2 Kings 4:42-44 / Ephesians 4:1-6 / John 6:1-15
Whenever we want to go for a meal, the big question is where to go. If we have friends who are “foodies”, as in they seem have in their minds a catalogue of places to eat somewhere, then they will surely recommend places and what to eat.
But in case we don’t have such friends (which is unlikely) then we can turn to our good friend “Google” and type in “hungry go where”, and we will be spoilt for choice.
But if we are hungry and lazy, then it’s not “hungry go where”. Now it’s “hungry call who?” With food delivery as a new option, there are no worries if we are hungry and lazy, because there are food delivery companies.
And when we go to their websites, we see so many variety of food that it looks like some kind of buffet spread and we feel like trying everything in one go.
There are just so many choices, from Western to Indian, to Korean, from Chinese to Japanese, and there are also search options to look for some kind of popular dish. There are just so many choices that making a choice can be quite challenging.
And once the order is placed, the food will be delivered in 30 to 45 minutes. So, if we are hungry and lazy, there are no worries. Just need to have money.
But the situation of the crowds in the gospel was quite different. They were hungry, they didn’t know where to go, they don’t know who to call and they had no money. It was a rather lousy situation to be in.
Yes, Jesus was there, but so far He had shown that He could cure the sick. But could He feed the hungry with just 5 barley loaves and two fish?
For a hungry person, he may be impressed with miraculous signs but the most impressive would be to place some delicious food before him. As it is often said, it may not be very effective to preach about God’s love to a hungry person. More effective would be to place food before him and that will be the sign of God’s love for him.
We read in the gospel that Jesus looked up and saw the crowds. He then asked Philip where to buy bread for the people to eat. We were told that this was to test Philip. Philip replied with not where but how much money was needed to buy the bread. Obviously we need not ask how many marks Philip scored for the “test”.
Jesus looked up and saw the hungry crowd. But He also looked up to His heavenly Father, the God of which the 1st reading quoted as saying: For the Lord says “They will eat and have some leftover.”
Jesus wanted to teach His disciples and the people that His heavenly Father will provide for them what they need, even when the odds are overwhelming.
We might think it is impossible but for God everything is possible. But just as God provides for us, He also expects us to be generous with what God has blessed us with.
We have these “5 loaves and 2 fish”. They may not be much and as Andrew said “what is that between so many?”
But with that Jesus looked up to heaven and with that small boy’s offering, the five thousand were fed.
It does sound impossible and some speculations say that others began to bring out what they had and so eventually there were more than enough.
But it is not so much how the bread was multiplied but why it was multiplied. It was a sign of God’s providence and care for His people and how generous God is with His blessings.
And God also expects us to be generous with what He has given to us and that we share it with others too.
We may remember that back in 2015, it was a crunch time for the Church in Singapore. Three big churches were undergoing renovation – the Cathedral, Sts. Peter and Paul, Novena. At the same time, the Church of Transfiguration was being built.
We might think that it’s bad planning, but the fact is that it all happened at the same time. In retrospect, we can say that God did this to “test” the Church in Singapore, to see how generous we are in building God’s house.
Well, we have fared quite well, with the four churches renovated and built and the outstanding bills were paid.
Now the Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese is appealing to our generosity for regular donations and this is to prepare the Church for the future. The projections are staggering, but again it is not impossible.
Just to share a short story about generosity.
There was a rich man who complained to his friend: “The people do not like me. They say I am stingy and greedy; but I have made my will and have willed my entire property to a charitable institution.”
The friend replied: “A pig came to a cow and complained: ‘People speak so well of you. It is true you give milk. But they profit from me much more. They have meat and sausages of different types. Even my feet and hands they eat. Still nobody loves me as much as they love you. Why?’
The cow reflected and said: ‘Perhaps it is because of this: I give while I am alive.’
So let us not postpone the good and the generosity which we can do here and now.
God has blessed us with what we need. Let us also generously share God’s blessings with others.
Click the links under My Blog List to get to Chinese and English weekday homilies.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Saturday, July 21, 2018
16th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 22.07.2018
Jeremiah 23:1-6 / Ephesians 2:13-18 / Mark 6:30-34
We know what the letters RIP stands for. It is often engraved on tombstones and on niches. Of course in that context, it stands for “Rest in Peace”.
So it seems that only those who have passed on, those who have died, only they are entitled to rest in peace.
But for the living, and that is all of us, we also would like to “RIP”, but our “RIP” is in another sense, and that is “Rest If Possible”.
Especially in a dense and urban city like Singapore, we are plagued with not enough time and not enough rest, and our tagline is “busy busy busy”.
In fact, we can be so busy that RIP can also mean “Ripped Into Pieces”.
So even when we are in the toilet (the toilet is sometimes called the restroom), it may not be that we can do whatever in peace. Because someone will come along and knock on the door and say things like “Are you still in there? Can you hurry up?” Especially when it’s rush hour.
As we read the gospel, the sentence that will appeal to us is probably what Jesus said to His disciples “You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.”
Oh, how we yearn for that! Oh yes, how we wish we could leave everything behind and don’t have to worry about anything, and just eat and sleep and rest. And of course not forgetting to bring along our mobile devices and battery chargers.
Jesus said that to His apostles because He had sent them out to preach repentance, cure the sick and to cast out devils. And they came back and told Him all they had done and taught. They saw how the authority that Jesus gave them had worked wonders and they probably wanted to go on and on.
But here is where Jesus told them to stop, to come away to some lonely place and rest. In other words, Jesus wanted them to stop, rest and pray.
Because the temptation here would be to go on and on, spinning faster and faster, and getting all heated up and then end up being burnt-out.
Jesus also wanted to remind His apostles that rest and prayer are critical because without Him they can do nothing.
Jesus used a rather interesting phrase in what He said to the apostles. He told them to “come away”. It is a rather strange way to use those two words. Usually it would be to “go away” or “come here”. But “come away”?
So Jesus is telling His apostles to “come away” from all their busyness and to come to Him. And here we will recall in Mathew 11:28, Jesus said: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
While the apostles might have found their mission exciting, and saw things happening, it may not be the same for us.
The anxieties and worries of life have taken their toll on us physically, and we yearn for a good rest in the comfort of our beds.
But more than just physical rest, what we really yearn for is that our hearts are at rest. In other words, our hearts need to rest in peace.
When our hearts are not rested in peace, then physically we will be always feeling tired and drained out and even burnt-out.
That was why the crowds were looking for Jesus. They had a need – it could be looking for a cure from some illness, or being disturbed by evil, or being oppressed or harassed.
Physically they were worn out by anxieties and worries. Spiritually they were burning out of hope and wearing out thin on faith.
When Jesus saw the crowds, He didn’t have the heart to turn the boat around and look for another place. Rather, He took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He set Himself to teach them at some length.
Jesus wanted to teach the crowds that besides physical and material needs, there are also spiritual needs. As much as the body needs to rest, the heart also needs to be at rest. When the heart is at rest, then that will make a difference in our lives.
The following poem will express what this difference is about:
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn't have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
I wondered, "Why doesn't God help me?".
He answered, "You didn't ask."
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn't show me.
He said, "But you didn't seek."
I tried to come into God's presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
"My child, you didn't knock."
I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
Well, RIP can stand for “Rest In Peace”, or “Rest If Possible”, or “Ripped Into Pieces’, but when we take time to “Rest In Prayer” then we will truly be at peace.
And what a wonderful rest it will be for our lives.
We know what the letters RIP stands for. It is often engraved on tombstones and on niches. Of course in that context, it stands for “Rest in Peace”.
So it seems that only those who have passed on, those who have died, only they are entitled to rest in peace.
But for the living, and that is all of us, we also would like to “RIP”, but our “RIP” is in another sense, and that is “Rest If Possible”.
Especially in a dense and urban city like Singapore, we are plagued with not enough time and not enough rest, and our tagline is “busy busy busy”.
