SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM THE "HOW MANY SQUARES DO YOU SEE?" COMMUNITY

 

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THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!

It is time we took another road. Over and over again we take the same road. We never learn. We imagine that doing the same thing will change the outcome. It never has. It never will. 

The Empire strikes back--always. In the case of the Magi, innocent children were massacred. And innocent children will continue to die as long as we try to save Baby Jesus from Herod. We should stop. He is not a baby anymore. He also does not need saving. The Magi did that already.

The Empire always strikes back. There are more Herods today. They are purveyors of war. Last year alone, over 2 trillion US dollars were spent on the arms industry. Over half a trillion more was spent in the illegal drug trade. The War on Terror and the War on Drugs have left a trail of suffering and death on the innocent. Over 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have been massacred by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza and the West Bank using US-made arms and weapons of mass destruction.

Thus, you and I need to be wiser. We need to be Magi-er. We need to be more sensitive to the warnings in our shared dreams. We need to know when to beat swords into plowshares--and when to beat plowshares into swords. We need to take other roads.

We need to do all these to make sure that the massacre of the innocents in the Holy Land and elsewhere ends now! 

We need to make sure that those responsible--the Herods, Trumps, Netanyahus, Marcoses, Dutertes, and their ilk--are made accountable. 

We need to act, wherever we are, right now!

["Scene of the Massacre of the Innocents," Leon Cogniet, 1824]

THERE WAS REALLY NO INN IN BETHLEHEM

Let us point out what Christmas Eve's Gospel Reading does not say. 

The text does not say that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem when Mary was about to give birth. The text does not say that Jesus was born in a cave or stable where most of us imagine he was born. The text does not say that Jesus was born among animals. More importantly, the text does not say that Bethlehem was unwelcoming of the Holy Family. It doesn't say that they were sent away by an innkeeper. 

Now, what does the passage actually say? And what do decades of archeological, sociological, and anthropological research about Ancient Palestine tell us? 

There was a census, and everyone went back to his or her hometown to register. Joseph went with a pregnant Mary to Bethlehem because he was a descendant of David. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn, a son, wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no space for them in the guest room. (The Greek term is kataluma. The NIV and NRSVUE translate it correctly as guest room, not inn. Kataluma is also used to refer to the upper room in the Last Supper.)

Joseph and Mary go from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They travel about 150 kilometers. She is pregnant so the trip probably took a while. They get to Bethlehem, Joseph’s hometown. I’m pretty sure a relative or two would have welcomed them in his or her home. This act of hospitality is as true today as it was then, especially among peasants. Don’t forget, Elizabeth, Mary’s relative lived nearby in the Judean hill country. They could have stayed with her and Zechariah if there was no room in Bethlehem, but they did not. Joseph’s relatives had space--just not in the guest room. 

Archeology has shown us that most peasant homes in Ancient Palestine were a one room affair. There was a yard usually shared with other homes where communal cooking was done. The immediate space through the main door of the house had a mud-floor where animals were brought in at night to keep the home warm and the animals safe. A manger or feeding trough was part of this area. The animals were let out first thing in the morning.

Side note: When Jepthah in Judges 11 vowed to sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house, he was thinking of the animals being brought out first thing in the morning. Not his daughter.

The main family section, oftentimes a bit elevated from the animal area, was where the family did most of its affairs, mostly resting and sleeping. Homes, in those days, were really shelters because most chores were done outside or on the roof. Stairs to the roof were outside the house. Many homes had space for guests in the main family section or a small guest room--sometimes, for those who can afford, on the roof (hence, the upper room). 

When Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem, the home of Joseph’s relative was filled, the guest room occupied, so they stayed with the family in the main room. When the time came, the animals were brought out of the house, the manger cleaned and prepared and served as a crib for the newborn. 

My friends, the first Christmas happened when Palestine was under Roman Occupation. Life was very, very hard. Fifteen percent of the population was unemployed. Half of the people survived on a thousand calories a day which meant they were slowly starving to death. Average life expectancy was 28. 

But despite all these, many remained faithful to what Yahweh required of them: to welcome the stranger. There should always be space for the guest, a meal of fish and bread, and a place to lay one’s head. Kataluma. 

Jesus was born among those whose only hope is God, among peasants who shared a small house, among the poor who offered the best to a pregnant couple, among kin who opened their simple, one-room home to welcome the birth of the Messiah.

