THIEVES IN THE NIGHT

Many accepted Jesus as their Personal Lord and Savior, fueled by the terror of eternal damnation, after watching the movie "A Thief in the Night." Over 300 million watched the movie in the 1970s. (178 million watched "Star Wars.") Fear is a primary motivator. Come to think of it, many Christians are Christian because of fear: fear of punishment, fear of death, fear of eternity in hell, fear of missing out on heavenly rewards.

Fear played a primary role in the movie 2022 movie,"Maid in Malacanang." Produced by the eldest daughter of the greatest thief in history (according to the Guinness World Records), the revisionist movie has Marcos Senior asking the viewers, "Masama ba akong tao?" (Am I an evil person?) The Marcoses are afraid. They will do anything and everything to change the answer to that question. And that makes them very, very dangerous. 

I dare say fear is also the primary reason behind the recent actions of the Philippine Senate and the Supreme Court on the Duterte impeachment case. 

Thank God, Sunday's Gospel Reading's reference to a thief in the night does not conjure up images of people who are afraid. What we have are people ready, watchful, vigilant, militant. Prepared for action. Lamps lit. Always prepared for the unexpected. People who do not fear death, or thieves at night, or those in Malacañang. Or those in the White House and in the world's corridors of power. 

And they are legion. Thank God!

This is why we have hope!

 

RICH FOOLS

 

Historians tell us that in First Century Palestine, practically all the land was either owned or controlled by the ruling elite: the one percent. And, yes, this group included the religious leaders. Sadly, things have not changed. Things are actually worse.
In Sunday's parable, the rich man had a problem. His harvest was so plentiful his barns were not enough to contain them. His solution? Bring down his old barns and build bigger ones. Half of the population then was slowly starving to death. How about sharing his over-abundance? Never crossed his mind.

God calls him a fool and strikes him dead that night.

Scientists tell us that 666 billion US dollars can address the world's biggest problems: poverty, hunger, illiteracy, decent housing, health, and sanitation. Oxfam reports that one-seventh of one year's income of the world's richest can address all these. The richest countries in the world spend more and more and more each year on weapons of mass destruction. In 2021 alone, over two trillion dollars were spent on weapons! That amount is over three times more than what is needed to address the world's basic needs. Rich military contractors are getting richer as tens of thousands are being murdered and hundreds of thousands are being displaced and dispossessed in Palestine.

How about sharing their over-abundance? How about declaring a jubilee? Never even crosses their minds. The United States of America has resources to feed 40 billion people. That's 5 times the world's population. Tragically-- like what happened yesterday, and the days before, and what will happen tomorrow-- about 25,000 children from the poorest countries, aged 5 and younger, will starve to death today.

In Luke the rich have no way of entering the kingdom of God unless they sell everything they have, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Jesus.  Only Zacchaeus did.

Warning to rich fools: unless you change, God will strike you dead.

Probably tonight.

GIVE US TODAY...

Luke’s Jesus prayed a lot. But Jesus’ prayers, and the prayer he taught his disciples, were not individualistic, pietistic supplications. They were community prayers; prayers on actualizing God’s reign on earth. In the Gospel of Luke and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, the test of one’s relationship with God was proven by one's relationship with people, especially the poor, the orphans, the widows, the strangers. 

When Luke’s Jesus prays, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he was lifting up a peasant’s petition for today’s food, echoing the farmer’s prayer for daily sustenance in the book of Proverbs; he was mouthing the hope of the Jubilee Year for dispossessed farmers for land, and the dream of day labourers, the daily wage earners, for justice. Moreover, his prayers resonates with the experience of The Tabernacle, when God "dwelt abundantly" with God's people which made sure that everyone's basic needs were met. 

When Luke’s Jesus prays, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he celebrates the peasants’ capacity to serve generously, sharing of the little they had, even rising at midnight to give three loaves of bread to a persistent friend in need; he affirms poor communities’ capacity to share meals and all things in common, selling their meager possessions, and distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need; he believes that God’s reign has

come and God has chosen to reveal it among shepherds, among the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the Lumads, and, yes, the Lupang Ramos community.

When Luke's Jesus prays, "Give us today our daily bread," he proclaims good news to the poor and affirms the day when everyone, especially those who gargle water for breakfast, sip warm water for lunch, and force themselves to sleep in place of supper, actually gets to eat a warm meal! And we are all enjoined to make sure that day will come. Sooner than later. 

Friends, shalom, for those whose only hope is God, is not eternal life nor a mansion over a hilltop. It is a warm meal. Today. 

#ChooseJustice

#FreePalestine

#EndTheCultureOfImpunity

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#JusticeForEJKVictims

#LoveGodServePeople 

*art, "The Insistent Friend," JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon (available at vanderbilt divinity library digita archives).

MARTHA AND MARY'S OPEN DOOR AND OPEN TABLE

Sunday's gospel reading from Luke is about a warm welcome and one very simple meal.

I would argue that we can find historical memory in the passage. Martha and Mary’s home was a house church, open to everyone: a sanctuary. Martha and Mary were involved in the diakonia of the open table. There are scholars who argue that the sisters were once wealthy, and the lack of servants in the narrative and Martha doing all the preparations by herself, showed that they had followed what Jesus required from the rich.

Jesus’s admonition to her that “there is need for only one” is a reminder to us that, one dish was enough, “tama na ang isang ulam,” especially for the poorest of the poor who were most welcome in these house churches. Maybe Martha, so used to feasts and banquets, momentarily forgot that--for those whose only hope is God--there is need for only one.

That Jesus is referred to as LORD three times in the passage reminds us of the Basileia movement’s most fundamental, subversive affirmation: JESUS IS LORD AND NOT CAESAR! And to proclaim that Jesus is Lord is to proclaim the good news for the poor.

