3rd Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 26.01.2020

Isaiah 8:23 – 9:3 / 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17 / Matthew 4:12-23
The one prominent colour of the Chinese New Year festive season is the colour red.

Chinese New Year paints the town red, and not only the town but also the heartland and almost everywhere else.

The decorations are red, the covers of the goodie containers are red, the dresses are red, the ang pows are red, and giving out ang pows can get you in the red.

Whatever it may be, red is a vibrant and joyous colour. Teams that wear red jerseys are often popular and successful.

Red is also associated with passion and energy, that is why fire is called red-hot.

But red is also a symbol of warning and danger. When traffic lights are going to turn red, we better stop, and not to charge across.

For this Chinese New Year, the colour red has taken on the meaning of warning and danger.

Quite unexpectedly, the coronavirus pneumonia, or the Wuhan virus, has gotten into Singapore and caused some alarm.

We are advised to take precautions and not to be too alarmed. 

The gospel does not mention the colour red, but it gives out a light of vibrancy and energy.

Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee and He settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, and hence the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled: 
“The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light, on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death, a light has dawned.”

And with that Jesus began His preaching with the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”.

With the urgency of that message, Jesus wasted no time as He went on to call His first disciples, Peter and Andrew, and James and John.

He then went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.

Jesus was like on fire, red-hot, full of vibrancy and energy, and like how the prophecy puts it: the people that lived in darkness has seen a great light, on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death, a light has dawned.

According to the Chinese zodiac, this year is the “Year of the Rat”, and we wonder what kind of year this would be.

Already the image of a rat is not a pleasant and inspiring one. We don’t have to see a rat to understand this. Even when we say that we smell a rat, it doesn’t mean anything nice and good.

But there is a saving grace of the rat. There is the 2007 animated movie about the Rat who can cook - “Ratatouille”. Then there is of course the famous Mickey Mouse, and also the cartoon series “Tom & Jerry”.

So it seems that things in life can go one way or the other. There is a choice to be either a smelly, dirty rat that brings about a cry of disgust, or a cute and adorable “Ratty” or “Mickey” that will bring on a smile of happiness.

And that is what Jesus came to do. He came to bring light into our darkened world and to heal the spiritual disease and illness that had darkened our lives and made us look like smelly, dirty rats.

We can choose to remain like those smelly dirty rats, or we can choose to let the light of Christ shine on us and make us into a likeable and lovable “Mickey Mouse”.

But we are not just called to stand around and look cute like “Mickey Mouse”. If at all, we are to be like a prayer mouse that will build up the prayer house.

And we need to build up this prayer house especially in this time of a health issue. 

We need to pray for the medical personnel attending to the victims of the coronavirus pneumonia (or the Wuhan virus) and we pray for God’s blessings that the virus will be contained.

We pray that the light of Christ will shine a way for the medical research to cure the disease.

And just as Jesus came to cure all kinds of disease and sickness among the people, may He also cure the victims of this current aggressive virus.
Let us be that house of prayer, calling upon God’s grace and blessing in this time of need.  

2nd Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 19.01.2020

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6 / 1 Cor 1:1-3 / John 1:29-34
The month of January this year is a rather unique month. Because there are two new years in this month.

On the 1st of January, we celebrated the New Year with countdowns, fireworks, parties and well wishes.

In a week’s time, we will celebrate the Lunar New Year, with “Gong Xi Fa Cai”, bak-kwa, pineapple tarts, yearly visits to the elders and the usual aunties’ questions like “When are you getting married?” or “When are you going to have baby?”

Whether it is the 1st of January New Year or the Lunar New Year, we want to begin the year happily and happily ever after, or at least happily for the rest of the year.

So we will wish each other “Happy New Year” or “Xin Nian Kuai Le”. That shows our hope and our desire for happiness in life.

And for us, we would certainly want to come to church and pray for blessings. Whether Christians or otherwise, we have this religious inclination to ask God for blessings. And essentially we are asking for protection and happiness.

Yes, we ask God to protect us from danger and evil, whether visible or invisible, so that our hearts will be at peace and that we can live our lives happily.

And God will surely want to bless us. God will certainly not withhold His blessing on us, or put a limit on His blessings on us.

But as much as God wants to bless us abundantly, blessings that will overflow from us to our loved ones, there is one thing that will block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.

