March 26, 2017, 4th Sunday in Lent* JESUS AND THE BLIND MAN

Psalm 23:1-6

1Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

 In the first reading of our lectionary, the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” While we are impressed and in awe with the beauty and magnificence of others through their appearances, it would bring us into deeper adoration  when we look deeply at the “unseen” beauty of persons,  through  who they are  in totality – beyond our impressions and what our naked eyes could  see. I believe in God, who  looks into the heart of every person. By God’s own grace, God considers us  as his own and   loves  us unconditionally. And we experience that kind of love.

At times we are blinded by our pride, power, prestige, money, and position. These have made us alienated  even to our own selves. We need to be healed.

Do you remember when a  blind man who asked Jesus for healing ? He  wanted to see, and confessed, “ Jesus the “Son of God” heal me. “

Jesus healed the blind man.

There are different kinds of blindness: physical, social, political, and spiritual.  There are times when people are blinded for truth, compassion, mercy, love, and service to our neighbor.  We become blind  on the needs of our neighbor.

We need to be HEALED.

Healing is at hand when we recognize our blindness and we long for LIGHT to see.

During my apostolate in the PCPR (Promotion of Church Peoples Response) I joined a rally for the first time. I felt happy and empowered thinking that I was in solidarity with the people who experience oppression  from the previous administration. The second exposure I had was at Bagong Bayan in Commonwealth, Quezon City. We visited the families of the victims of the so-called war on drugs. When I saw the children of the victims I felt helpless and down, thinking that a calamity has fallen on the lives of those innocent children. The only thing that makes sense to me at that time is to utter my prayer for all the victims of the Operation Tokhang in that area.

My eyes were opened to reality, and to the truth that injustice and poverty are real and a concrete experience for many.

This Lenten season we are invited to do penance and perseverance of doing good to our neighbors with care and compassion. Like the blind man we too need healing of our own blindness. A healed sight will enable us to see the beauty of the unseen in each and every person. That unseen quality is the Spirit of God in every human being. That Spirit enables us to stand in solidarity with the people whoever they are. It is only love can stop and heal our wounded-ness. We need the healing of our Lord Jesus.

 

BRO. JUVY A. ADIVINO, MJ

 

Photo grab from:https://clipartfest.com/categories/view/f818a4613476bd9b78deb261128ca82195e7065d/jesus-healed-the-blind-man-clipart.html

 

March 19, 2017, 3rd Sunday of Lent *Displacements and Home Coming

March 19, 2017, 3rd Sunday of Lent

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9

Exodus 17:3-7

Romans 5:1-2, 5-8

John 4:5-42

 

Displacements and Home Coming

I personally know some artistas here in Seoul, South Korea. But they are the kind that do not enjoy Klieg lights, nor the the adulation of screaming fans. Constantly hiding, Korean police forces, hidden underneath civilian clothes are after them. Undocumented migrants here are called artistas. The name sugarcoats the fear and horror of criminal-treatment they experience during crackdowns and deportation. They are called in different names in different places: TNT, Andoks, runner, but they share a narrative of multiple displacements.

They are displaced from their homeland. Filipino immigrants are forced to migrate from their homeland to seek the old ‘greener pastures’. Only to find out that the greener pasture is not at all tranquil and serene. On the contrary, it is a land anchored on the enslavement of some to sustain its insatiable desire for profit. The Filipino migrants compromised the risk because money has to be sent back home, children need to go to school, mouths need feeding, parents are sickly and hospitals are not free. They are displaced in the host country they migrated. No laws cover for their protection, despite their immense economic contribution. They are considered alien increasing their vulnerability for abuse.

 

Jesus and the unnamed Samaritan woman on the well are both representations of multiple displacements. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is one among the Johannine community that were forcefully kicked out from Temple worship in Jerusalem. The Temple in Jerusalem is the only place they can offer sacrifices in worship to Yahweh. They were stripped of that right and displaced to the marginal life outside the Temple. The unnamed Samaritan woman on the other hand, is a representation of a group of people that was long been living at the periphery of the Temple. She claimed that her ancestors commanded them to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem but they worship on a different mountain. They have been displaced, long ago, from the Temple in Jerusalem.

 

They are in bitter conflict against the authorities in the Temple, the only Temple where sacrificial rites and worship are legitimately done. Their displacements are multi-layered. Both the Temple and the Palace in Jerusalem are puppet “governments” of the Roman Empire. The throne and the altar serve the interest not of their own people but of the Empire. The King and the High Priest were appointed to effectively siphon the resources from the peripheral Jerusalem towards the Roman center.

 

The Jews and the Samaritans are heavily taxed. Their agricultural produce is sent to the center of the empire, only a meager amount is left for their consumption. The Roman Empire has a military outpost to secure obedience from the subject peoples through intimidation and outright violence.  While the peripheral Jerusalem suffers in poverty, the central Rome enjoys the benefit and privilege of power.

