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
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
2 Let Israel
rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the
praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
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.
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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