THE PRODIGAL SON

There was a man with two sons.

He was rich. He had property. He had land. He had slaves. He had two sons. The younger asks for his inheritance and squanders it. He goes back home and is welcomed back by his father. With a feast, a robe, sandals, and a ring. The older is angry, feels slighted, and left out so the father reminds him that “you are always with me and all is mine is yours.”

In the end, everybody lives happily ever after. Father and sons. Still propertied. Still landed. Still slaveholders. Still rich.

There was another man with two daughters and a son.

He was propertied, landed, and filthy rich from illegally-gotten wealth. He actually wrote a letter noting that his only son was lazy and lacked willpower. This son, his junior, now thinks he can be the president of his country.

My friends, I think we should stop identifying rich fathers, rich landowners, and rich slaveholders with God. Or God's representatives. The parables of Jesus were subversive speech. They indicted the status quo. They challenged Pax Romana. They proclaimed good news to the poor.

They were the reasons Jesus was executed by the Romans.

#NoToMarcosDuterte2022

#JusticeForNewBataan5

#EndTheCultureOfImpunity

#FreePalestine

#JusticeForMyanmar

#StopTheKillingsPH

#readingtheparablesofjesusinsideajeepney

*art, "The Prodigal Son," JESUS MAFA 1970 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

THE PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE

For three years the owner of the Fig tree has waited. For three years he longed for one thing, fruit from his tree. Three years pass and there were none. So he orders his gardener to chop it down. Waste of good soil. His gardener pleads, "Give it another year. I will dig around it and put manure." Give it another year.

We call them people with "green thumbs." People who love plants. People who sing and talk to them like they were people. People like the gardener who pleads, "Give it another year." People who know that some Fig trees take up to six years to bear fruit. People who celebrate the inter-connectedness of all life. People who believe in second chances for everyone and everything. People who know the magic properties of manure.

Then there are people who treat everyone and everything as property, as commodity, as disposable. And every single day they
acquire square kilometers of prime agricultural land, ancestral domain, and public lands for profit. There's a term for this insatiable greed: development aggression.

And they chop down everything and everyone blocking their way. Not just Fig trees.

#JusticeForNewBataan5
#IAmWithJesus
#EndTheCultureOfImpunity
#StopTheKillingsPH
#FreePalestine
#JusticeForMyanmar
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022

*image from "what we can learn from the parable of the fig tree" available online at crosswalk.

GOD SPEAKS

Sunday's lection is on the Transfiguration again after two weeks. This time around let us focus on Moses and Elijah, the two key figures in Ancient Israelite faith traditions.

My Jewish teachers taught me that one of the best ways to understand the Hebrew Bible, especially the Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy) and the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve [Hosea to Malachi]) is to focus on who speaks for God in these traditions.

In the Law, God speaks through Moses. In the Prophets, God speaks through Elijah, Elisha, Deborrah, and the rest of the prophets. For Sunday's lection, God tells Peter, James, and John to listen to Jesus. God speaks through Jesus.

Dear Friends, please take note. None of these spokespersons of the Most High are Christian! Not one! Those of us who take pride in calling ourselves Christian should stop thinking that we have exclusive access to God.

God speaks through anyone God chooses. God especially speaks through those whose lives proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, liberation for the oppressed, and God's Jubilee of justice!

God speaks through Teacher Chad and Teacher Jurain!

#JusticeForNewBataan5
#StopTheKillingsPH
#FreePalestine
#JusticeForMyanmar
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022
#IAmWithJesus

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

FORTY DAYS WITH SATAN

Sunday's lection from Luke is also found in Mark and Matthew. The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness in Mark. In Luke and Matthew, the Spirit leads Jesus. Being driven and being led are very different descriptions. The former conjures an image of Jesus going with hesitation, even reluctance. The latter paints a picture of readiness and willingness.

Wilderness conjures up a lot of ambivalent images for us who study scripture. God appeared to a hardheaded Moses through the burning bush in the wilderness. The Israelites wandered almost aimlessly in the wilderness for decades. Many of them died there, including Moses. John the Baptist was a "voice of one calling in the wilderness." The wilderness does not seem like a very hospitable place. Yet, God's surprises abound in the wilderness!

And then there is the number 40, a long time in scripture. It rained 40 days and nights during the time of Noah. Forty years separated the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan River. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke add that he fasted. This narrative is the basis for the 40 days of Lent.

Most of us grew up imagining that Jesus was alone in the wilderness during those 40 days. He was not. Jesus had company: wild beasts, angels, and Satan. God's surprises do abound in the wilderness!

My friends, let us never forget. Satan did not betray Jesus. Judas did. Satan did not deny Jesus. Peter did. Satan did not plot to arrest and kill Jesus in secret. The chief priests and scribes did. Satan did not abduct, torture, and murder Jesus. The Romans did.

Satan is also not behind the Anti-Terror Law, the War on the Poor, the War on Drugs, the culture of impunity that pervades our land, the relentless red-tagging of peace activists, or the recent abduction and murder of Teachers Chad and Jurain and the rest of the Bataan 5. We all know who are responsible and should be held accountable for all these.

Lent began last Wednesday. Who among us wants to spend 40 days in the wilderness with Satan? Who among us is ready to respond to the challenges Satan asked Jesus? If we have access to resources, is feeding the hungry enough? If we have glory and authority, for whom will we use these for? If we had angels to command, who will we order them to save and protect?

Who among us is ready to respond to one of the key challenges in the Gospels: if we are rich, are we ready to sell everything we have, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Jesus?

Maybe we should ask these questions to everyone running for public office.

#IAmWithJesus
#Lent2022
#EndTheCultureOfImpunity
#JusticeForNewBataan5
#StopTheKillingsPH
#FreePalestine
#JusticeForMyanmar
#NoToMarcosDuterte2022
#ChooseJustice

*art, "Jesus is Tempted," (JESUS MAFA) from Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives