We don't want to go to hell? Here's a step by step guide so we won't

So many Christians are afraid. We are afraid to die. We are afraid we might not go to heaven. We are afraid to go to hell. 

Here is a step by step guide so we won't go to hell.

First, feed the hungry.
Second, give drink to the thirsty.
Third, welcome the stranger.
Fourth, clothe the naked.
Fifth, look after the sick.
Sixth, visit those who are imprisoned.

We can will find these instructions in Matthew 25. And if we do not do these? The passage continues with Jesus saying, "Then you will go away to eternal punishment!"

Once upon a time three men came down the road...

Imagine listening to Jesus as he tells the parable.  

A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho is beaten, stripped naked, and left half dead by rebels. A priest coming down the same road sees him but passes by on the other side of the road.  Likewise, a Levite coming down the same road sees him but, like the priest, passes by on the other side.

Then a third man arrives on the scene.

You, the listener, expect him to be like you. An ordinary Israelite. From childhood you have known the Shema. Nothing is more important than love for God and neighbor. And loving neighbor is the best way to love God.

The priest knew this but he failed the most important test. So did the Levite. Surely, the third man representing the third group of people, the ordinary Israelite, that made up the Chosen People will not fail. A fellow Israelite was close to death. Surely the third man would stop and help.

The third man did stop and help and did what was required of each and every Israelite.

But he was not an Israelite. He was not a neighbor. He was not part of the Chosen People.

He was the Enemy.

TATAY RODY, GOD IS ACTUALLY A FARMER!

GOD IS A FARMER (John 15: 1-8)

More often than not, we read this passage like we do the Parable of the Sower. We ask what kind of soil we are. We want to be the good soil that brings forth grain. We lose sight of the Sower. Yes, we lose sight of the Farmer.

In the Johannine reading, we ask what kind of branch we are. We want to be the branch that bears fruit. We lose sight of the vine. Moreover, we lose sight of the Vine Grower. Yes, we lose sight of the Farmer.

God is the Vine Grower in today's passage. God plants the vine. God does the pruning. God does the cutting off. God is actually a farmer.

During Jesus's time, farmers and fisher-folk comprised the bulk of the population. 7 out of 10. (Nothing has actually changed.) Then and now, farmers and fisher-folk are among the poorest of the poor. Dispossessed farmers and dislocated fisher-folk were worse. In First Century Palestine, the poor could afford only bread and fish, dried, smoked, or salted, which were the basic food of the lower classes in the cities, slaves, and peasants. Have you ever wondered why the majority of Jesus's stories and sayings in the gospels are about bread and fish,farming and fishing, and farmers and fisher-folk?

Unfortunately, we lose sight of farmers and fisher-folk. And we forget that the lestes, badly translated robbers and bandits in English Bibles, better translated as rebels and freedom fighters, were composed mostly of dispossessed farmers and runaway slaves!

But God does not forget! In the fullness of time, God decided to become one of us. God became flesh and dwelt among us. Among the poorest of the poor. Among farmers and fisher-folk. God took sides. God always takes sides. The incarnation, the word-made-flesh, is the vine that God planted among us. And what is the fruit of the Incarnation? Greater love has no one than this that one lays down one's life for a friend. Jesus did exactly that.

The Migrante International led grassroots, mass-based, inter-faith, local and international solidarity movement that led to the stay of Mary Jane Veloso's execution in 2015 helps illustrate this fruit of the Incarnation. Both of Mary Jane Veloso's parents, Nanay Celia and Tatay Cesar, are farmers at Hacienda Luisita. Both are willing to offer themselves to save her life.

Now, pretend parents, like the landlord who occupied Malacanang from 2010-2016, who fancied himself as "Ama ng bansa" (Father of the nation), will never do that. He even blamed Mary Jane for being uncooperative and spent a measly 5 minutes to plea for her life.

Today, again with the leadership of Migrante and in solidarity with Mary Jane Veloso's plea for justice, we are calling on the current occupant of Malacanang to do what the former occupant failed to do. Let Mary Jane speak. Let her tell the truth. The truth that will set her free.

Be the "Tatay Rody" that Mary Jane and so many others like her deserve. The Tatay who will do everything, including storm the gates of heaven and hell, to save his children. The Tatay who will offer his life so that his children may live.

The God we worship takes sides. God is actually a farmer. And God cuts off the branch that bears no fruit.

[image from migrante]

FOLLOWING AND FISHING

When we were growing up we used to sing a song that went, "I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men if you follow me."

I haven't heard this song sung in decades. Probably because we have stopped fishing for people. We have stopped fishing,  folks.

What have we done instead? We praise Jesus. We worship Jesus. We proclaim, "Christ above all!" We accept Jesus as Personal Lord and Savior. Our Christianity has turned into an exclusive club membership! We have stopped doing what Jesus actually told us to do in order to fish for people. FOLLOW HIM!

Why? Because following Jesus is hard. It is dangerous. It means taking up the cross. It means going against empire. It means being crucified. It means offering one's life as a ransom for many.