My Friends, millions among us are dealing with joblessness, homelessness, and hopelessness. In the midst of these, how do our lives proclaim, Immanuel? How do we actualize "God is with us?" How do we welcome God who comes as a stranger? Or as a baby? 

*Art from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital art collection, JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon, mafa001 ("The Holy Family")

 

RETHINKING BIBLICAL AUTHORITY, CANON, AND INTERPRETATION

 

The Bible is not a book. It is a collection of books. It is a library. The Protestant Canon has 66 books. The Roman Catholic's has 73. The Orthodox' has 79. The Ethiopian Orthodox' has 81. The Jewish Canon has 24.

This very short work argues that this ancient library is important to many people, but its authority, canon, and interpretation are always shaped by context and community. It is not a science library, nor does it provide all the answers to life's questions. Instead, it is a diverse collection that can be used to heal or harm, depending on how it is interpreted and applied.

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IMMANUEL!

I have always argued that Immanuel, "God-with-Us," serves as the thread that binds the 28 chapters of the Gospel of Matthew together. Sunday's Gospel Reading, in 1.23, proclaims that Mary's son will be called Immanuel, meaning "God-with-Us" (echoing Isaiah 7.14). At the end of the Gospel, in 28. 20, Jesus proclaims, "I am with you always..." God-with-Us to the end of the age!  

The Gospel has one promise to its hearers and readers. It is not complete understanding. It is not triumph nor victory. It is Immanuel. 

We will never, ever, be alone. 

What does it mean to experience Immanuel, to experience God's presence in our lives? Many times we forget that the best way to experience God's presence in our lives is to be God's presence in someone else's life. 

Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Visit the prisoners. Welcome the stranger. Care for the sick. Clothe the naked. Befriend the lonely. Protect the most vulnerable. Stand with Palestine. 

Be God's presence in someone else's life. This Christmas. And always. 

THE GREATEST

Sunday's Gospel Reading reminds me of Muhammad Ali. Today, people will not hesitate to describe him as "The Greatest"--with the same energy he called himself "The Greatest," to boot! 

But those same peoole who praise Ali now often forget--deliberately, even--the times in Ali's life when many treated him with hostility, disdain, and called him a "loud-mouthed nobody". Especially in the 1960s. 

His close friendship with Malcolm X, his decision to become a Moslem, and his being a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War made him one of the most hated men in America. Like John the Baptist, he was one voice crying in the wilderness. 

Sunday's reading also reminds me of young Emmet Till. His abduction, torture, and lynching at age 14 in 1955 for allegedly offending Carolyn Bryant and the acquittal of his murderers illustrate the depth and breadth of racism, injustice, and evil that victimize the most vulnerable in society: children. 

Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the world continues to treat prophets and children as dispensable and replaceable nobodies.  Prophets are silenced while children are traded. Prophets are vilified while children are comodified. The criminalization of anti-genocide protests worldwide and the murder of thousands of children in Gaza illustrate this tragic reality. 

Sunday's reading reminds us how Jesus feels about prophets and children. For him, they are the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. But that's for Jesus. He always took the side of those in the margins. 

How about us who take pride in calling ourselves followers of Jesus? Where do we stand? 

*images of Emmet Till (from the Emmet Till Research Collection, Florida State University Library) and Muhammad Ali (shadow boxing underwater, 1961).

**The song "Greatest Love of All" was composed for the Muhammad Ali biopic in 1977. George Benson did the original recording. Whitney Houston's 1985 version made it a worldwide hit. 

PREPARE YE!

"Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" and "Day by Day" from Godspell are two of my favorite childhood songs. Every time I think of John the Baptist, the former starts playing in my mind. 

Sunday's Gospel Reading is about John. Ancient Israelite tradition expected the prophet Elijah to return and prepare the way for the Messiah. Christianity believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and, thus, his forerunner, his "Elijah" is John the Baptist. 

The word of God came to John in the wilderness. Not in Jerusalem, not inside Herod's temple, not even in a synagogue, nor through the Saducees, Pharisees, and Scribes. 

The 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 forty long years. Many of them died there, including Moses. Like John, the wilderness played a key role in Jesus' early ministry. The wilderness does not seem like a very hospitable place.

Yet, many times, God reveals Godself in the wilderness--in spaces and places we don't expect God to be. In spaces and places we don't want to be! 

God anointed John to prepare people for a new way: not the way of Emperor Tiberius, Herod, his brother Philip, Pontius Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, or their ilk. Not the way of many Pharisee and Sadducees whom John called a brood of vipers. He told them, "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." 

God's way requires repentance: a complete turnaround; a 180; a change in the opposite direction; deciding to stop pretending but actually living our lives loving God by serving people, especially those whose only hope is God. 

If we don't follow God's way, if our creeds don't translate to deeds, if we don't repent, then God is able, from stones, to raise up God's children. 

*art, "John the Baptist preaching in the desert," (JESUS MAFA 1973), available at the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

JESUS HAS AIDS

If I said Jesus has cancer. Or diabetes. Or asthma. No one will give a fuss. 

But most of us have problems when we hear that Jesus has AIDS. Because we have been socialized to identify AIDS with promiscuity, with illicit drug use, with divine punishment, with sin. And the Jesus of our Creeds cannot be promiscuous, will not touch or even be in the same room with weed, and, of course, is a perpetual virgin, and sinless. 

What is the international symbol for HIV AIDS prevention? When you turn the symbol on its side, what does the symbol represent? 

My dear friends, the world has AIDS. Close to 40 million of our sisters and brothers are living with HIV. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 44 million of our sisters and brothers have died.  

For God so loved the world with AIDS that God sent God's son... Do we have problems with that interpretation? Or we only think that the world that God loves in our favorite Bible verse is that part without AIDS? 

And what did God's Son say, the One God sent to a world with AIDS? 

For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. I had AIDS and you, like the priest and the Levite, did not even stop to help me and passed on the other side of the road. I have AIDS and you left me to die, on the street, abandoned, alone, full of sores, like Lazarus.

Jesus has AIDS. He is the two-year old orphan whose parents died from the disease. He is the young prostituted woman victimized by human trafficking. He is in San Lazaro, in RITM, at the Lung Center waiting for a blood transfusion. He is your spouse. He is your child. He is your parent. He is the one wrapped in your embrace this very moment. He is the one whose face you see in the mirror. 

Jesus is a person living with HIV and AIDS and he is one of us. He is God-with-Us. 

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JUDGMENT DAY

The Season of Advent has begun and many expect a Christmas reading for Sunday. Matthew's passage is not. It's part of the Synoptic Gospels's mini Apocalypse (so, we find parallels in Mark and Luke). Scholars agree that the passage reflects traumatic memories from the Fall of Jerusalem around 70 CE. 

A lot of people look forward to the End of Days or the Second Coming because it promises eternal rewards and punishment. Of course, there are millions of card-carrying Christians who expect that they will be rewarded, while so-called infidels--namely, anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Personal Savior and Lord--will be punished. The "saved" will be taken away while the "damned" will be left behind. Trump and his ilk believe themselves part of these "saved" people. 

Many others look forward to the day that God will make things right, especially for those who have been dispossessed, displaced, disenfranchised, discriminated, and dehumanized by prejudice, greed, injustice, and evil. 

There are also those who dread the End of Days or the Second Coming because they know they have failed to do what Jesus, in his First Coming, commanded them to do: preach Good News to the Poor, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take care of the sick, visit the prisoners, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger. 

Judgment Day will come. Nobody knows which day or which hour, but it will happen. Like in the days of Noah. God's Day of Justice is coming. Jesus said so. 

Judgment Day is coming. For. All. Of. Us.

And it might come today. 

*art, "Two Women at the Mill," (James Tissot, 1836-1902) from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

REMEMBER ME...

Sunday's Gospel Reading is part of the church's tradition about Jesus's last words on the cross. You find one statement in Matthew; one in Mark; three in John; and three in Luke. Sunday's Lukan passage is also the basis of Jacques Berthier's famous 1978 Taize hymn, "Jesus, Remember Me."

Many social scientists tell us the worst punishment for Filipinos is solitary confinement. Many Filipinos turn on radios and televisions when they are alone--not to listen or watch, but simply to create a semblance of community.  God did not create us to be alone. No one deserves to be alone. Worse, no one deserves to be forgotten.

This was the plea of the man who was crucified with Jesus: Remember me. We often forget that many people do not fear death. What they really fear is oblivion; that they will be forgotten; that no one will remember them.

God's gift of grace creates communities. And these communities of grace are founded on a shared commitment to memory and remembrance. God does not want anyone to be alone. God does not want anyone to be forgotten. 