In fact, we can be so busy that RIP can also mean “Ripped Into Pieces”.
So even when we are in the toilet (the toilet is sometimes called the restroom), it may not be that we can do whatever in peace. Because someone will come along and knock on the door and say things like “Are you still in there? Can you hurry up?” Especially when it’s rush hour.
As we read the gospel, the sentence that will appeal to us is probably what Jesus said to His disciples “You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.”
Oh, how we yearn for that! Oh yes, how we wish we could leave everything behind and don’t have to worry about anything, and just eat and sleep and rest. And of course not forgetting to bring along our mobile devices and battery chargers.
Jesus said that to His apostles because He had sent them out to preach repentance, cure the sick and to cast out devils. And they came back and told Him all they had done and taught. They saw how the authority that Jesus gave them had worked wonders and they probably wanted to go on and on.
But here is where Jesus told them to stop, to come away to some lonely place and rest. In other words, Jesus wanted them to stop, rest and pray.
Because the temptation here would be to go on and on, spinning faster and faster, and getting all heated up and then end up being burnt-out.
Jesus also wanted to remind His apostles that rest and prayer are critical because without Him they can do nothing.
Jesus used a rather interesting phrase in what He said to the apostles. He told them to “come away”. It is a rather strange way to use those two words. Usually it would be to “go away” or “come here”. But “come away”?
So Jesus is telling His apostles to “come away” from all their busyness and to come to Him. And here we will recall in Mathew 11:28, Jesus said: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.
While the apostles might have found their mission exciting, and saw things happening, it may not be the same for us.
The anxieties and worries of life have taken their toll on us physically, and we yearn for a good rest in the comfort of our beds.
But more than just physical rest, what we really yearn for is that our hearts are at rest. In other words, our hearts need to rest in peace.
When our hearts are not rested in peace, then physically we will be always feeling tired and drained out and even burnt-out.
That was why the crowds were looking for Jesus. They had a need – it could be looking for a cure from some illness, or being disturbed by evil, or being oppressed or harassed.
Physically they were worn out by anxieties and worries. Spiritually they were burning out of hope and wearing out thin on faith.
When Jesus saw the crowds, He didn’t have the heart to turn the boat around and look for another place. Rather, He took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He set Himself to teach them at some length.
Jesus wanted to teach the crowds that besides physical and material needs, there are also spiritual needs. As much as the body needs to rest, the heart also needs to be at rest. When the heart is at rest, then that will make a difference in our lives.
The following poem will express what this difference is about:
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn't have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
I wondered, "Why doesn't God help me?".
He answered, "You didn't ask."
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn't show me.
He said, "But you didn't seek."
I tried to come into God's presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
"My child, you didn't knock."
I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
Well, RIP can stand for “Rest In Peace”, or “Rest If Possible”, or “Ripped Into Pieces’, but when we take time to “Rest In Prayer” then we will truly be at peace.
And what a wonderful rest it will be for our lives.
Saturday, July 14, 2018
15th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 15.07.2018
Amos 7:12-15 / Ephesians 1:3-14 / Mark 6:7-13
Some people say that football is an amazing game. For those of us who love to watch football or play the game, we will certainly agree.
But for some people, football is an amusing game. It is amusing because there are 22 people on a pitch chasing after a ball, and when the ball goes into the net, they will celebrate it by jumping all over each other, though some will despair.
But whether it is amazing or amusing, the World Cup 2018 will reach its climax with the final match tonight (15th July). It will be between France and Croatia, and one of them will lift the trophy as the World Cup champions.
Since last week when France and Croatia emerged as the finalists, the tagline is “France vs Croatia”.
Maybe it is just a manner of speech; it’s easier to say France vs Croatia than to say Croatia vs France, but maybe it also reveals who is the favourite and who is the underdog.
France is more well-known in every aspect, from French loaf to blue cheese, and even the national team is known as “Les Blues”. They have won the World Cup once, in 1998, a few other trophies.
