7th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 20.02.2011

Lev 19:1-2, 17-18/ 1 Cor 3:16-23/ Mt 5:38-48

One of the most feared predators of the sea is the shark.

It doesn’t matter whether it was those slimy-creepy looking shark characters in the movie “Finding Nemo”, or that man-eating big shark in the movie “Jaws”, just mention “sharks” and fear and danger immediately comes to mind.

But mention sharks fin, and something else comes to mind.

But there are also sharks without fins, and they don’t live in the sea.

I am sure you know what I am talking about – Loan Sharks!

The term loan sharks is used to describe a certain type of predatory money lenders whose aim was to keep their customers eternally in debt.

So we may lend money to others, but that does not mean that we are loan sharks.

In fact, there may be another species called “debt sharks”. So what are these debt sharks?

Well, they are those kind of people who are able to convince you to lend them money, anything from a 3-figure to a 5 or even 6 figure sum, depending on how much they know you have.

Once we have parted with our money, these debt sharks will happily swim away, leaving us to slowly feel the pain of their bite.

Well, as they always say, this is a small world, and those debt sharks will somehow swim into our paths again one day.

We might think that they would be shocked and ashamed upon seeing us right?

On the contrary, they will look at us like total strangers, like as if they don’t know us since the world began, and then again we will feel the bite of these debt sharks.

I wonder if you ever had that kind of experience?

The pain of losing our money to these debt sharks is not just the bite. It is like as if they left their teeth in our hearts and leaving us in pain.

We won’t ordinarily call these debt sharks our enemies, but we certainly resent them, we detest them, we curse them under our breath, because we feel the pain and hurt when we think about them.

We may not have any enemies in the exact sense of the word.

But bad and dishonest people, like those debt sharks are the pain of our lives, and how we wish we could sink our teeth into their flesh, just as they had done to us.

But when we can’t, and so we just end up grinding our teeth.

So at the core of these so-called “teething” problems is the urge for revenge.

It’s that “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” thing that Jesus was talking about in the gospel.

In other words, it’s this-for-that, butter-for-fat, you kick my dog and I’ll skin your cat.

Well, revenge is a crass and crude word, so we will disguise it with other words like “seeking justice”, “settle scores” or “pay back time”.
Revenge is what we have been exposed to, and revenge is what we have learnt.

Jesus even acknowledged it when He said: You have learnt how it was said: eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

But immediately He follows with: But I say this to you.

And then He gives a set of teachings that is difficult to bite, and more difficult to swallow.

But all in all, Jesus is telling us that if we are to be His disciples, then we have to be different from the rest, in the way we respond to the evils we suffer.

In other words, we must not let evil conquer us; instead we are to conquer evil with good, we are to conquer evil with love.

That’s why Jesus gave us this directive: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.

Yes, it is a directive – But I say this to you – strong words that tell us that it is not optional, nor is it negotiable.

Let me ask you a “corny” riddle : What do sharks not eat?
Sharks don’t eat clowns. (Why?) Because they taste funny.

Well the Bible does not have the word “clowns”. But somewhere in the Bible there is this mention of “fools”, and specifically “fools for Christ” (1 Cor 4:10)

Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us may sound foolish.

But come to think of it, it doesn’t hurt to be nice and loving right?

There are many types of sharks waiting to bite us – loan sharks, debt sharks, hammerhead sharks, etc.

If they want to bite, then like what Jesus said, offer them no resistance, let them bite.

All the more, give them a bite of love (not a love bite!)

Let me tell a story with a corny ending.

A rich retired old man bought a house on a large bay front property, something like Sentosa Cove, but more classy.

So he had his own private beach with picnic tables and the beach was perfect for swimming.

One day as he was reclining on his deck chair and taking a nap, he was awakened by voices shouting and squeals of laughter and water splashing.

He went over to his beach and he saw a group of young people swimming on his beach.

The group saw him, but instead of apologizing, they went into deeper water, and taunted him by saying: Come on grandpa, show us you can swim.

The old man replied: It’s ok, I didn’t come down here for a swim. I just came to feed my sharks!

Whatever it may be, never return evil for evil. In any case, can blood be washed away with blood, and can injury heal injury?

The disciple of Jesus will always suffer wrong rather than to do wrong.

That might sound foolish, but that’s what we are called to be – fools for Christ.
Yes, we are called to be fools for Christ, offering to the sharks of the world, love at first bite.

Yes, love our enemies, love those sharks, because those who deserve our love the least, need it the most – from us.

5th Ordinary Sunday, Year A 06.02.2011

Is 58:7-10/ 1 Cor 2:1-5/ Mt 5: 13-16

Today is already the 4th day of the Chinese New Year.

But when does Chinese New Year actually starts?

On Thursday? Which is the first day of Chinese New Year?

I would say that Chinese New Year starts with the Reunion Dinner.

Because with the Reunion Dinner, the Chinese New Year celebrations will begin, because that’s when we celebrate family love, family unity and family relationships over dinner.

So does the Reunion Dinner have anything spiritual?

Well, let us listen to this story and see how the Reunion Dinner can be something spiritual.

Well, after the Reunion Dinner, some people would go down to Chinatown, to shop for bargains.

So, this little girl was walking with her mother when she saw balloons for sale, the type that are filled with helium.

So, she asked her mum to get one for her, and she was thrilled and happy with the balloon floating in the air as she held on to the string attached to the balloon.

Then accidentally, she lost grip of the string and the balloon began to float and rise up to the sky.

Happiness turned into sadness and she cried over the loss of the balloon.

Her mum wanted to console her. Now, what do you think she would say to her?
By and large, we would think that her mother would tell her that it’s alright, don’t cry and that she will get her another balloon. (Right? That’s what we would most likely say.)

Well, the mother thought for a while, and said to her little girl.

Don’t cry, the balloon has gone up to have Reunion Dinner with its family. Just like we go home for Reunion Dinner, the balloon has gone home for Reunion Dinner.

When the little girl heard this, she stopped crying and became happy for the balloon.

Interesting to note what the mother said to her girl.

No religious talk, no big faith concepts, just a little something about what the little girl understood.

In the gospel, Jesus used two common things to help us realize who we are and what we are.

As much as Jesus talked about salt and light, yet we also know that these two things do not exist for themselves.

Salt gives taste but we don’t eat salt as it is.

Light does not shine in, light shines out.

So, salt and light are in many ways similar to faith and love.

Faith does not exist for itself. Faith helps us to realize the presence of love and the presence of God in all situations (where there is love, there is God).

Jesus Himself was salt and light when others forgot about the presence of God in several instances in the gospels.

Remember that instance, when He was asked if it was necessary to pay taxes?

He asked for a coin, he asked them whose image was on the coin, and then He said: Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.

The people were talking about taxes, a tasteless thing.

Jesus put in some salt and made them realize the presence of God, and more importantly that all things belong to God. So what belongs to Caesar, actually belongs to God.

In another instance, when Jesus was asked where His authority came from, He in turn asked them where the authority of John the Baptist came from. From man or from God?

Well, His question was the answer for them, and they had no reply to that.

Because the moment God comes into the picture, their question becomes redundant and pointless.

So Jesus Himself showed us what salt and light are all about.

Any situation without the involvement of God is a tasteless situation.

Faith is like salt that brings in the presence of God and it enlightens the situation with the love of God.

Just want to share with you another story about balloons.

A balloon-seller was holding on to a bunch of balloons of various colours- red, yellow, blue, green, white.

And children gathered around him, thrilled by the balloons that were dancing in the air.

So he asked them what was their favourite colour, and they said red, blue, green, yellow, white.

So he asked them which balloon will rise faster up if he let all of them go at the same time.

And the children said that it will be the balloon of their favourite colour.

And then the balloon-seller let go all the balloons, and the children shouted with delight as the balloons danced and floated up towards the sky.

As the balloons slowly disappeared out of sight, the balloon-seller said to the children.

So you see, it is not the colour of the balloon that will make it rise faster, it is what is inside the balloon.

Yes, it is not what is outside that is important, it is what is inside that matters.

Well, as I prepare to move on to my next parish appointment, I know what it is inside of me.

Inside of me is filled with your prayers, your love, your care.

You have affirmed me, you have supported me, you have been patient with me when I am in my cranky moods.

From what filled your heart, you have filled my heart.

To me, you are a great parish community, very heart-lander, very real, very loving.

Jesus tells us that we are to be salt of the earth and light of the world.

I would just add on and say that may you also be like the balloons that will rise up to heaven and give glory and praise to God.

May you always be aware of what fills your inside, and of WHO fills your inside.

And from what you are filled with, may you in turn fill others. Amen.