God remembers. Always. 

You and I, as followers of Jesus are challenged to race against erasure and to dedicate our lives to celebration, to commemoration, to ritualization. 

And to remember. Always. 

*art, "Dismas," (Thomas Puryear Mims, 1906-1975), at the Benton Chapel (Vanderbilt University). Tradition names the repentant man crucified with Jesus as Dismas.

THE CHURCH IS NOT A BUILDING

Sunday's Gospel Reading reminds us of Herod the Great's major renovations on the Jerusalem Temple that, according to Jesus, was built from the offerings of widows and other very poor people. 

Jesus said, "Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down!" And he was right. 

We are uncomfortable with a Jesus who speaks of doom, destruction, and death. We do not wish to see Jesus brandishing a whip while driving out those who were selling and buying in the Temple, including the moneychangers. We do not want to acknowledge that Jesus can be angry--and violently angry, at that.

We are so used to the Jesus we have created in our image. We are so used to the huge cathedrals and grand buildings we have created to make us comfortable when we come together in his name. We have even come up with the phrase "Sunday best", air conditioning, and exclusive seating inside these walls we have built as imposing monuments of our faith in God. Remember Jesus’s words, "Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." 

Friends, our comforts have made us forget that the church is not a building. It never was. It never will be. It has always been people: people who love; people who serve; people who offer their lives so that others may live, like Jesus did.

And when the cathedrals and buildings we've put up cease to serve their purpose, we should not be surprised when Jesus himself tears them down. 

*I took this photo of the Western or "Wailing Wall" in the Old City of Jerusalem last 9 August 2016. The wall is a remnant of the retaining walls Herod built for the Temple Mount. 

MOURNING HAS BROKEN

(In honor of those who survived and in memory of those who perished when Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda hit the Philippines on 8 November 2013.)

Mourning has broken, like ev’ry mourning

Lives have been broken, thousands left dead

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, 

Poor folk rebuilding, hon'ring their dead

Sweet the world’s caring, manna from heaven

Each other’s keepers, one body, one mass

Working together, welcome each morning

God recreating every new day.

Welcome the sunlight, rise from our mourning

Labor ‘til twilight, so children can play

Crucified peoples, God’s resurrection

Our liberation, three days away!

Mourning has broken, like ev’ry mourning

Lives have been broken, thousands are dead

Grace for our mourning, grace for each morning, 

Praise for the springing, life for the world. 

*NEXSAT satellite image of Typhoon Haiyan from the US Naval Research Lab (November 7, 2013, 2:30am)

THE ASSOCIATE PASTOR

Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, one of my teachers at Princeton, shared this story with me. It resonates with Sunday's Gospel Reading.

Now there were seven brothers who were all pastors. The first served as Administrative Pastor in a big church. A woman pastor served as Associate Pastor. The first brother died so the church appointed the second brother as Administrative Pastor. The woman remained Associate Pastor. The second brother died so the church appointed the third brother to take over. The woman remained Associate Pastor. The third brother died as well, and so in the same manner, all the brothers died. All were appointed Administrative Pastor. And the woman remained Associate Pastor. 

Finally, the woman also died. In the resurrection, which brother will she work with as Associate Pastor? 

Our faith communities affirm that everyone is created in God's image. We believe in the priesthood of all who believe. We declare that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female.

Yet women, in so many situations, remain subordinate to--or worse--property of men. They cannot be ordained in many denominations. Their salaries are 80% of men's, if not lower. And they are harassed in places and spaces that are supposed to be safe. 

Friends, you and I as followers of The Way, need to work harder to make sure that our faith affirmations become realities for women, children, and the most vulnerable among us. 

*Image from Shedarts Store, San Jose, CA. 

THE OTHER RICH YOUNG MAN

In the Gospel of Luke, we have “enemies who love:" those who serve the least, who take the side of those whose only hope is God, who completely subvert expectations. 

Historians tell us how so many in Occupied Palestine hated the Romans, the Samaritans, and tax collectors. But in Luke, the Roman Centurion, the Samaritan on the road connecting Jerusalem to Jericho, and Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, are presented as models of faith. They are "enemies who love."

The Centurion not only loved the Jewish people and built their synagogue, he also loved his slave dearly and sought help from the Jewish community when the latter was ill and close to death. We all know about the Samaritan who was a neighbor to the Jew who fell into the hands of robbers.