On the other hand, Croatia, only after checking the map, then we know that it is a small country in central Europe.
They had no World Cup championship honours, and it is the first time that they are in the World Cup finals. Probably the only other thing is that most Croatian names end with “ic”. Just look at the names of the Croatian footballers and you will know what I mean:
Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Mario Mandžukić, Ivan Perišić, Nikola Kalinić, Mateo Kovačić, Danijel Subašić, etc.
And not just the footballers, the name of the coach also ends with “ic”. By the way his name is Zlatko Dalic.
Most of the time, football is about fame and fortune and religion has hardly any part in it. But with Z. Dalic, and maybe unintentionally, a bit of religion is put into the game.
Z. Dalic spoke about his faith on the Croatian Catholic radio when World Cup began. (85% of Croatia’s population is Catholic).
He said that his current success is due to his faith in God and that he always carries a rosary to hold on to in difficult times.
He said this: Everything I have in my life and in my profession and career, I owe it to my faith and I am grateful to my Lord.
He added: I am happy with my life, but without strong faith and that motivation, it would be very difficult to achieve it.
He continued: When a man loses hope, then he must depend on our merciful God and on our faith.
In a game that is often associated with popularity and money, it is quite rarely that we find an element of faith and religiosity.
But Z. Dalic is certainly not embarrassed about it nor is he silent about his faith in the game of football.
But that was also what Jesus summoned His disciples to do. He sent them forth giving them authority over unclean spirits and they set off to preach repentance. They cast out devils and cured the sick.
So repentance is about turning back to God, and repentance is about reclaiming our faith in the various aspects of life.
Because the excitement and the anxieties of life can have the power to subdue our faith and we just continue aimlessly in life without God and without faith.
So repentance is about reclaiming our faith in the midst of life so that God can manifest His presence through our faith and bring about healing and cleanse the world of evil.
Last week, the attention was on which football teams will reach the World Cup finals. But there was also attention on another football team, but it was how to reach them and rescue them.
The “Wild Boars” football team of 12 boys and their coach were trapped in a cave in Northern Thailand with rising flood waters, and that made it very difficult to rescue them.
But finally all were rescued. Thanks be to God. The coach said that in the midst of cold and hunger, he taught the boys meditation and that helped them to stay together with hope. Now, that is a religious dimension in the whole rescue operations.
And that might make us recall that in 2010, in the country of Chile, 33 miners were trapped for 69 days when the mine collapsed. They too prayed together, and the Pope then, Pope Benedict XVI sent them rosaries that he blessed.
Obstacles and impossibilities gave way to the power of prayer. The dates were also significant. The mine collapsed on 5th August, the day of the dedication of the Cathedral of St. Mary Major in Rome. The last miner was rescued on the 13th October, the anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady at Fatima. Again we saw the powerful religious dimension of faith in the rescue operation.
This dimension of faith in our ordinary life can be powerfully brought out by the act of repentance. Repentance is about turning back to God, repentance is about reclaiming our faith so that God can work wonders.
For the Croatian coach Z. Dalic, it may mean clutching his rosary for 90 minutes this evening. And that’s just for the World Cup.
We too, must clutch our rosaries and pray that God will bring about healing and cleansing for ourselves and for the world. That is what repentance is about, and it is a powerful religious dimension of faith, and our world needs to see it.
Some people say that football is an amazing game. For those of us who love to watch football or play the game, we will certainly agree.
But for some people, football is an amusing game. It is amusing because there are 22 people on a pitch chasing after a ball, and when the ball goes into the net, they will celebrate it by jumping all over each other, though some will despair.
But whether it is amazing or amusing, the World Cup 2018 will reach its climax with the final match tonight (15th July). It will be between France and Croatia, and one of them will lift the trophy as the World Cup champions.
Since last week when France and Croatia emerged as the finalists, the tagline is “France vs Croatia”.
Maybe it is just a manner of speech; it’s easier to say France vs Croatia than to say Croatia vs France, but maybe it also reveals who is the favourite and who is the underdog.
