Wisdom 18:6-9 / Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Luke 12:32-48
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complains. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complain; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations that will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, that will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looks at the boy and he says, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he will be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that will also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put on expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.
19th Sunday OT C-2019 11-08-19
Wisdom 18:6-9 / Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 / Luke 12:32-48
One of the things in life that is not nice to encounter are complaints. That is simply because no one complains nicely.
In other words there is no such a thing as a nice complaint; it is a contradiction of terms.
But whenever others complain, or when we complain, the cause of the complaints is that there is a disappointment.
Whether spoken or written, whether we hear it or we read it, the word “disappointed” tells us that it is not going to be something nice.
So it is not going to be nice when the boss tells the worker “I am disappointed with your performance”, or the parent tells the child “I am disappointed with your grades”.
And the litany goes on: I’m disappointed with your attitude; I’m disappointed with your progress; I’m disappointed with my spouse; I’m disappointed with my children; I’m disappointed with the Church; I’m disappointed with God.
And with the disappointments come all that sourness and bitterness that are the characteristics of complaints.
But as it is always said, disappointments come from expectations. So where there are expectations there will be disappointments, because the idea or the picture in our minds is not what it is in reality.
So the stoic way is to have no expectations, so that there will be no disappointments. But that is being like a robot. A robot has no expectations and hence it will never have disappointments.
But we are human, with feelings and emotions, with hopes and dreams. And of course with some expectations. Only thing is just to keep our expectations at a realistic level.
Because expecting life to treat you well just because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge at you because you are vegetarian. Well, you will be painfully disappointed.
In the gospel Jesus tells us a parable to give us an idea of what to expect in life. He tells us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.
So what does that mean? It means to be like the servants waiting for the master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as the master comes.
So the servants are expecting their master. The question is when will the master arrive? Is it at second watch or the third watch? Is it that night or is it going to be another night?
And happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Yes happy the servants if he finds them ready, for they shall be rewarded.
And so we can actually have our expectations in life and have our expectations in God. God will reward us for being faithful and for being prayerful.
But at the same time, we have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. Even Jesus would tell us that we have to stand ready because He will come at a time that we do not expect.
So for example in our prayer we pray for an urgent need. We put our faith in God as we believe that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
Yes, God will hear our prayers and answer our prayers. The question is how are we expecting God to answer our prayers.
Well to keep our expectations at a realistic level, let us remember how God generally answers prayers.
Generally speaking, God gives us three answers to our prayers:
“YES” - our prayers are answered immediately.
“NOT YET” - we need to have faith in God and be patient.
Or, God says, “I have something better for you”.
So God doesn’t say “NO”. Rather He tells us to always expect the unexpected, so that instead of disappointment, there will be amazement.
There’s this story of a man who was catching fish by the river and he caught quite a number of fish.
A young boy came along to watch the man catching fish. The man looked at the boy and he said, “Hey boy, you can take all the fish back home.”
But the boy replied, “I don’t want the fish. I want the fishing rod so that I can catch fish everyday.”
Sounds like a smart answer from a clever boy, right? But the story is not finished yet.
The man said, “You can have the fishing rod but you would not be able to catch any fish.” The boy asked, “Why?” The man replied, “Because you need to learn from me the skill of catching fish.”
The point here is that the boy thought that if he had the fishing rod then he would be able to catch a lot of fish. That was his expectation and that would also be his disappointment.
So let us not put our expectations on things or on people. Let us put our expectations in God, and also be prepared to expect the unexpected, because God always have something beyond our expectations.
So that we will be amazed and marvel at the wonders that God will do for us.