Then, there is Zacchaeus in Sunday's Gospel Reading. There are two important things in the passage that many English Translations do not emphasize. Scholars have been raising these points for a long time.

First, he was young, not short. And he was a very young but very rich chief tax collector, not just your regular hated publican. The passage tells us how the people ostracized him. For them, he definitely did not belong. For them, he, most definitely, was not a child of Abraham. 

Second, the verbs in verse 8 are in the present tense. Even present progressive. Not future. Zacchaeus did not promise to give back half of his possessions to the poor. He did not promise to pay back those he has defrauded four times as much. HE WAS ALREADY DOING BOTH! He was already doing acts of justice which Jesus commanded the rich to do in order to enter the Kingdom of God. 

The Synoptic Gospels all narrate the story of the rich young man who could not follow Jesus's command to the wealthy. Zacchaeus is the other rich young man who could. And did. 

For Jesus, Zacchaeus was, most definitely, a child of Abraham!

Maybe there's still a path to salvation for the very, very rich old and young men in government who have defrauded the masses worse than Zacchaues did. 

*Art, "Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus," JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

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THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR

Pharisees loved God and country. They were very religious, highly trained, upright, and totally against the Roman Occupation of Palestine. They were loved by the masses in contrast to the elitist Sadducees who belonged to the ruling class. Let us not forget that Paul, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and Gamaliel were Pharisees. 

In Sunday's Gospel Reading from Luke, the Pharisee was telling the truth. Everything he said in his prayer was true. 

Tax collectors, like Zacchaues and Levi (aka Matthew), were probably the most hated people during Jesus’s time. They worked for Rome and were considered collaborators and traitors. 

In Sunday's lection, everything the tax collector said in his prayer was also true. 

Both men were truthful. What's the difference? 

The tax collector judged himself and found himself needing God's mercy. The pharisee judged the tax collector and found the tax collector needing God's mercy. 

Then and now, we all need God's mercy. Especially those of us who--like the pharisee-- think we do not. 

*art, "The Pharisee and the Publican," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)

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THE PARABLE OF THE WIDOW AND THE UNJUST JUDGE

Homilies on this parable tell us that if we persist, like the widow, in prayer, pleading to God, then God, like the judge, will relent.

Dear Friends, let us stop imagining that the judge in the story is God. He is not. He is a judge that did not fear God nor respect people. Jesus calls him an unjust judge. He is like so many in the world's justice systems that serve the powerful, the propertied, and the privileged. 

And then there's the widow. Widows are among the three most dispossessed people in the Bible (along with orphans and refugees), crying out for justice like so many in Gaza, in the Philippines, in Myanmar, and other places today. 

Development aggression, militarization, large-scale mining, human trafficking, and the culture of impunity perpetuated by powers and principalities fueled by insatiable greed and lust for profit have produced thousands of widows. All crying out, all relentless, all persistent in their quest for justice. 

And the unjust judge relents. Not because he had a change of heart. The situation changed because the widow never gave up. Morning, noon, and night. Rain or shine. She was in his face. Standing her ground. She never lost hope. She fought for justice and justice prevails at the end. Then and now, widows who fight for justice never give up. 

Justice always prevails. This is why we should always choose justice. And always stand with widows and orphans and refugees and everyone whose only hope is God. 

Justice will always prevail. 

*Art, "Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge," from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://a.co/d/7ACdLTy

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KRISTER STENDAHL AND THE NINE LEPERS

I had the privilege of presenting a paper at the Society of Biblical Literature's annual meeting during my first year of grad school. I did not expect Krister Stendahl* to be in the audience. He was in the front row. I did not expect him to come up the stage after the presentation and introduce himself to me. He did. 

I did not expect him to remember me when we saw each other again in the following year's SBL meeting. He did remember me. He even remembered my paper, and asked if he could join me for lunch. Those very priceless moments with Bishop Stendahl seem surreal to this day, over two decades later. 

He was interested in my reading of Romans 1 about faith being a response to grace which resonated with "utang na loob" being a response to "kagandahang loob". And that the best way to respond to God's grace by faith is to pay it forward. The best way to love God, our Parent, is to love our sisters and brothers. I used the story of the ten lepers to unpack the concept. And the narrative is Sunday's Gospel Reading.