France is more well-known in every aspect, from French loaf to blue cheese, and even the national team is known as “Les Blues”. They have won the World Cup once, in 1998, a few other trophies.
On the other hand, Croatia, only after checking the map, then we know that it is a small country in central Europe.
They had no World Cup championship honours, and it is the first time that they are in the World Cup finals. Probably the only other thing is that most Croatian names end with “ic”. Just look at the names of the Croatian footballers and you will know what I mean:
Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Mario Mandžukić, Ivan Perišić, Nikola Kalinić, Mateo Kovačić, Danijel Subašić, etc.
And not just the footballers, the name of the coach also ends with “ic”. By the way his name is Zlatko Dalic.
Most of the time, football is about fame and fortune and religion has hardly any part in it. But with Z. Dalic, and maybe unintentionally, a bit of religion is put into the game.
Z. Dalic spoke about his faith on the Croatian Catholic radio when World Cup began. (85% of Croatia’s population is Catholic).
He said that his current success is due to his faith in God and that he always carries a rosary to hold on to in difficult times.
He said this: Everything I have in my life and in my profession and career, I owe it to my faith and I am grateful to my Lord.
He added: I am happy with my life, but without strong faith and that motivation, it would be very difficult to achieve it.
He continued: When a man loses hope, then he must depend on our merciful God and on our faith.
In a game that is often associated with popularity and money, it is quite rarely that we find an element of faith and religiosity.
But Z. Dalic is certainly not embarrassed about it nor is he silent about his faith in the game of football.
But that was also what Jesus summoned His disciples to do. He sent them forth giving them authority over unclean spirits and they set off to preach repentance. They cast out devils and cured the sick.
So repentance is about turning back to God, and repentance is about reclaiming our faith in the various aspects of life.
Because the excitement and the anxieties of life can have the power to subdue our faith and we just continue aimlessly in life without God and without faith.
So repentance is about reclaiming our faith in the midst of life so that God can manifest His presence through our faith and bring about healing and cleanse the world of evil.
Last week, the attention was on which football teams will reach the World Cup finals. But there was also attention on another football team, but it was how to reach them and rescue them.
The “Wild Boars” football team of 12 boys and their coach were trapped in a cave in Northern Thailand with rising flood waters, and that made it very difficult to rescue them.
But finally all were rescued. Thanks be to God. The coach said that in the midst of cold and hunger, he taught the boys meditation and that helped them to stay together with hope. Now, that is a religious dimension in the whole rescue operations.
And that might make us recall that in 2010, in the country of Chile, 33 miners were trapped for 69 days when the mine collapsed. They too prayed together, and the Pope then, Pope Benedict XVI sent them rosaries that he blessed.
Obstacles and impossibilities gave way to the power of prayer. The dates were also significant. The mine collapsed on 5th August, the day of the dedication of the Cathedral of St. Mary Major in Rome. The last miner was rescued on the 13th October, the anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady at Fatima. Again we saw the powerful religious dimension of faith in the rescue operation.
This dimension of faith in our ordinary life can be powerfully brought out by the act of repentance. Repentance is about turning back to God, repentance is about reclaiming our faith so that God can work wonders.
For the Croatian coach Z. Dalic, it may mean clutching his rosary for 90 minutes this evening. And that’s just for the World Cup.
We too, must clutch our rosaries and pray that God will bring about healing and cleansing for ourselves and for the world. That is what repentance is about, and it is a powerful religious dimension of faith, and our world needs to see it.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
14th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 08.07.2018
Ezekiel 2:2-5 / 2 Cor 12:7-10 / Mark 6:1-6
Whether we are football fans or not, we should know by now that the World Cup is going on in Russia. By the way, it is already in the quarter-finals and moving on towards the semi-finals. Never mind if you are not interested in all that.
There are many reasons why people watch the game. Some want to watch their favourite teams in action. Some just want to watch the highlights and see the goals. Some just want to look at the players, especially the good-looking ones.