That one thing is none other than sin. Sin is the blockage and the obstacle to God’s blessings on us.

But sin is not a blockage or an obstacle that happens suddenly or that is caused by an external force or party.

And we know very well what is the cause of sin. Sin is caused by ourselves, and by our sins, we block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.

And before we say that there is no point praying anymore because God doesn't listen to our prayer and that He lets bad things happen to us and we get angry with God, let us ask ourselves, “What is my sin?”

And when we can honestly identify our sin, then we will be angry with ourselves, because by our own doing, we block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.

But even if we are able to identify our sin, we may not be able to overcome it. Our willpower and determination have been put to the test and they have failed us. That’s simply because the tempter is just too strong for us, and so we fall again and again into sin.

And God is not somewhere out there watching us and not helping us. God did something.

That something is in the gospel, when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

It is so strange that this profound title of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is such a gentle and humble title. Why not more profound titles like Mighty God, Powerful Deliver, Eternal Saviour or Lion of Judah. 

So this gentle and humble Lamb of God is going to take away the sin of the world, this Lamb of God is going to remove this massive blockage and obstacle to God’s blessings on His people.

But this is actually the fulfilment of the promise of salvation.

In The Exodus of the Old Testament, it was by the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb that God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt.

And it is by Jesus, the Lamb of God, that we will be delivered from the slavery to sin, and the blockages and obstacles to God’s blessings will be removed. 

So the solution to the massive pains and problems of the world is the gentle and humble Lamb of God.

The problem is big and massive, but the solution is simple and humble.

That seems amazing but the following example will help us to understand.

The door is much smaller compared to the house. The lock is much smaller compared to the door. The key is the smallest of all, but the key can open the entire house.

The key to understanding Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins is through the Sacrament of Confession. It is said that Sacramental Confession is the greatest form of deliverance.

That is where Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of the world.

So let us go for Confession regularly, and to let Jesus the Lamb of God take away the sins that block and obstruct God’s blessings on us.

That is the key that will open our hearts to God’s abundant blessings of peace, joy and happiness.

Baptism of the Lord, Year A, 12.01.2020

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 / Acts 10:34-38 / Matthew 3:13-17
As a matter of fact, about 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. That is quite a lot of water. 

With 70% of the earth’s surface covered with water, it means that only 30% is dry land. But we don’t really feel that there is so little dry land, because we are on dry land most of the time and it is only when we go to the beach or when we go on a cruise that we see quite a bit of water.

Not only the earth’s surface is covered by 2/3 with water, the human body has up to 60% of water. The brain and heart are composed of about 73% water.

So when a person is lovey-dovey, we say that the person is so mushy. Well that’s because the brain and heart are getting all watery. 

So water is indeed important to the Earth as well as to human beings. It is said that we can survive for more than 3 weeks without food, but we won’t last more than a week without water.

But of course that doesn’t mean that we are like fishes that need to be surrounded by water. In fact being submerged in water for too long a time will cause some problems.

Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord highlights once again the importance of water. There is no doubt that John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan.

In the gospel account of the baptism of Jesus, as soon as He was baptized, He came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down upon Him. And a voice spoke from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved, my favour rest on him.”

It is an account that we have heard numerous times and we have also seen those images of the baptism of Jesus. 

But there is one rather natural action of Jesus that we may take for granted and it does not really catch our attention.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, He came up from the water. He didn’t go swimming or went diving. He came up from the water, and we might think that it is only natural. There is nothing really significant about that. 

But it was only when Jesus came up from the water that astonishing things began to happen.

Jesus went into the water to be baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus immersed Himself into the water so as to immerse Himself into the reality of human life and to become like one of us in all things but sin.

But Jesus came up from the water so as to lead humanity into a new revelation and a new mission.

In coming up and out of the water, Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit as it descended upon Him. He was also proclaimed as the beloved Son of the Father. 

The second reading tells us that after His baptism, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power, and Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil.

Jesus came to free captured humanity from the prison of sin and the darkness of evil.

With our own baptism, we too have come out of the water to follow Jesus our Master to live righteous lives and to be rays of light that shine out into the darkened world.

We too are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live as children of God and to be children of the light.

But when we lose our focus on Jesus and forget our baptismal promises, we slip back into the waters that we came up from.

And those are not clean waters. Those are the waters that have washed away our sins and so we get submerged into “sinful waters”. 

But even if we don’t slip into the “sinful waters”, living out the Christian life is challenging enough.

Just as the Earth is covered 70% by water, we find ourselves surrounded by “sinful waters”.

Here is where the analogy of the ship comes in. Ships don’t sink because of the water around them. Ships sink because of the water that gets into them.

Therefore as we come up from the water and sail in the ship of salvation, we must not let what’s happening around us get inside us and sink us back into the sinful waters.

Like Jesus, we have to come up from the water to sail in the ship of salvation. 
We must also help others get into this ship of salvation, because Jesus came not to break the crushed reed or snuff out the wavering flame. 

Jesus came up from the water to save us. May we also come up from the water and asked Jesus to save us from the sinful waters.

May we also stay in the ship of salvation, the Church, and help those to come up from the water and find salvation.

Epiphany, Year A, 05.01.2020

Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6 / Matthew 2:1-12 
By now we would have opened up all our Christmas presents. We won’t be able to curb that curiosity of tearing up the wrapper and see what the gift is. 

Usually the presents and gifts are wrapped up. Presumably the more valuable the gift, then the wrapper would be adequately matching. 

But it can be difficult to guess what the gift is from the wrapper, just as we can’t judge a book by its cover. 

So now that we have opened up all our presents, some we will find useful and valuable, some we might think of “re-gifting” (but we have to remember not to give it back to the person who gave it to us). 
As for the rest, we may want to put it in a bag and label it “For the church”. Somehow the church seems to be like a recycling centre. 

And of course those wrappers would be thrown away and forgotten. They are not valuable anyway. 

But those wrappers have an interesting purpose. They were used to wrap the gifts, and being so, they conceal a mystery of what the gift is. 

So the wrapper may be nice and elegant, but the gift is ordinary. Or that the wrapper can be ordinary but a gift is extraordinary. 

As we reflect on the mystery of the Incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, we come to see what mystery really is. 

In that Child sleeping in the manger, is the Word-made-flesh, Divinity wrapped in humanity, royalty concealed in poverty. 

The wrapping is poor and humble, but a gift is the greatest treasure. 

Today’s feast of the Epiphany is about mystery being concealed and revealed. 

The main characters in the Epiphany story are the wise men from the East. They could also be kings as the hymn goes “We Three Kings of Orient Are”. And we can take it that there are three of them as there are the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

They had seen a star beckoning them to a revelation of the infant King of the Jews. They had expected the infant King of the Jews to be born in Jerusalem, and presumably so, as Jerusalem was the capital. 

When king Herod came to know about the wise men and their intentions, he was perturbed. If those wise men were some kind of wrapper, then Herod certainly didn’t like the gift.  

Then Herod used another wrapper, a wrapper of deceit and manipulation, and used the wise men as his agents and informants to know the whereabouts of the infant King of the Jews. 

But the deepest lesson that the wise men have for us is that when they saw the Child with His mother, they fell to their knees and did Him homage. 

They saw beyond the wrapping and they saw the true gift.  
They saw royalty concealed in poverty, that’s what the gold symbolized. They saw Divinity concealed in humanity, that is what the frankincense symbolized. They saw eternity concealed in the temporary, that is what the myrrh symbolized. 

So in this feast of the Epiphany, the Lord Jesus is revealed as Saviour of the world, and the wise men represented the nations of the world who have come to do homage to the king. 

We also learn from the wise men to look at the wrapping and to understand the gift. Whatever they had expected of the infant King of the Jews, when they saw Him, they saw royalty, divinity and eternity. 

So whatever presents we got for Christmas, let us reflect on them and maybe see what the wise men saw in the Child in the manger.  

A teenager was complaining to his uncle, that what he got from his parents as a Christmas present was a Bible. 

The uncle, being a man with seen quite a bit about life, said to the teenager. “A book is the only gift that can be opened again and again. Open the Bible and that will be many gifts for you.” 

Yes the Bible is a gift from God and will lead us to many gifts, just as the star revealed to the wise men the gift of the Saviour of the world. 

But the wise men are not just wrappers in the Epiphany story. They are also gifts to us to help us understand God’s revelation. 

And may we also be gifts to others, so that we will be the change that we wish to see in others.  

When we can do that, then we have become gifts from God to others, we have become God’s revelation to others.