We expected the ten lepers who were healed to go back to Jesus to express their gratitude. But only one returned to do so. The Samaritan. And most of our interpretations have celebrated this one who returned. How about the "ungrateful" nine? Is it not possible that they paid it forward? Is it not better if an act of kindness is repaid by doing an act of kindness to someone else instead of returning the favor? Again, reading "from grace to grace" as paying it forward. 

Isn't serving the people--especially widows, orphans, and strangers--the greatest expression of our gratitude for God's grace? 

*Krister Stendahl (1921-2008) was Bishop of Stockholm (Sweden), theologian, and New Testament scholar. He served as professor and dean of the Harvard Divinity School. His works on Paul are required reading in many seminaries. 

+art, "The Healing of the Ten Lepers," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).

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MASTERS AND SLAVES

MASTERS AND SLAVES

Every day over 6,000 Filipinos leave the country to work overseas. Millions are domestic helpers. Millions more are caregivers. Countless survive in sub-human conditions. People are the third world nations' biggest exports. If we think that slavery in its most dehumanizing forms does not exist in our 21st century society, then we are kidding ourselves. 

Slaves, in Sunday's Gospel Reading from Luke 17, should never expect to rest from their labors. Slaves should never expect thanks. Slaves should know their place, should stay there, should accept that they are worthless, and should never, ever, expect otherwise. Why? Slaves are property. They are commodities. Bought, sold, and exploited. 

Dear friends, God did not create masters. God did not create slaves. God did not create the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Nor the Manila Acapulco Galleon Trade. God did not create any of the systems and structures--including theologies--that commodify, degrade, and exploit people.  

God did not create the death-dealing economies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer. 

God did not create the white supremacist, bigoted, racist, fascist, and homophobic "Christianity" that Trump and his MAGA cohorts revel in unashamedly.

God did not create the systems and structures of corruption, bribery, and impunity involving billions of taxpayers' hard-earned money funneled to the coffers and pockets of Marcos, Duterte, and their ilk. 

All these are man-made. All these choose profit over people and planet. 

We created all these. Which means we can undo them all. And we must. 

Now.

*Image from Brittanica, Stowage of Slaves in Ships during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. 

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LAZARUS... AND DONALD TRUMP

Two ancient stories resonate with Sunday's Gospel Reading. One is Egyptian, the other Rabbinical. The former is about the reversal of fortunes in the afterlife. The latter was about Abraham's servant Eleazar (Lazarus in Greek) who walked the earth in disguise to check on Abraham's children's observance of God's command to care for the poor, especially orphans, widows, and strangers. 

In Jesus's parable, Lazarus wasn't in disguise. He was so poor, sick, and starved that his plight was described by Abraham as evil. Left by the rich man's gate, he was in such terrible state that only street dogs kept him company, licking his sores. He died waiting for crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. He died away from any human contact and, thus, was not even buried. Being buried is the last act of human decency that societies have practiced for millenia. Lazarus died and no one was around to bury him. God had to send angels to bring him to Abraham's bosom. 

The rich man feasted every day. He also died. He was buried--I'm sure in grand fashion--with scores of professional crying ladies. 

Today, the world spends more money on ice cream and cosmetics than on basic health care, safe water, or basic literacy programs for the most vulnerable communities. Twenty-five thousand people starve to death each day while one country has enough resources to feed 40 billion people! (That's five times the population of the world.) 

Today, Lazaruses abound outside our homes, our offices, and our places of worship: homeless, jobless, hopeless... Suffering alone! With street dogs as company. And we, like Cain, smugly assert, "Am I my brother's keeper?" 

Unless we change, unless we repent, unless we sell everything we have and give all the proceeds to the poor, we will find ourselves in agony, tormented by flames in Hell. With the rich man. And Donald Trump! 

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#PrayForSriLanka 

reading the parables of jesus inside a jeepney

*Art, "The Rich Man and Lazarus," JESUS MAFA, 1973, from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

THE UNJUST DEBT MANAGER

Sunday's parable from Luke 16 has been interpreted so many different ways. Some work. Some do not, especially those that insist that the rich master is a metaphor for God. 

Sunday's parable from Luke 16 resonates with the ongoing investigations and exposés concerning corruption--worth billions--in the Philippines’ flood control and other public works projects. 

The master in the narrative is quite wealthy. Charges are brought against his debt manager or steward for dishonesty. Apparently, other debt managers want him out of the picture, thus the charges.