And since the World Cup is held in Russia, some jokes have come out of it, like this one:
Donald Trump met up with Vladimir Putin and asked him, “Hey Putin, who do you think will win the World Cup?” Putin looks at his vodka and replied, “I have not decided yet!” (Well the way Russia is progressing in the World Cup is quite surprising …)
But the World Cup has been dramatic enough so far. Some of the big names didn’t even qualify to go to Russia. And already some the big names have been surprising kicked out of the competition.
One of the lessons that the World Cup is giving us is that on the world stage, the underdogs can stand a chance for glory. It gives a kind of hope to boys playing bare-footed in some dusty street a chance to make it to big time football.
Maybe that is why the game is so popular and gets the most attention on the media. It offers hope to the underdogs against the big names of football.
Yes, the World Cup enjoys extensive media coverage because of its popularity and the hope it offers. But moving away from the international limelight of the game in Russia, let us go the mountainous region of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand.
There, 12 boys from a football team and their coach, who had dreams and a hope of making a name in the game, are trapped in a cave with flood waters rising. Their hope of being rescued is fading fast as the forecast is that more rains will come, and rescue efforts are getting desperate as they race against time and terrain.
Will there be any hope of rescuing the 12 boys and their coach? Or will their dreams and their lives be wiped away by the murky muddy flood waters? We pray for them, we must pray for them, and also for the rescue workers. Their fate lies in the hands of God.
But what a world of difference there is between the hype and the attention in Russia, and the grim desperation in Chiang Rai.
While the feet and reputation of the players that the World Cup are value at millions of dollars, the lives of the 12 boys and their coach also calls out for our attention.
But more often than not, the glamour of the big names and the big money overwhelms the plight of the little and humble. But it is in the little and humble that the voice of God is often heard, and it is a prophetic voice.
In the gospel, we read that Jesus came to His home town and on the Sabbath He went to the synagogue and He began to teach there.
The initial astonishment was turned into rejection as the people of His home town began to dig into His background. It is the common case of “familiarity breeds contempt”.
Even Jesus had to say that “a prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations, and in his own house”. He couldn’t even work miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Maybe the people were expecting someone with a big name and a big reputation, and then they will listen to him. But a local carpenter doesn’t meet their expectations, and so they discounted His wisdom and His miracles. And with that the prophetic voice was silenced.
As we think about it, very often it is the hype and the glamour and the spectacular that catches our attention. But it that where the prophetic voice of God is heard? If we want to hear what God is saying to us, we may need to go beyond the hype, the glamour and the spectacular.
There is a story of a small family of three who lived in a house by the river. One day the son told his mother that he wanted to go for a swim in the river, and so his mother watched him from a window in the kitchen.
Suddenly she saw a crocodile form the opposite bank entering into the water and heading for her son. She immediately rushed out and screamed at her son to get out of the water.
When her son realized that a crocodile was heading towards him, he swam desperately for safety. But just as he reached the river bank, the crocodile got his legs in its jaws. But at the same time, the mother reached her son and grabbed him by his arms and tried to pull her son out of the crocodile’s jaws.
The tussle was furious and as the crocodile tried to drag the boy into the water, the mother held on to her son’s arms with all her might.
The commotion alerted the father who came with a gun and shot the crocodile, and only then the crocodile released the boy.
After weeks in the hospital, the boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the crocodile and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother’s fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to her son.
Newspaper reporters interviewed the boy after the trauma, and asked if he would show them his scars. The boy lifted his pants legs and showed them the deep scars.
And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporters, “But why just look at my legs? Look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms too. I have them because my mom wouldn’t let go.”
So there we have the prophetic voice of God. It is not in the hype or the glamour or in the spectacular.
Rather it is in the little and the humble that God speaks and tells us what is really important .
So let us look, and let us see, and let us listen, for the Lord our God is always telling us something for our good.
Whether we are football fans or not, we should know by now that the World Cup is going on in Russia. By the way, it is already in the quarter-finals and moving on towards the semi-finals. Never mind if you are not interested in all that.
