3rd Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 27.01.2013

Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10/ 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 or 12:12-14, 27/ Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Over the past week, there is one topic that dominated the local news, and that is the election or by-election.

Oh yes, the faces of the four candidates from the four political parties were on the news, together with the leaders and members of their parties.

Rallies were held, many words were spoken, many promises were made.

Each candidate is matured and promising, and so it would be a by-election to watch as it would be closely fought.

By now, we would know who won the seat at the Punggol East constituency.

And we would certainly hear some words of vision and direction from the new minister of parliament.

Coincidentally, at the same time, we, the Church of Singapore, are also rejoicing over an “election”.

Yes, we give thanks and we rejoice because an Archbishop Coadjutor had been chosen for our archdiocese.

Archbishop Coadjutor means that he will definitely succeed the present Archbishop when he retires.

And the date for his ordination (Episcopal Ordination) is set on the 22nd February at the Singapore Expo Max Pavilion.

We certainly await that day as the administrative and logistic preparations are rolling at full speed.

But we are also looking ahead into the future to see what vision the Archbishop-to-be William Goh has for the Church in Singapore.

We also want to know what direction and what mission he has for us.

Yes, we are waiting because this will certainly have an effect on how we are going to live out our faith and to make it relevant in our lives and in our society. 

Yes, we are looking for vision and mission statements from our spiritual leaders as well as from our political leaders.

But today we hear the vision and mission statement from none other than the Chief Shepherd, who is also the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Jesus went back to His hometown in Nazareth, and in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, He stood up to read.

He unrolled the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and He read this passage.

“The Spirit of the Lord been given to me, for He has anointed me. 
He has sent me to give good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”

Certainly, a very grand and impressive vision and mission statement.

It represented the hopes and dreams of the people of the Old Testament and Jesus came to fulfill it as He said those words: “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.”

Yet, as much as it represented the hopes and dreams of the people of the Old Testament, what they experienced were anguish and pain.

In fact, the anguish and pain of the peoples of the Old Testament are also the anguish and pain of the people of the New Testament and are also the grieves and anguish of the people of modern times.

It is said that every person, on the average, has some kind of physical complaint or a stressful problem every 3 days. 

I think that is already very optimistic. You may retort by saying, “What every 3 days?! It’s everyday!”

Whatever it may be, we want to hear good news that bring joy and hope and we also want to tell others that kind of good news.

We want to experience liberty and freedom from all those stressful problems that hold us captives.

We want to experience that power of prayer that will heal the sick and make them healthy and happy.

We want to say that we are not stressed because we are blessed, and that the Lord’s favour is on us.

Yet, in the face of illness, financial difficulties, family and marriage problems, and problems at work, what we feel are pain and anguish.

We feel so weak in face of all the challenges and it is a painful burden for us. 

So, did God fail us somewhere and did not keep His word? After all, Jesus proclaimed that grand and impressive vision and mission statement, but the world is still battling old illnesses and facing new ones; there is still injustice and poverty, oppression and destruction.

Yes, we are still struggling in our grief and anguish over the problems that we face, be it physical or emotional.

Yet, our struggle is not an absence of strength. In fact, our struggle is a means to strength. 

We are tempted to think that God sends us our trials and tribulations to test us and teach us.

But the fact is that our trials and tribulations are already here. Even Jesus would say, “In this world you will have trials and tribulations.”

There is a story of a little girl who found a butterfly cocoon and she brought it home to take care of it and to watch the butterfly come out.

Finally, the day arrived and the cocoon shook a little and there was a small tear and a tiny head appeared.

But it seemed that the butterfly was struggling and having difficulty to break out of the cocoon.

The little girl grew impatient and she thought of helping. She took a little stick to open up the cocoon so that the butterfly could break out of it.

Immediately, the butterfly was free, but when it tried to fly, it stretched out its wings but it fell and died.

The girl was shocked and ran crying to her father, asking, “What happened? I tried to help!”