Jesus is, right now, waiting for you and me to follow him to Galilee. By the sea. To fish for people.

DUTER-TRAIN: TATAY RODRIGO ACCELERATING INJUSTICE

Genesis 47 tells us how Joseph oppressed the Egyptians. He introduced a famine relief system that required all the people to give up all their money, all their livestock, all their land, and, eventually, their freedom so that they do not starve to death.

1 Kings tell us how Solomon enslaved both the Canaanites and his own fellow Israelites. He replaced the tribal confederacy with 12 economic zones and introduced forced labor to undertake his infrastructure projects for the Lord (and for himself).

I am not making this up.

It is in the text. Read it. Study it. Tragically, we have been so enamored with Joseph the Dreamer and Solomon the Wise that we do not see the stark truth before our very eyes. Yes we read but we do not see.

The same applies to Duterte. We are so enamored, actually blinded by the myth and the myst that we cannot see the truth of his dictatorial, fascist, and violent regime. Majority among us call him "Tatay."

TRAIN is one of Tatay's projects. Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion. So many are riding this train, including so many among our pastors and church workers. The increase in take home pay for a minority creates the illusion of reforms but this train is anti poor and pro rich.

Duterte's TRAIN is really Tatay Rodrigo Accelerating INjustice!

Lest we forget, Joseph, Solomon, and, yes, Duterte all believe in God. All believe that God is on their side. But Joseph, Solomon, and Duterte forget that God is on the side of the enslaved Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, and the poor in the Philippines.

In God's oikos, according to Jesus, there are only sisters and brothers (see the Synoptics) and friends (see John). Any system that creates masters and slaves, rich and poor, victors and victims is oppressive, abusive, and wrong!

Joseph, Solomon, and Duterte are all masters, rich, and victors. God is on the side of the slaves, the poor, and the victims. God always is.

[infographic from Ibon Foundation]

Fishing for People

Life during the time of Jesus was really difficult. The works of Herzog, Crossan, Ehrman, Borg, and other Historical Jesus Researchers paint a Roman Occupied Palestine where the average life expectancy was 28 and half of the population was slowly starving to death. 

At the bottom of the social structure were farmers and fisher-folk. Nothing has changed. Farmers and fisher-folk remain at the bottom of the social structure today. 

In our lectionary reading this week Jesus calls fisher-folk to follow him in order to fish for people. Jesus does not call anyone to believe him. Jesus calls us to follow him. To do what? Fish for people. Many ancient peoples were afraid of the seas. But Jesus does not call us to fish people out of their fear of the deep. 

During Jesus's time, the Empire owned the sea! Taxes were imposed on fishing, on boats, on nets. On everything! Jesus's call to fish for people is a call for us to follow him in taking out people from systems and structures that oppress, that dehumanize, that subjugate, that kill. The call has not changed. 

People, especially the most vulnerable, are drowning in imperial waters. Jesus is calling us right now to follow him and fish for people.

CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT OF NAZARETH?

"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Nathaniel asked. We ask the same question every single day. We want someone from Jerusalem. Or maybe Bethlehem. Heck, Nazareth ain't even on the map!

No king, no prophet, no priest ever came from Nazareth. Maybe that's why Luke and Matthew came up with Bethlehem birth stories. And the 'Joseph-from-the-house-of-David-was-the-father' tradition as well. And, of course, the demigod mythology. Mark's 'The woodworker from Nazareth, the son of Mary' (read, bastard) was a hard sell.

Yet to this day, the Nazarene who lived his life with and for those whose only hope was God; who preached good news to the poor; who challenged the rich to sell everything they have and give the proceeds to the destitute; who defied empire; and who commanded everyone who followed him to offer one's life for a friend is a hard sell.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip's answer is as true today as it was then. 

COME AND SEE!

WAITING IN GALILEE

Most of us love stories with surprises. The women in Mark 16: 1-8 were in for a few surprises themselves. They went to the tomb that early Sunday morning bringing spices to anoint Jesus’s body worrying about the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb. Unlike the many doors in our homes and churches and buildings—with its specific locks and, even, numeric codes—the women had no key to unlock the door.

The women expected a locked tomb, they expected a dead body inside, and they expected to use the spices they brought to anoint that dead body. But, and we all know this already, when they got there the stone had already been rolled away, the tomb was empty, there was no dead body to anoint—Jesus was not where they expected him to be.

Like the women at the tomb, most of us want Jesus in a box, with a lock, where we could do whatever we want to do with him. Moreover, like the women we expect Jesus to be in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, in Mark, is supposed to be a holy place. It is where God is supposed to be. It is a monument to faith and the faithful.

Do not forget this—the women went to the tomb expecting a dead Jesus. Over and over in the Markan story, especially in chapters 8, 9 and 10, Jesus told his followers that he will rise to life. Jesus’s followers did not believe him. They went to the tomb to visit a dead person. Dead people have no power over us. Sure we visit their graves once or twice a year. For many Christians, churches have become tombs—where we visit Jesus an hour or two once a week. A dead Jesus has no power over us; he cannot make demands on our lives, on our work, on our time, our talents, our treasures, our plans and commitments.

