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(29.11.2009)
Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25-28,34-36
“Then they will see the Son of Man coming”
The word of God, especially the Gospel, speaks to us of fullness of life in Christ.
You see, whether we like it or not, there is so much fear even in religion, in our faith - even in our Catholic Church - especially the idea of sin. And, sin, especially in the context of our Catholic Church is so good because it is so user-friendly. You tell people to come to church, they won’t come. But if you tell them, if you don’t come you sin, the church is packed. Can you see why sin is so user-friendly? Now, why is fear so strong in our life?
The whole word of God this evening focuses on Christ setting us free; free from fear. You know, sin is not just me doing things that I know are bad. Let us say I know it is bad and it is wrong to steal from the Archbishop of Kuching. Yet I steal. Sin is much more than this.
There was once this tycoon. Because he spent his whole life building his empire, he had no time for family. He was about 80 and it suddenly dawned on him that he can’t bring his entire empire to be with him when he departs from this earthly existence. So, he was so anxious to have someone whom he can entrust his empire to. And being a good Christian, the teaching of Jesus touched him, especially the parable of the sower. You know what is the heart of the parable of the sower? If you want the best, you give your best. If you want all, you give your all. So, he said, “I know what to do”.
He invited the whole town - especially bachelors. He invited them to his estate, and told them that his intention of getting them was to select the brave one. He had a swimming pool, and inside the swimming pool he had a few crocodiles which had been starving for the past two weeks. So he said, “If any of you young men wants to inherit my property or my empire, you have to demonstrate; you have to prove it. And the proof I need is for you to jump into the end of the pool and swim right to the other end.” There was dead silence. They could see how hungry and ferocious those crocodiles were.
Suddenly there was a splash, and there was this young man struggling in the pool. He managed to climb out the other side. The tycoon was delighted. Here is my heir apparent. So, the tycoon came up to him and said, “Congratulations! What property do you want? What part of the dynasty do you want? You want investment? You want property development?” The young man who had just swum across the pool was catching his breath. As he was leaning on his side, the tycoon said, “You want my investment arm? You want my property? What do you want?” ?” Then the tycoon was amazed. After catching his breath, the young man said, “I want the man who pushed me into the swimming pool!”
This is what we do. This is what Jesus is talking about - us, when he talked of sin. It is not just me knowing it is bad to steal, and I go and steal. You see, this thing we can control but deep inside there is a built-in inclination to self-destruction. Put it this way: if this young man were able to identify the person who pushed him into the swimming pool, what good could he get from this man who pushed him?
Remember, in life, people who push us, very often are worse off than us. What is the use of looking for them? Can you get anything from them? And don’t be surprised they will push you the second time. And the second time you won’t be so lucky - the crocodiles would be ready. My point is this: because of this natural human inclination, we can’t be receptive to what God is offering us.
Like for this young man – to be favoured by this tycoon is a blessing. He can work his whole life and can never have even a shadow of what this tycoon is offering him. How come he is so blind to what is before him? All his focus is on the one who pushed him into the pool.
Christ is coming. Christ is before us. It is time that we let go of the fear, the things that hold us to the past, especially a broken past, a past that can never enrich us but enslaves us. And here we encounter Christ. So can we, instead, look at what Christ is offering us - fullness of life.
At this time there will be confession. You know, how we present confession makes sure the confessional will be empty. And this is the fault of us priests. We always tell people to go for confession so that they won’t sin again. This is not about confession. If you are not to sin again, don’t go into a confessional. Instead, go to prison or some kind of disciplinary school. Confession does not stop us from sinning. The purpose of confession is this: for a person to realize that on his own, no matter what he longs for in his life, he is always being a hostage to self-destruction, to fear and to death. There is no escape.
The purpose of confession is this: for everyone who finds himself being held captive by sin, by fear and yet experiences this unconditional love of God. You know, confession is not me going in and telling God, “God, from now onwards I take a solemn vow not to cheat my Archbishop”. Because no matter how solemn a vow I make, I will still cheat him.
The purpose of confession is this: knowing that I will cheat the Archbishop, my God still loves me. The purpose of confession is knowing that I am broken and I am in sin, and yet my God loves me.
Can you see the difference? If we can see that going to confession is to experience this love of God for me in my state of brokenness and suffering. Because we have this idea that God loves us only when we are good. When we are in sin, God does not love us. This is not true.
Confession is to assure us that in spite of my sin and my brokenness, my God loves me - unconditionally. So if you go to confession and then catch yourself sinning again, it’s alright, because the purpose of confession is not to make us stop sinning.
The purpose of confession is for me to experience this God who loves me when I know I am rotten through and through. Put it this way: who will love us when we are rotten? In there (in the confessional), we meet this God who will love us even when we are rotten. Isn’t this great? It is in encountering this love that our life changes. And this is what we prepare for.
In this holy mass, our Lord comes to us. We humble ourselves before Him. We come before Him as we are, in our brokenness, with our limitation, and tell Him we need Him. Tell Him we have a desire for Him, even when I am rotten. Even when I can’t pray well or I don’t pray, I eat meat on Friday, I cheat, I do all kinds of naughty things, God has no excuse for not loving us.
God is serious in loving us. And it is important for us to experience this. Now, Advent is a time for us to experience this love of God, because it is only love and love alone that transforms us. Other things will inflict fear. Yes, fear is user-friendly. It works, but it never sets us free. Fear is a liar because fear will always paralyze us, or it will hold us hostage. It is love, and love alone, that sets us free.
May we experience this love of God in this holy mass this evening.
Rev Fr Stephen Lim
Holy Trinity Church, Kuching