The father gently answered, “The butterfly needed to struggle.Without struggling, it would never be able to strengthen its wings to fly.”

And even for Jesus, after proclaiming the words from the prophet Isaiah, He went on His mission that would be lined with trials and difficulties. (In fact, next week, we will hear of His first struggle)

And in the end, He had to struggle to carry the cross up to Calvary on which He would lay down His life for us.

But we must remember that struggles and sufferings, trials and tribulations, do not have the final word.

The final word belongs to Jesus as He tells us: In this world, there will be trials and tribulations. But do not fear. I have overcome the world.

So Jesus has given us a vision of hopes and dreams. With that the mission must begin and it must begin today.

It will be a struggle, but may we be rewarded with the joy of seeing the butterflies breaking free from the cocoons.

2nd Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 20.01.2013

Isaiah 62:1-5/ 1 Corinthians 12:4-11/ John 2:1-11


Most of us carry a mobile phone. In fact Singapore has one of the highest mobile phone subscriptions per capita – about 7.5 million mobile phone subscriptions for a population of about 5 million.

And a good number of us also carry stylish smart phones, and we really have to be quite smart to use it.

But whether smart phone or just a plain simple mobile phone, there are some challenges attached to it.

One is, of course, the battery state. You can have the best and smartest phone, but when the battery goes flat, then it can become quite a useless thing.

Of course all you need to do is to get it plugged to a socket outlet and start charging and the battery problem will be solved and things will be under control.

The other problem is more critical and quite out of our control.

And that problem surfaced unexpectedly last Tuesday, and some of you may know what I am talking about.

One of the telcos, one of the mobile network service providers, had a power failure in the system, and that resulted in a network failure, meaning to say that there was no signal going to the subscribers’ mobile phones.

It lasted for about 19 hours or maybe even more. So for 19 hours, the mobile phones couldn’t connect to the internet, couldn’t SMS and the voice calls were also down.

That was something that was totally beyond our control, and when our mobile phones have no signal, then they are not much of a use.

So without warning, there was no signal, and all the things that we do with the mobile phone, all that just came to a halt.

So last Tuesday, some of us would have felt frustration, because we couldn’t do the usual things on our phone.

We would also have felt desperation, because we couldn’t contact or confirm our appointments, simply because we couldn’t reach them and they couldn’t reach us.

Inevitably, resentment would come in because we paid for the service and it couldn’t deliver. Surely we would be angry.

So such a turmoil arose just because there was no signal coming into our precious mobile phones.

And at the wedding at Cana that we heard in the gospel, there was also a turmoil.

Everybody seemed to be happy and celebrating and sharing in the joy of the newly married couple.

Of course, as in any wedding, there would be lots of food. And there would also be lots of wine. After all it is a wedding feast.

Then it seems that all of a sudden, as if without warning, there was no wine! The wine had run out!

The first probable reaction would be: How come? How come like that?

And just like when there was no signal on the mobile network, there was desperation and frustration.

Where could they go to find some more wine? Where were the shops selling the wine? Would there be enough wine in the shops?

And then there would be accusations. Somebody didn’t do his job. 

How come the wine wasn’t enough? Why?

The wedding feast was going to turn into a wedding fiasco. 

Celebration was going to turn into embarrassment.

And Mary was there, sensing the dilemma, and she went to Jesus and said, “They have no wine.”

The reply of Jesus was just so strange. He didn’t say, “What happened? How come like that?”

With a tone of indifference, He replied, “Woman, why turn to me? My hour had not come yet.”

It seemed like nothing could be done, and even Jesus didn’t seem to want to do anything.

But Mary sensed something else, and that was why she made this puzzling statement to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

And what Jesus told the servants to do was rather mundane and menial – fill those six jars with water.

And we know the rest of the story – the water had turned into wine. 

The water that was meant to be used for washing hands and feet was turned into top grade wine!