What about Mary choosing the better part? But what is the better part? Martha and Mary’s sanctuary was a home, not a cathedral most churches today want their worship places to be. Jesus admonished Martha that the open table needed just one dish for everyone, not a feast or a banquet most of us believe are expressions of hospitality, prosperity, and fullness today.

And he praised Mary for focusing on the guest, on welcoming the neighbor. The ministry of the open door. In the Lukan narrative, the neighbor includes widows, orphans, strangers, those who are robbed, beaten, stripped naked, and left half dead, and, yes, enemies!

And because many of us are not poor, we forget that for millions of people in the world who gargle water for breakfast, drink hot water for lunch, and cry themselves to sleep for supper, a welcoming home and a simple meal represent God’s shalom!

We need more Marthas and Marys. We need more open doors and open tables.

*Art, "Martha and Mary," JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)

 

THE PARABLE OF THE "BAD" SAMARITAN AND HIS DONKEY

We love the Parable. Most of us identify with the Samaritan. We name our institutions after him. I know of a Good Samaritan Hospital, a Good Samaritan Church, and a Good Samaritan Multi Purpose Credit Cooperative. I'm sure you all know more. 

But before we continue patting each other's backs and celebrating, let us remember what Samaritan meant during Jesus’s time.

There were at least three groups of people that were most hated and despised during Jesus’s time: centurions, tax collectors, and Samaritans. These were the "bad" guys. Jesus's self-righteous enemies pejoratively call him a Samaritan.

Priests and Levites were the "good" guys. They were models of society in word and deed. They were expected to help the wounded: their fellow Jew, on that "bloody way" connecting Jerusalem to Jericho. But they did not.

The "bad" guy did. With his donkey. Ironically, to this day, the "bad" guys still do. Also with their donkeys. They continue to help the wounded, rescue the dying, save the half-dead. But we don't call them Samaritans anymore. We call ourselves that now. We even added a qualifier, we are "The Good" Samaritans. 

But, tragically, we still do not stop and help. We have even come up with the best excuses for our inaction, apathy, and indifference: especially if the wounded is Indigenous, Black, Palestinian, Rohingya, LGBTQIA+, PLHA, Muslim, refugees, communists, or, simply, different from us. The Other. 

The "bad" guys do not care about labels. They are red-tagged, vilified, harassed, and demonized. Yet, they--and their donkeys--continue helping the wounded along the world's bloody ways. 

*art, "The Good Samaritan," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

+Most of our interpretations of texts are anthropocentric (human-centered). Actually, androcentric (male-centered). We forget reading the non-human agents of life and liberation in these texts. Like donkeys and fish, birds, trees, land, rivers... 

++Reading the Parables of Jesus inside a Jeepney https://a.co/d/iB9Eb05

SODOM AND GOMORRAH

THE REAL SIN OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH 

Given the breadth and depth of the hurt, discrimination, and senseless deaths brought about by homophobic readings of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is critical to go back to what Jesus said about the matter. And what other Biblical passages say. 

Sunday's Gospel Reading from Luke has Jesus telling the disciples, "But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom [and Gomorrah]* than for that town."

The prophetic tradition describe what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah as God's judgment against the people's pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease while neglecting the poor, the needy, and strangers.+ 

One word: inhospitality. Over and over in the Bible, God calls God's people to always care for and to welcome widows, orphans, and strangers. Sodom and Gomorrah failed to do these. Many in Jesus's time failed as well.

Are we guilty of the real sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?

===

Art, "Sarah and Abraham offer hospitality to the Visitors," mosaic, Ravenna, Italy (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

*Matthew adds "and Gomorrah" 

+Ezekiel 16. 49-50

#SodomAndGomorrah

#Sodom

#ChooseJustice

#FreePalestine

#PrayForMyanmar

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#JusticeForEJKVictims

#letgracebetotal

HAMMERS, BELLS, AND SONGS

Fear paralyzes people. Fear impairs judgment. Fear prompts an instinct to flee, fight, or even freeze. Fear is the most effective weapon of those in power against dissent and resistance. The Roman Empire maintained peace and order using the fear of imprisonment, exile, and crucifixion. The Romans crucified those they tagged as "enemies of the state," and carried out up to 500 state-sanctioned executions in a single day. All legal! 

Fear permeates the Gospels. Why did Peter rebuke Jesus? He was afraid for Jesus. Why did Peter deny Jesus? He was afraid of being identified with Jesus. Why did all the male disciples flee when Jesus was arrested? They were afraid of being arrested with Jesus. Everyone was afraid of being crucified!

Fear permeates Sunday's Gospel Reading. The fear of rejection? Yes. The lack of provisions? No purse, no bag, no sandals! Yes. Inhospitality, apathy, indifference from people and communities? Yes. The fear of death? Definitely. Sheep among wolves is a dangerous situation. Wolves kill sheep. Violently. Many times, wolves will kill more than they need. Human wolves do worse. 

Only two things can conquer fear: a bigger fear or faith. Faith embodied through the quest for justice, the struggle for freedom, and the practice of love. 

And for many among us, this faith that conquers fear is best expressed by the anthem incarnated in the lives of generations of prophets and peace activists worldwide. Their dissent and resistance were like hammers of justice, bells of freedom, and songs about love among brothers and sisters. 

Trump, Netanyahu, Duterte, Marcos, and their fellow predators and purveyors of fear need to be reminded that the anthem is greater than the sum of its parts. Much, much, more. In the end, we shall overcome. Faith will always, always, conquer fear! 

*YouTube link: "If I Had a Hammer" by Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes, performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1965 (attended by over 250,000 people). 

https://youtu.be/AKgm9ARmOMM?si=IVovhxA77pq-_VjM