Saturday, 11 January 2020

OVERCOMING THE DEADLY SIN OF ENVY

20200111 OVERCOMING THE DEADLY SIN OF ENVY


11 January, 2020, Saturday after Epiphany
1 JOHN 5:14-21
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin,and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God,and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
PSALM 149:1-6, 9
Praise the Lord.[a]
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
    let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing
    and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people;
    he crowns the humble with victory.
Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
    and sing for joy on their beds.
May the praise of God be in their mouths
    and a double-edged sword in their hands,
to carry out the sentence written against them—
    this is the glory of all his faithful people.
Praise the Lord.
JOHN 3:22-30
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testifiedabout—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”[a]

OVERCOMING THE DEADLY SIN OF ENVY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 JOHN 5:14-21; PSALM 149:1-6, 9; JOHN 3:22-30]
The sin of envy is not only present in the world when people fight for positions of glory, honor, wealth and power, whether in the office or with competitors.  But the devil is very smart. He subtly tempts people in voluntary services and those in religious life to envy as well.  It might appear that those who offer their services to voluntary organizations, religious, social or Non-Governmental Organizations do so with altruistic motives.  However, in truth, for many, their service is not always all pure.  Even if they are not seeking monetary gains, they may be seeking personal gain such as recognition and acknowledgement.  This is the spiritual worldliness that Pope Francis often speaks about.
Envy is a very dangerous sin.  It starts small but it grows from strength to strength.  It begins with envy, then it leads to insecurity, backbiting, slander, and competition, sabotage and even murder.  This is why St John warns us, “Children, be on your guard against false gods.”  This sin is instigated by the Evil One through comparison and greed.  We are provoked to jealousy directly or indirectly.  Our parents and our friends will plant the thought in us by suggesting to us that others are better, doing well, promoted or received some rewards.  If we are not careful, we will allow such thoughts to dwell in us and prompt us to desire them as well.
This was the case of the disciples of John the Baptist.  They felt insecure when they saw many going to Jesus for baptism instead of going to their master.  They went to tell John, “Rabbi, the man who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, the man to whom you bore witness, is baptising now; and everyone is going to him.”   They were hoping to stir up John so that he would either stop Jesus or work harder to win back his audience.  Isn’t this how envy always begins?  We were quite happy until someone tells us that our colleague or neighbour has received much more than us.  Envy makes us lose our contentment.
But John the Baptist was not a man that could be easily unsettled or lose his peace of mind.  This was because he was focused in his mission.  He knew his identity and he knew himself.  He did not desire to be someone other than himself.  He was very contented with the blessings that God gave to him, the situation he was placed in and the mission given to him.  He did not desire to do anything other than to be true to himself, realize his potentials in being the forerunner of the Messiah, and to make Him known.
John the Baptist understood the art of contentment and fulfillment.  Happiness in life for John was simply to be the person the Lord had created him to be and to do what he had to do in life.  He was contented to be the friend of the bridegroom.  He said, “The bride is only for the bridegroom; and yet the bridegroom’s friend, who stands there and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This same joy I feel, and now it is complete. He must grow greater, I must grow smaller.”   His only joy was to make the bridegroom loved and be united with His bride.  He saw his role and mission as bringing people to the Lord.  Once that was done, he was happy.  He did not feel the need for people to worship him or glorify him.  His joy was to be of service to the Lord.  His great joy was to know that His beloved was loved by so many people.
Again, this love for our Lord first is something we can learn from John the Baptist.  In most cases, we want to possess something for ourselves and not for others.  This is true even with friends.  We tend to be possessive with our loved ones.  We do not want our loved ones to be loved by others.  We are not generous enough to share our loved ones with others for fear that we will lose the full attention of our loved ones.  We want to possess our loved ones just for ourselves alone. But this was not the case for John.  He wanted Jesus to be loved by as many people as possible.  He was clear that he must decrease so that Jesus could increase.
Indeed, the measure of success for John the Baptist was not how many came to him but how many were going to Jesus.  His mission and his goal was to put himself out of circulation.  His only desire was to lead all to the Messiah.  Once that was achieved, his work would be complete and he could rest in peace.  John’s motivation and mission in life was very clear, straightforward and simple.  He had no other identity or mission than to be the forerunner of our Lord.  He did not aspire to be more than just a forerunner.  When the time came for him, he faded out of the scene, especially when Jesus’ ministry became active.  John the Baptist did everything for the glory of God and for the sake of Jesus.  It was never about himself.
But many of us are not willing to play second fiddle.  We want to be the chairman.  We want to be the leader.  We want to make important decisions in an organization.  We want the world to know who we are and our credentials.  We want respect and to walk with the influential people.  We want to be known to be the best, the most efficient, the most famous.  So we are not willing to take second place in any function.  And if we are not elected, we either resign our position or adopt a non-cooperative stance or even a hostile position.  We seek to put down the leader, ensure that he fails so that we can take over the leadership.  When our leader proposes ideas and plans, we find reasons to take them down and thwart all initiatives. We cannot rejoice with our leaders when they are acknowledged.  Indeed, envy and jealousy consume our hearts and blind our eyes.
When that happens, we know that we are serving with the wrong motives.  We need to pray and discern God’s will to find happiness in life.  St John reminds us that whenever we pray, we must align our will to God’s will if the petition were to be answered.  He wrote, “We are quite confident that if we ask the Son of God for anything, and it is in accordance with his will, he will hear us; and, knowing that whatever we may ask, he hears us, we know that we have been granted what we ask of him.”   Indeed, if we are given positions in life, wealth, power, influence or talents, it is because God has a task for us to do.  They are not given to make us feel great, proud and egoistic.  He will only bless us with those gifts that He needs us to bless others with.
This is what St James advised us.  “Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.  For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”  (Jms 3:13-18)
If we are jealous, then we must go to God for forgiveness. “If anybody sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to the sinner – not those who commit a deadly sin; for there is a sin that is death, and I will not say that you must pray about that.”   We must stop it before it grows to be deadly.  If we do not pay attention to our venial sins, which include jealousy, it will soon become a big sin of envy that leads to animosity, anger, resentment, unscrupulous competition and even violence.   All sins begin small but when we do not deal with them at its roots when they are just budding, it will become deadly.  This was the case of Saul’s jealousy over David’s success in military battles and popularity.  It grew and grew.  His envy consumed him and he ended up attempting to take away the life of David because of his insecurity and low self-esteem.
What we need to do is to put on the Spirit of Christ.  St John wrote, “We know that anyone who has been begotten by God does not sin, because the begotten Son of God protects him, and the Evil One does not touch him.  We know, too, that the Son of God has come, and has given us the power to know the true God. We are in the true God, as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ.”  If we have Jesus in our hearts, and if we allow the Lord to dwell in us, and fill us with His Spirit, then we will have the power to avoid sin because like John the Baptist who enjoyed intimacy with the Bridegroom, we would only want the best for the Lord.  So, too, when Jesus lives in us in His Spirit, we will likewise live out His life in us.  Like the Israelites, to know that we are the Lord’s delight as Jesus was to His Father, is sufficient to make us do everything for His glory and His love.  “Let Israel rejoice in its Maker, let Zion’s sons exult in their king.  Let them praise his name with dancing and make music with timbrel and harp. For the Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the poor with salvation.  Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, shout for joy and take their rest.”

Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved


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