So the wedding at Cana tells us that no wine does not mean no hope.

We often tell God how great our problems are. But do we tell our problems how great God is?

A story goes that once upon a time, following a shipwreck, one of the crew managed to hold on to a wooden remnant of the ship and was washed ashore on a desolate island. 

He stayed there for many months expecting a rescue by some other ship. He built a tent and tried to survive.

Most of the time he went to the beach and looked for signs of help from an approaching ship. He prayed fervently but his prayers were not answered for a long period, and he was losing hope.

One day, feeling much depressed and disgusted, he stood at the beach, as usual, inspecting the horizon, expecting the appearance of a ship as an answer to his prayers.

Suddenly, to his horror, he found that his tent was on fire. He rushed to the scene but was helpless. He cursed and swore and blamed God, as his last possessions were lost in the fire. 

He lost all hope and returned to the beach, ready to commit suicide in the ocean. 

As he entered the water, he could see the flag of a distant ship. A boat was fast approaching him. The sailors arrived and rescued him. 

Back in the ship, he asked the captain how did they know about his plight. The captain said, “We saw the fire and the smoke rising from that island. We sent the boat expecting some one there.”

It was only then that he realized that God's ways are mysterious. He felt sorry for blaming God for letting his only possessions catch fire. 

He realized that the fire was God's signal to the sailors in a distant ship. He learned to hope and trust in God’s love.

As in the wedding at Cana, no wine does not mean no hope. 

And even in our lives, we meet with situations that begins with “No” – no joy, no peace, no love, no help, no understanding, no forgiveness, no money in the account, no signal in the mobile phone, no idea what to do.

But just like Mary, we need to tell Jesus that we have run dry; we too have no more wine.

And yet we have to listen to Mary as she tells us, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Yes, we tell Jesus how great our problems are. Now we need to tell our problems how great Jesus is.

With Jesus, there is no situation that is of no hope. 

Let us put our hope in Jesus, and He will turn the water of our lives into sweet rich wine.

Baptism of the Lord, Year C, 13-01-12

Is 40:1-5, 9-11/ Tit 2:11-14, 3:4-7/ Lk 3:15-16, 21-22                               

Everyday about 366,000 copies of The Straits Times are printed, distributed and of course read by Singaporeans.

Although the circulation is only 366,000 copies, yet The Straits Times has the highest readership in Singapore.

But whether it is The Straits Times or just newspapers in general, they contain more than just news.

There are articles of interest, pictures, comic strips, announcements, obituaries and of course there are advertisements.

Especially during this festive period of Christmas, followed by Chinese New Year, there are more than the usual advertisements of sales and offers.

Advertising is a big business. Not only the presentation of the product is slick, the models that accompany the product are also glamourous, good-looking and always smiling.

And with Chinese New Year coming up, one advertisement that we will certainly see in newspapers and in other forms of media will be “bak kua” (BBQ sweet meat).

How can there be Chinese New Year without bak kua. Bak Kua is a must for Chinese New Year!

In the bak kua advertisement, there will be a model holding a piece of bak kua. Of course, she is pretty, fair with long hair and smiling away.

The impression that is given is that if you eat this brand of bak kua, you will be like the model, looking pretty and looking happy too.

Yes, that is the impression that the advertisement gives. Anyway, advertisements is about impressions, isn’t it.

In order to sell a product, the advertisements will impress upon us that we need it, and need it badly and desperately.

So, they will tell us that we need this latest smart phone or this latest gadget or we will be out of touch with the world around us.

They will tell us to take this brand of supplement or we will not be healthy or even get afflicted with some disease.

They will tell us to go for this diet or beauty program because we are fat and out of shape.

They will tell us to use this facial cream because we are not good-looking enough or even downright ugly.

And about the bak kua advertisement, if we eat enough of it, we will be happy and even pretty like the model in the advertisement.

But sadly enough, no matter how much bak kua we eat, we won’t be that happy, because we will get a sore throat.