 

Notice their conversation Jesus is not only trying to transgress the cultural taboos of gender and race, but also reveal their common displacement in the hands of the Roman Empire. The text’s utilization of water as symbolic brings to the surface their common humanity. Water is a basic necessity for living, a common denominator that surpasses their differences. It allowed them to transgress the prohibitions of gender and race and identify the multi layers of displacement enveloping their existence and identities. The Samaritan woman is displaced from her home by having to live a husband not her own. She also experienced the displacement brought about by forced marriage, divorce, death of husbands because of her five marriages.

 

Jesus is not an ambivalent character here where he teeters from the mystical to the physical. His seemingly mystical assertion is material and concrete only if it is defined against the reality of their oppression against the Roman Empire rule. Jesus surfaced the idea of a compelling alternative to the rule of the Palace and Temple maneuvered by the Roman Empire. His employment of a mystical and highly spiritualized language of ‘worship in Spirit and Truth’ can be understood against the reality of the violent empire that imposes displacements upon them. It is a direct assertion to disprove and stripped off power, the notion of the centrality of the Temple in Jerusalem.

 

Worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth is not a metaphysical reality outside the domains of the material, but an assertion that the ones displaced in the periphery can hope to come home at the center to where they truly belong, wherever they are. It is an assertion of the reign of of God in contrast to the rule of the Roman Empire.

 

 

The Samaritans and the Johannine communities and the artista’s in South Korea and all the undocumented Filipinos all over the world have many things in common. Strikingly they all live in the multi layers of displacement, not of their own will but of the structures of the society that serves the insatiable greed for power and resources of the Empire. In the face of this reality, may we transgress all the prohibitions that divide us, race, gender, denominations, religious beliefs, instead stand in solidarity with those who experiences multiple layers of displacements.

 

May we usher in the reign of God that displaces not the people from their homeland, but the Empire at its throne. Let us usher a homecoming of the multiply displaced by structuring and fighting for a society that served not the interest of the elite few but them who need God the most.##

 

Pastor Ariel Siagan

IMELIF

Yonsei University

South Korea

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Sunday in Lent 12 March *Unconditional Love

Biblical Text:
Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22
Genesis 12:1-4
2 Timothy 1:8-10
Matthew 17:1-9 / John 3:1-17

“This is my Son, the Beloved;
with him I am well pleased;
listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this,
they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.
But Jesus came and touched them,
saying “Get up and do not be afraid.”
Matthew 17:5b – 7

 

February is traditionally considered as a “love season” . But in the Christian faith, we know that this new liturgical season brings more inspiration that carries a deeper kind of love, in celebration of life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the kind of love that goes beyond emotional attachment, but a commitment to serve and follow Christ and love others unconditionally. This is the love that is not complacent, contented and confined within the corners of the concrete structures of the church edifice , and within the limits of worship and devotion.. What does it mean to be “loved” by God?

 

Unconditional Love

 

Every word carries a certain distinct concept of a certain idea. Even synonymous terms may have some slight differences in the way how they convey a certain thought. This is much even more complicated as the word is being translated into various languages. One example is the Tagalog term bato, which is frequently translated as “rock” or “stone. Pusong Bato, could denote hardness, insensitivity and affectionless  feeling towards a person.
The term “love” in the Bible has different things. The most common love that we are familiar with is the “special feeling” towards another person. It is a great affection, interest and longing for someone. This act of love is known as the phileo, which is characterized by “personal attachment” to the subject. However, “the voice in that high mountain that proclaims “Beloved Son” –suggests a different kind of love, that is not patterned on a fatherly feeling towards a biological son. This “love” is called agape – a noble kind of love. It does not depend on status, race, gender, class or belief –it counters the “standard of this world” that excludes the “unworthy.” It is a unconditional love . This is the seeking LOVE of God . This agape came from God , and shared this through Jesus Christ so that we may have eternal life.

 
Former senator, Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno once said, “The right to life is more than the right to live.” There is more to life than just breathing, feeling, reproducing – more than nourishment and survival. In its profound sense, God wants us to experience this kind of life that makes us live fully and meaningfully. This is not just about the years of biological and chronological existence , but a quality and meaningful life. The biblical concept of this kind of life is zoe – life that is “active” and “spirited,”. Zoe is the kind of life that God has promised us– a life that is continuous, sustaining, and affirming.
Life as a sacred gift from God. We defend life in the midst of structures and forces that undermine the value of life.

 
The Core of Our Mission of Faithful  Commitment

 
When the disciples witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration in that mountain, they suggested to build tabernacles instead. The spontaneous reaction of the disciples was not uncommon . At times we view mission as staying in the “high ground” and build “worship-tents” that would make us feel comfortable and secured.
Little did we know that our sense of security and comfort may lead us to forget the sufferings, and the uncomfortable situation of the hungry, the sick and those who are vulnerable.
Jesus simply to his disciples , “Arise, and be not afraid.”
Sa Bathalang Matibay na Batong Buhay Panulukan, ang Diwang Mapagpalaya! Amen.##

 

 

JEFFREY J. RIVERA
Associate Pastor for
Youth and Student Ministry of
Church Among the Palms
United Church of Christ in the Philippines

March 5, 2017, 1st Sunday of Lent *Temptation

Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17

Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7

Romans 5:12-19

Matthew 4:1-11

There is always a distinctive impact of “temptation”  to a person. Temptation is a desire to do something that is not  fair, wise or  “morally” acceptable.  Every human being passes through “temptation”  We have read a lot of stories of “temptations”  in the Bible.  Jesus’  story  was not an exception.