A dead Jesus is a safe Jesus. But alas, Jesus is not dead and he is not where we want him to be. He is risen. And he is not in heaven nor is he in Jerusalem nor in the exclusive elitist clubs we call his church. He is back in Galilee—where we don’t want him to be, among the sick, the poor, the demon-possessed, the discriminated, the marginalized. Among the odorized and the otherized.

He is back in Galilee along the path that ultimately led to his crucifixion, along the path that ultimately led to the offering of his life. And he is already there waiting for us. Waiting for us to walk the same path and offer the same offering. Do we have the faith and the heart to go and meet Jesus in Galilee?

Do we?

FAITH THAT CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS

I am sure most of us have heard sermons about moving mountains with our faith (Mark 11. 22-23). Actually, not real ones but metaphorical mountains. But I would like to believe that Jesus actually meant moving real mountains.

Historians offer two possible mountains. The Temple Mount and Herod the Great's Herodium (see picture above). Herod was called the Great Master Builder and was responsible for the man-made harbor at Caesarea Maritima, for the fortress at Masada, the magnificent Temple Mount, and the Herodium (his palace and burial site). Herod, through forced labor and heavy taxation, literally moved mountains to build the last two monuments to his greatness.

Whether Jesus was talking about the Temple Mount or the Herodium, I would like to believe that he was challenging his listeners to have the faith that any man-made mountain that is built on exploitation, dehumanization, and oppression can be brought down. And thrown into the sea.

If we work together.

[image from https://www.timesofisrael.com/herods-mountain-hideaway/]

PAIN HAS NO SABBATH

Luke 13: 10-17 10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17
When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. (NRSV) 

The Gospel of Luke is a favorite among many Filipino Christians. Two of the best loved parables of Jesus are in Luke, the Samaritan in Chapter 10 and the Prodigal Son in Chapter 15. The Roman Catholic Church’s Preferential Option for the Poor is grounded on this gospel. The UCCP particularly loves Luke 4 (and Matthew 25). Lest we forget, the gospel that Jesus was anointed to proclaim is good news to the poor. And Luke is the best source for understanding the challenge of this gospel that takes the side of those whose only hope is God, of those who need God the most.

Critical parts of Jesus’s mission are to proclaim release to the captives and to let the oppressed go free. Both mean the same thing: liberation! Our reading for today is Jesus doing his mission of liberation. In Jesus’s response to the leader of the synagogue (verse 15) he mentions three characters who are all bound and have to be released. The ox and the donkey are both tied. They have to be released in order to get water. If they are not released, if they do not get water, they might get dehydrated or worse, die. The woman, whom Jesus calls a daughter of Abraham—which incidentally is the only time in the whole Bible that the description is used—is also bound. Satan has bound her for 18 long years. Medical experts who have studied this passage say that those were 18 agonizingly painful years. Whether she had tuberculosis of the spine, spondylitis ankylopoietica, osteoarthritis of the spine, or osteoporosis of the spine, she was in terrible pain. Every single day. She had to be released. She had to be set free.

My friends, the exchange between Jesus and the synagogue leader is not about good and bad. It is about good and good. How do we choose? Justly. The synagogue leader was saying: you can heal her any other day except today. He was arguing: what is one more day of suffering to someone who has already endured 18 years of agonizing pain? That’s 6570 days of pain. What is one day more? Jesus, on the other hand, was saying: why do I need to heal her any other day when I can do it today! For Jesus, suffering is suffering. Why wait for tomorrow when we can stop it today! The synagogue leader’s opinion is justice delayed. Jesus’s retort was justice right now! The woman despite her agonizing pain, despite her suffering went to the synagogue regularly. Did you think for one second that her pain rested during those Sabbath days? Did you think her suffering stopped while she sang, chanted, and studied the Torah? Do not forget this, ever: suffering does not have Sabbaths. Oppression has no rest days. Evil does not rest.

Pain has no Sabbath!

Do you think the suffering, humiliation, and discrimination that Palestinians experience as they go through Israeli checkpoints twice a day stop during Sabbath? Do you think the daily average of 45,000 people, half of them children under 5, who die in the Congo, stop because the killers behind the world’s worst genocide have to go to church on Sundays? Do you think our Lumad sisters and brothers get Sundays off from the displacement, dispossession, and militarization they experience from the AFP, CAFGU, and private armies of mining corporations? Do you think the pains, the suffering, and the diseases that afflict close to a billion of the world’s children caused by malnutrition, poverty, and hunger cease every time they attend mass or praise and worship? Suffering does not have sabbaths. Oppression has no rest days. Evil does not rest!

Thus, the struggle for life, for liberation, for wholeness, for abundant life for all has no rest days as well. This is why Jesus always healed on the Sabbath. This is why he proclaimed release to the captives and set the oppressed free on the Sabbath. This is why we are challenged to do the same in 2018! My friends, today is the day of liberation. Of course, we can wait for tomorrow but tomorrow might be too late. Proclaim release to the captives! Let the oppressed go free!

NOW!