And we won’t be looking pretty either, because pimples will begin to sprout out on the face.

Yet, we will fall into the enticement of these advertisements, because they stir the envy that is lurking within us.

Envy makes us unhappy. We feel that we are not good enough, not pretty enough, not clever enough, not rich enough.

In short, we feel we are just “not enough”. And so we give in to the impressions that the advertisement create.

Today, as we celebrate the baptism of the Lord, we are reminded that Jesus was baptized, not because He has to be cleansed of some sin.

In fact, Jesus was baptized so that He can become like us in all things but sin!

And at His baptism, a great revelation was proclaimed by the voice from heaven: You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rest on you.

And that was enough for Jesus. To know that the Father loves Him, that He is God’s beloved, that was enough.

And for us who are baptized, we are called Christians because we are baptized into the person of Christ.

And in Christ, we too are God’s beloved and God’s favour rest on us too. And that should be enough.

Yes, that should be enough. Yet, the sin of envy comes along and tells us that we need more, that we don’t have enough.

And that becomes more obvious when we are aware that we are lacking in something, whether materially or physically or emotionally.

There is this true story of an 8-year old Katrina Simpkins, who was born with PFFD (proximal femoral focal deficiency), which is a rare birth defect that affects the pelvis and the hip-bone.

The defect may affect one side or both, with the hip being deformed and the leg shortened.

For Katrina, one of her legs was deformed so she had to hobble around with an artificial leg.

Being physically handicapped, she was also made fun of in school, and as a result she was emotionally withdrawn and became depressed.

All that changed when she met a dolphin by the name of Winter when she visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida.

Winter was a special dolphin. As a baby, she lost her tail when she was rescued from a fishing trap.

She was used as an object lesson by the aquarium to create awareness of how humans can harm the wildlife.

Then a Dr. Dan from a prosthetic clinic decided to design an artificial tail for Winter, although it had never been done before.

It was that prosthetic tail that made an impact on Katrina. She and Winter began to bond, and she began to believe that she had a place in this world.

Katrina went from being an introverted little girl to a bubbly advocate for Winter. She was quoted as saying, “I felt good that a dolphin was just like me.”

And in 2008, the same Dr. Dan also designed Winter’s prosthetic tail, who designed a new prosthetic leg for Katrina.

An amazing story of how a handicapped dolphin helped a handicapped girl find her place in this world.

They were lacking in something yet eventually they found everything.

Most of us have almost everything but the media and the world around us give us that impression that we are lacking in something, that we are not good enough, not pretty enough, not clever enough, not rich enough.

Jesus came among us and He went about doing good and caring for all who had fallen into the power of the devil and to restore the image of God in us.

And through His baptism, Jesus is also telling us this, “You are God’s beloved, His favour rests on you.”

Just as God loves Jesus, God also loves us so that there is nothing lacking in us.

Yes, God loves us with an everlasting love, and that is enough for us, more than enough for us.

And just as Jesus went about doing good and sharing God’s love with others, let us also do likewise.

The Epiphany of the Lord, Year C, 06.01.2013

Is 60:1-6/ Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6/ Mt 2:1-12

Today’s feast of the Epiphany marks the revelation of the birth of the Saviour to the whole world.

The birth of Christ in Bethlehem in Judaea was marked by a star which led the Magi, or the wise men, who were non-Jews, to pay homage to the new born king of the Jews.

That is why, strictly speaking, the three Magi figurines make their appearance at the Nativity Crib only today and not earlier.

But their appearance will be short-lived because in the days to come, the Nativity Crib will be dismantled and the figurines will be stored away until the next Christmas.

And with that, it also means that it is time for the Christmas decorations in Church and at home to be taken down.

Already the shopping malls have replaced the Christmas decorations with Chinese New Year decorations even as early as on Christmas Day itself.

Most probably the star of Christmas or the star of Bethlehem will be the last to be taken down, maybe because it is at the top of the decorations.