The people’s experiences written in the Bible seem to indicate that temptation is not a situation which people can avoid. Going through life’s “tests” is  always a part of everyone’s  journey.  Transcending tests and temptations the builds  character. It reflects the depth of one’s sense of inner strength. This realization had made many Christians admit that life’s tests are ingredient towards maturity.  Let us meditate and be inspired by how Jesus triumphed over the temptation . In a dreadful situation,  he made an exemplary testimony  on how we should overcome.

In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus was tempted three times after he fasted for forty days and forty nights. The writer of the story  described Jesus’ condition as a hungry person. The devil  told  him to change the stones into bread. What a timely and relevant persuasion! We oftentimes find ourselves  in similar experience of  temptation . We are attracted to perform “worldly expectations”, which is founded in a selfish motif and greed for power.

Notice, the context of the  “devil’s  attack”. The Holy Spirit had taken Jesus to the wilderness- Jesus then,  was addressed as the “Son of God” (Matthew 3:17) which the devil had emphasized several times. Was this to  entice Jesus to fulfil what the devil wanted? The devil seemed to appear very passionate when he tried to make Jesus realize that he must be very  hungry . For sure he  must meet his biological needs, which in fact an innate  rightful claim.

Many biblical scholars had seen this temptation story as a redefinition of the nature of Jesus’ sonship. For several times the devil used this opening phrase, “if you are the Son of God,” which also interpreted as “since you are the Son of God” connotes that the devil seemed to invite Jesus to act accordingly to expectations. The devil was trying to convince Jesus to do its(devil)  desire.

This serves as a warning to all believers not to let the selfish ambitions and greed for powers redefine our calling as “sons  or daughters of God” . It is very crucial that we are mindful not only  of our calling,  but to internalize what it means. It is not enough that we allow ourselves to be called  such as Ministers, Preachers, Deacons and or Christians to identify ourselves as esteemed GOD’s chosen people but to imbue the meaning of these calling  to our lives . The affirmation of the calling can be  reflected on our deeds.

Expectations of God’s mission versus Devil’s expectation?

The devil had three (3) commands and or wishes,

1. to turn the bread into stone,

2. to throw himself from the pinnacle

3. to bow down to him.

All of these are in contrary to God’s values and teachings for the people. Let us remember that even in the history of the Old testament, God never used an easy way to overcome difficult situation. God never taught the people to rely on supernatural interventions but taught them to trust God  who is  always  with the them.

As  God’s people meet predicaments and challenges, God  is with them as collective human community. In the midst of fear and anxiety ,  Emmanuel is with them , and they have find strength  and wisdom like David in the Old Testament.

Biblical accounts speak about how  God provided people   with their basic needs.

Unlike what the devil commanded to Jesus  to turn the stones to bread, God sustain as the food that we need in order to survive in the most natural and meaningful way. The  quick solution  to hunger like dole-out, is like an instantly   turning stone into bread. People have to learn network of humanity’s  labour , compassion and justice  to produce and reproduce basic needs like food.

People learn from their experiences . They  have to work, till the soil, learn when is the best way to save in preparation for the calamities, and when is the best time to travel so that food will be enough for them even when they traveled in the wilderness. There is something to ponder upon by this processes.

I appreciate the animal welfare advocates for giving their strong petition that whales, that  they  should not be provided with food. This might put the whales in danger for this is not their natural way to live. Chance are , the whales might learn to depend on the tourists for food. And that, these whales might be used to wait for somebody to give them food rather than look for their own food.

We eat to live, but we  also need to produce food. The essence and the dignity associated with how we produce our food, of how we toil in order to eat, on how we use the resources that God has provided us and how we partake the fruits of our labor have an enormous contribution to our being, to our existence and values. The word of God is used to communicate God’s teaching and values in order for us to live a fulfilled life. It says in John 6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Jesus’ second triumph over temptation depicted that he is not a deluded visionary (Schweitzer, A.). God called us for a purpose and whatever that is, for sure it will not certainly harm us. God will back us up in all our claims and will let  others know  that God is at our side. Knowing well that God does not leave assures us that we are not alone.  We are confident, but we are not ARROGANT on this.

And lastly, the offer that Jesus will rule over the whole world had been the most salient to us. This had been one of the most prominent reasons why Christian beliefs and teachings had been put in question. If the devil offers for territorial jurisdiction, it surely will escalate political power, popularity and corruption. This makes a person clings on  to higher pedestal where he/she is deified.  This creates  distance and separation from the people on the base, hence a very contradiction  to the nature and will of God. Don’t us  showed   how  to triumph over temptations. Jesus’ standard  will lead us had been to uphold our  vision and mission even in times of temptation. God’s presence, words, assurance and teachings made  Jesus  strong and  triumphantly transcended the temptation . This only shows one thing, if Jesus was able to overcome , so are we. May we continue to be steadfast as we fulfill our mission. ##

Divine G. Naoe

United Methodist Church

Pangasinan