable was precisely directed at the Jewish leaders who put so much emphasis on obedience to the laws.  But for them, it is through merits that they will be justified.  Indirectly, the Jews were saying that if they did good works, they should be entitled to their rewards.  Against such legalistic preoccupation with merits, Jesus told them the parable of the farmer and his servant.  The truth is that we will never find a farmer fussing over his servant simply because he has worked hard or done his duty.  After all, he is his servant.  He must work hard without expecting any kind of reward.  Thus Jesus says, “when you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, ‘We are useless servants.  We have done no more than our duty.’”

Does it mean therefore that it is wrong to seek for reward for the good work that we do?  Isn’t it true that in other parts of the gospel and the New Testament, Jesus and St Paul did speak about the reward of eternal life that will be given to those who live good lives?  How then should we give the question of reward in the light of the gospel?  Indeed, the question of merits and reward is itself a controversial theological question.  In order to understand the nature of the Christian reward, we must first realize why the reward that we are seeking goes against the very happiness that we desire.

Basically, for those who are seeking for reward for their services fall into one of two categories of people.  The worldly people seek immediate worldly reward in this life.  They are concerned with how much money, wealth, popularity and recognition they will get from rendering a service.  There is another kind of people. These are supposed to be the more spiritual ones.  But actually they are the really greedy ones.  They are not contented with worldly happiness.  They want to have more.  So they seek for some kind of reward in the next life.  And so like many people, they feel that their whole life on earth is to invest in the future life.  Theirs is a delayed gratification.

Both categories of people are unenlightened.  They miss the whole point of service and love.  They will not be able to live in the fullness of the Kingdom.  Why?  Because when we seek for rewards, whether in this life or the next, we can never be truly happy in life.  At most, our happiness is dependent on the moment when we get our reward. We merely postpone our happiness to another time, whether at the end of a particular project in this life or in the next.  And so for the worldly man, he works very hard in order to find some reward.   For example, a student studies very hard for a degree.  He slogs day and night for years just to wait for that graduation day when he is honoured.  But he did not enjoy his studies.  It has been a great burden for him.

Or take a seminarian for example. He works very hard, he follows the rules of the seminary, he tries to put up with the seminary system even though deep within he is very unhappy with it.  But he perseveres in misery in this valley of tears until that day when he is ordained. And he says to himself: “at last I am liberated and I can be happy in life”.  But before he knows it, the joy of ordination wears out, and very soon, he finds the demands of the parish too much for him.  Now he needs to go on leave or ask for a transfer.   But wherever he goes, he will be miserable.  Of course, he still has the last card to play.  He can say to himself, “Never mind the sufferings and miseries of the priesthood. Let me go through this life so that when I die I will have a great place in heaven.”

If both of these approaches do not work, there is still yet one other approach – it is the way of Jesus.  In the gospel, Jesus tells us that after we have done all we could, we must consider ourselves as only having done our duty and not to expect any reward.  In other words, what Jesus is telling us is that we must not work directly for reward, since the reward is already found in the work itself.  There is no other reward.  The reward of studying is simply the joy of acquiring knowledge and not simply whether we get good grades or not.  At any rate, if we enjoy studying, we will most certainly study well and do well.

Happiness is simply to do our work now and enjoy it.  When we adopt such an attitude, then we need not wait for the reward at the end nor in the next life.  We would have already enjoyed whatever we do.  The final reward would be nothing else but simply a culmination of what we are already enjoying.   Only by thinking in this manner, can we also transcend the theological problem of working for reward.  Since we are simply enjoying whatever we do and not directly seeking for any rewards, the ego does not determine our motives.  Any reward that is given to us would thus be received unconsciously and selflessly.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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