The manager--finding his position in jeopardy and knowing he cannot do manual labor and is ashamed to beg--does what most anyone would do in his situation: use the system of debts, interest, and indebtedness to his advantage. Find a way to make sure that he does not end up on the streets. He cuts his losses by literally cutting his commission.

What he does gets him his job back. His rich master, who knows he is wicked and unjust, commends him. And those in debt are now beholden, not just to the rich master, but also to the manager. 

No repentance. No restitution. No justice!

This is the way things actually work. This is the evil of debt, then and now. That is why the rich are still rich and continue to get richer. This is why Marcos's Independent Commission on Infrastructure, the Senate's Blue Ribbon Commitee hearings, and other livestreamed investigations are all for show and will not make a dent on the status quo. Genuine change never, ever, comes from the top of the pyramid. Justice will never, ever, come from the wealthy and their debt managers. 

This is why the poor plea, "Forgive us our debts!" An economy of debt is an economy of death. This is the way of empire.

This is the complete opposite of the Kingdom of God.

*art, "Parable of the Unjust Steward," (2012), Andrei Mironov [from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives]

#readingtheparablesofjesusinsideajeepney

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#FreePalestine

#LoveGodServePeople

#PrayForMyanmar

#PrayForNepal

#PrayForSriLanka

#NeverAgainNeverForget

LOST SHEEP, LOST COINS, AND LOST SONS

Many among us grew up with allegorical interpretations of the trio of parables in Sunday's Gospel Reading from Luke 15. The sheep, the coin, the son all represent the sinner who is lost then found and saved by God.

My friends, let us try to read the parables as parables about shepherds and sheep, women and coins, and fathers and sons. The shepherd is not God. Nor is the woman. Nor is the father. The shepherd is responsible for sheep under her care. The woman is responsible for her coins. The father is responsible for his sons. 

I have two sons. The Parable of the Lost Son is very personal for me. 

If sheep, coins, and sons go astray, we should ask those responsible: why? We must not blame the sheep, the coins, nor the sons. 

For so long our interpretations have shielded and protected those responsible and accountable for sheep, coins, and sons. It is time we ask the shepherd, the woman, and the father: why did you lose them? Why did they go astray? 

My friends, for so long we have shielded and protected King David and Eli the Priest from what happened with their "lost" sons. We still do so with today's Davids, Elis, kings, and priests. We still blame our lost sons and daughters. We still think it's their fault. We still blame Will Hunting!

*Art, "The Prodigal Son," JESUS MAFA, Cameroon, 1973 (available at the vanderbilt divinity library revised common lectionary art galleries). 

#readingtheparablesofjesusinsideajeepney

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#ChooseJustice

#LoveGodServePeople

#FreePalestine

#PrayForMyanmar

#CeaseFireNow

#PrayForSriLanka

#PrayForNepal

THE CALL, THE COST, AND THE CROSS

Campus Crusade for Christ popularized Bill Bright's Four Spiritual Laws. For several generations of young people, in order to be a Christian, one had to believe these four laws: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; man (sic) has been separated from God through sin; Jesus Christ died for our sins and reconciled us to God; and everyone that accepts Christ will be saved and receive eternal life.

Sunday's Gospel Reading from Luke reminds those of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus that following him has never been--and will never be--a picnic nor a walk in the park. Discipleship is not a club membership with fees, duties, benefits, privileges, and Sunday Best attire. Discipleship is not just confessing the Four Spiritual Laws. Discipleship is beyond using the Bible, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as props. 

If we believe that Trump, Vance, Duterte, Marcos, Bato, Curlee and Sarah Discaya, and their ilk answered Jesus’s call to discipleship, then we're following the wrong Jesus!

The cost of discipleship is very high. The cross that Jesus of Nazareth talks about does not refer to the challenge of being married to one's spouse, nor the responsibility of taking care of elderly relatives, nor the burden of pastoring a big church, nor to any of the other metaphorical "crosses" we have come up with. 

The cost of discipleship is very high. It's completing the tower--even if we die in the process. It's winning the battle--even if we perish along the way. We don't go build without finishing. We don't wage war in order to lose. Many among us want to go to heaven but are afraid to die. Many among us want to be resurrected but are afraid to be crucified. Many among us want to see a new day but are afraid of the night. We cannot have one without the other.

My friends, we cannot trully follow Jesus unless we are ready to carry our cross. When Jesus calls us, he bids us, "come and die." 

*art, "The Cost of Discipleship," from inductivebiblestudy app, 2020.