There are many reasons why people watch the game. Some want to watch their favourite teams in action. Some just want to watch the highlights and see the goals. Some just want to look at the players, especially the good-looking ones.
And since the World Cup is held in Russia, some jokes have come out of it, like this one:
Donald Trump met up with Vladimir Putin and asked him, “Hey Putin, who do you think will win the World Cup?” Putin looks at his vodka and replied, “I have not decided yet!” (Well the way Russia is progressing in the World Cup is quite surprising …)
But the World Cup has been dramatic enough so far. Some of the big names didn’t even qualify to go to Russia. And already some the big names have been surprising kicked out of the competition.
One of the lessons that the World Cup is giving us is that on the world stage, the underdogs can stand a chance for glory. It gives a kind of hope to boys playing bare-footed in some dusty street a chance to make it to big time football.
Maybe that is why the game is so popular and gets the most attention on the media. It offers hope to the underdogs against the big names of football.
Yes, the World Cup enjoys extensive media coverage because of its popularity and the hope it offers. But moving away from the international limelight of the game in Russia, let us go the mountainous region of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand.
There, 12 boys from a football team and their coach, who had dreams and a hope of making a name in the game, are trapped in a cave with flood waters rising. Their hope of being rescued is fading fast as the forecast is that more rains will come, and rescue efforts are getting desperate as they race against time and terrain.
Will there be any hope of rescuing the 12 boys and their coach? Or will their dreams and their lives be wiped away by the murky muddy flood waters? We pray for them, we must pray for them, and also for the rescue workers. Their fate lies in the hands of God.
But what a world of difference there is between the hype and the attention in Russia, and the grim desperation in Chiang Rai.
While the feet and reputation of the players that the World Cup are value at millions of dollars, the lives of the 12 boys and their coach also calls out for our attention.
But more often than not, the glamour of the big names and the big money overwhelms the plight of the little and humble. But it is in the little and humble that the voice of God is often heard, and it is a prophetic voice.
In the gospel, we read that Jesus came to His home town and on the Sabbath He went to the synagogue and He began to teach there.
The initial astonishment was turned into rejection as the people of His home town began to dig into His background. It is the common case of “familiarity breeds contempt”.
Even Jesus had to say that “a prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations, and in his own house”. He couldn’t even work miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Maybe the people were expecting someone with a big name and a big reputation, and then they will listen to him. But a local carpenter doesn’t meet their expectations, and so they discounted His wisdom and His miracles. And with that the prophetic voice was silenced.
As we think about it, very often it is the hype and the glamour and the spectacular that catches our attention. But it that where the prophetic voice of God is heard? If we want to hear what God is saying to us, we may need to go beyond the hype, the glamour and the spectacular.
There is a story of a small family of three who lived in a house by the river. One day the son told his mother that he wanted to go for a swim in the river, and so his mother watched him from a window in the kitchen.
Suddenly she saw a crocodile form the opposite bank entering into the water and heading for her son. She immediately rushed out and screamed at her son to get out of the water.
When her son realized that a crocodile was heading towards him, he swam desperately for safety. But just as he reached the river bank, the crocodile got his legs in its jaws. But at the same time, the mother reached her son and grabbed him by his arms and tried to pull her son out of the crocodile’s jaws.
The tussle was furious and as the crocodile tried to drag the boy into the water, the mother held on to her son’s arms with all her might.
The commotion alerted the father who came with a gun and shot the crocodile, and only then the crocodile released the boy.
After weeks in the hospital, the boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the crocodile and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother’s fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to her son.
Newspaper reporters interviewed the boy after the trauma, and asked if he would show them his scars. The boy lifted his pants legs and showed them the deep scars.
And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporters, “But why just look at my legs? Look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms too. I have them because my mom wouldn’t let go.”
So there we have the prophetic voice of God. It is not in the hype or the glamour or in the spectacular.
Rather it is in the little and the humble that God speaks and tells us what is really important .
So let us look, and let us see, and let us listen, for the Lord our God is always telling us something for our good.
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