Yes, the star that is over the Nativity Crib and the star that sits on the top of the Christmas tree.

Well, on this feast of the Epiphany, the spot light is on the star and in the whole Christmas story, it is only mentioned here.

It was the star that attracted the curiosity of the Magi and it beckoned them to head towards Jerusalem.

By the way, we are familiar with the nursery song “Twinkle twinkle little star”.

Generally we know the first stanza which goes like this:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high, 
Like a diamond in the sky.

But there are other stanzas that tell us more …

When the blazing sun is gone, 
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light, 
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark, 
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go, 
If you did not twinkle so.
As your bright and tiny spark, 
Lights the traveller in the dark.
Though I know not what you are, 
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Yes, for the Magi, or the wise men, the star beckons them to the land of Judaea, to the land of the Jews.

They were knowledgeable in astrology and they had studied the stars and they reckon that this particular star was special.

This star was the sign of the birth of someone great, who will be the king of the Jews.

And so they set off to where the star was beckoning. They were willing to embark on this quest in order to fulfill their hearts’ desire.

Yet it must be said that the star was not always there to lead them.

From the gospel passage, it seems that they saw the star as it rose, so they set off in that direction.

Yet, if the star was always guiding them, then they wouldn’t have ended up before Herod, which was like walking into a lion’s den.

Yes, Herod was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. 

Yet, it was there that the chief priests and scribes found out from the Magis that the king of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem.

And so Herod sent them on with the pretext of wanting to pay homage to the new born king of the Jews. But of course he had ulterior and evil motives.

So the Magi went on to Bethlehem and this time the star appeared again and brought them to Jesus.

And they paid homage with gifts of mystical meaning – gold to represent royalty; frankincense to represent divinity, and myrrh to represent humanity and mortality.

What the chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem knew about but did nothing, the Magi searched for and received everything.

But just as the star caught the attention of the Magi and set them on a quest, the Magi themselves somehow catches our attention and imagination.

They were often portrayed as kings, wearing crowns and royal and colourful exotic robes.

And their three gifts were also just so extraordinary and fascinating.

Although there were shepherds at the Nativity scene, yet the Magi seem to capture our attention and reflection.

Maybe because the story of the shepherds was quite straight forward. 

An angel appeared to them to announce the birth of the Saviour; they were told where to go and how to look for Him; and they found it exactly as they had been told.

There were no surprises and no suspense. It was a straight cut and it was straight forward.

On the other hand, the Magi had only seen the star rising.

They then set off across the desert sands and maybe the star appeared now and then and here and there.

They thought that the new born king would be in Jerusalem, and unknowingly, they were used by Herod to be his agents.

Yes, the Magi seem to catch our attention and reflection maybe because we see a bit of our faith journey in them.

Like the star that beckoned the Magi, we also feel the call to faith and to follow Jesus.

Yet we know by now that following Jesus is not a straight cut and neither is it straight forward.

Many a times we wonder what God’s will is for us and what direction should we take.

But like the Magi, we had to move on because there is no turning back.

And along the way, we will meet the Herods of this world. We will be used, cheated, taken advantage of, and misled. But God will still draw straight with those crooked lines.

Like the Magi who had to face disappointment when they found out that Jerusalem was the end of their journey, we too will face disappointment when we did not get what we prayed for or that things didn’t turn out as we hoped or expected. 

But let us remember that Epiphany means revelation. As in any revelation, it come bit by bit and we just have to journey on in faith.

God will reveal Himself to us. That is what the feast of the Epiphany is all about.

And with this feast also comes a promise. And that is God will help us find what we are looking for.

Well, the Magi followed the star and although they made a few wrong turns, they eventually found what they were looking for, and they went back enlightened and fulfilled.

Yes, God will make the stars shine for us. We just have to keep looking, keep praying, keep searching, and we will become the stars that will reveal Jesus to others.