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#ChooseJustice

#LoveGodServePeople

#FreePalestine

#PrayForMyanmar

#PrayForSriLanka

#NeverAgainNeverForget

#CeaseFireNow

SEAT PLAN

"SEAT PLAN" 

Sunday's lection resonates with our experiences around the dinner table (which, in many cases, is not really round). We know who sits where. In many homes we know who sits at the head and at the foot of the table. And this seating arrangement applies in many of our social gatherings and in our churches as well. 

When I was younger I assumed that the name plates on church pews were in honor of the donors. I soon realized--after being told to move--that those name plates also identified who had exclusive rights to those pews. 

People have always asked why I always stand or sit at the back (or near the back) in churches, especially the big ones. Now you know. 

Years ago, I visited a church where I felt totally unwelcomed. I did not wear the required three-piece suit for men. I also had the wrong skin color. 

These assigned spaces also apply to burials. There are those who are buried in the church's yard. There are those who are buried inside the sanctuary, along the center aisle, and in the altar. Of course, "heathens" and "pagans" cannot be buried on church grounds. 

Friends, let us never forget that the early church was known for its open table, its radical hospitality, and its proclamation of good news to the poor. There were no seat plans. 

The church is not a building. The church is not an exclusive club. The church, the one Jesus challenges to be light, salt, and seed, is people who love. Unconditionally. 

*art, "The Poor Invited to the Feast," JESUS MAFA, 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives)

#ChooseJustice

#InclusiveCommunity

#ClemencyForMaryJane

#FreePalestine

#LoveGodServePeople

#PrayForMyanmar

PAIN HAS NO SABBATH

Sunday's Gospel Reading has Jesus doing his mission of liberation. Luke's Jesus’s response to the leader of the synagogue 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, in cases of heatstroke, die.

The woman, who 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 more day? 

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 tomorrow. 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 violence that Palestinians experience stop during Sabbath?  Do you think our Lumad sisters and brothers get Sundays off from the displacement, dispossession, and militarization they experience from the AFP, agents of development aggression, 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. Every singe day! 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!

#CeaseFireNow

*Art, "Christ Healing the Crippled Woman who was Bent Over, " from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library Digital Archives (copyright source: Prof. Patout J. Burns and Prof. Robin M. Jensen)

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BATO'S CLAIMS

Bato dela Rosa has expressed that the Holy Spirit guides his pro-Duterte acts as senator. Donald Trump, MAGA, and ICE use the Bible as a prop. Bato is doing the same thing with the Holy Spirit.

Now, those of us who are students of the Bible know that the Bible is not a book. It is a collection of books. The Bible is a library. Let's pick just one passage from one book to refute Bato's claims. The Gospel of Luke 4: 18-19.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

These are the concrete signs of the Holy Spirit at work. Nothing in Bato's claims fit these acts of justice, liberation, and compassion for the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. NOTHING! 

I agree that spirits guide Bato. I totally disagree that it is the Holy Spirit.

JUSTICE LEAGUE!

NOT PEACE BUT A SWORD. 

What does the sword that Jesus brings do? It disrupts, it divides, it disturbs... the Peace. 

Peace and Order founded on war. The peace defined, justified, legislated and imposed by the powerful, propertied, and privileged. The peace built on the blood and bodies of the displaced, dispossessed, disenfranchised, and disemboweled. The peace inaugurated by the original Prince of Peace, Caesar Augustus. 

The peace where the father was head of the family and everyone was his property. The peace where the rich got richer and declared heaven-blessed, while the poor got worse and judged accursed and destined for hell! 

Historians tell us that Christians were never called peacemakers in the earliest days of the Jesus movement. They disrupted. They divided. They were disturbers of the Peace and Order of Rome. Like Jesus. 

Today, the powerful, propertied, and privileged keepers of Peace and Order tag these "disturbers" as criminals, rioters, militants, dissenters, communists, terrorists and, yes, enemies of the state! They remain faithful to the One who was executed as an enemy of the state.

Friends, I want to believe that we are followers of Jesus. The Prince of Peace based on Justice. We strive to be agents of genuine transformation. We dedicate our lives to help bring about shalom, life in all its fullness. We struggle with those whose only hope is God. 

We are, therefore, members of the peace based on justice league!

*image, "The Time Jesus Started a Riot," copyright, Brendan Powell Smith, from Reboot (WordPress). 

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