WHERE IS GOD?

 

Philip's request to Jesus resonates with what many among us long for: "Show us the Father and we will be satisfied!" Some ask this question in the comforts of their armchairs inside their air-conditioned offices. Tens of millions ask this as they struggle to survive from one day to the next. Where is God?

One seventh of one year's income from the richest 2,000 billionaires on earth can eradicate poverty while 25,000 people from the poorest countries, 40% of them children, starve to death every single day. Where is God?

The world's richest countries spend close to 2 trillion US dollars a year on weapons of mass destruction while the United Nations report that less than a third of that amount can provide food, water, basic education, health care, and decent housing for the poorest nations. Where is God?

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that over 54,000 Palestinians, a third being children, have been killed by the State of Israel's war machine since October 7, 2023. Where is God?

Jesus tells Philip over and over to believe. Believe in the words. If these are not enough, believe in the works. Believe in love!

Those of us who call ourselves Christian must embody the basic tenet of our faith: incarnation. Love in the flesh. So, where is God? Among us. Between us. One of us. Many times, a stranger... Anywhere and everywhere we experience goodness wrestling free from evil, where we find hope being triumphant over despair, where we encounter faith stronger than fear, where we see love chosen over indifference, where we experience life rising up in the midst of death. Even from under the rubble.

Love in the flesh. God is there.

*Photo of Gaza (from The New York Times)

JESUS PRAYS FOR US

 

There are those among us who grew up in Christian communities that taught "all prayers need to end with 'in Jesus's name'". There are those among us who grew up in churches that had regular prayer meetings and 24-hour prayer chains or prayer warriors. I am sure some of us have experienced falling asleep while we were praying.

Sunday's lection is part of what scholars call Jesus’s Farewell Discourse (chapters 14-17). Jesus knows he will be separated from his friends very soon. Imagine a line, a boundary, a threshold that Jesus had to cross, alone. A line his friends could not cross--not yet.

What does Jesus do? He prays for his friends. He also prays for those who will believe because of his friends. Jesus prays for us! More importantly, he lifts all of us in his prayer to God. He asks God three times in his prayer.

I believe most of us read our Bibles and pray every day. Many of us pray several times a day. There are those among us who pray without ceasing. Oftentimes, our long prayers are often only about ourselves. There are also those who pray for those whose only hope is God. Then there are those, in these trying times, who need to cross lines, boundaries, and thresholds who need our prayers.

In all of these, we pray to God. We ask. We beg. We cry. We plead. We are the ones praying.

Thus, many among us miss a key point of our Gospel Reading. Jesus is praying for his friends and for us--not for himself. He prays for his loved ones when he, a man slated for execution by the state, has every reason to pray for himself!

In the midst of hopelessness and despair when we are most vulnerable and alone, we are not the only ones praying; Jesus lifts us in prayer.

Good news indeed! JESUS. PRAYS. FOR. US!


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

THE MATMAN RISES

 

Sunday's Gospel Reading from John 5 reminds me of Linus Van Pelt and his security blanket. Linus's relationship with his blanket started on June 1, 1954! (Our clan has had a love affair with Charles Schulz's Peanuts that now span three generations. We even have a cousin named Linus!)

The man in the narrative has had a relationship with his mat almost four decades; 38 years to be exact! Note that the narrative begins with the man lying ill on his mat and ends with the man made well, standing up, and walking with his mat. (Structural exegetes will have a field day dealing with this pericope!)

I am pretty sure that many people asked Schulz to do a strip where Linus eventually lets go of his security blanket. I am also pretty sure that many people probably expected Jesus to tell the man to let go of his mat. In sickness and in heallth, even Jesus celebrated the man's special bond with his mat.

One person's junk is another one's treasure. We all have "mats" that we hold dear, that accompany us through the highs and lows of our lives, that make us feel safe, secure, at "home."

Dear Friends, many among us have been lying on our mats, feeling terribly ill, since the May 12th Midterm Elections. More of us have been paralyzed by the disheartening indifference of so many on the ongoing genocide in Gaza... Soon, we will hear a still small voice, whispering: "Stand up, take your mat, and walk!"

THE 25% REVOLUTION

Most of us were taught the 50% plus one formula. We call this the "Majority Rule." Those in power use the term "Silent Majority" (popularized by Richard Nixon in 1969) to describe the large groups of people who quietly support them and their policies, in contrast to the "Vocal Minority" of protesters.

History and research show us a totally different reality. A committed minority, relentless and dedicated, needs to reach 25% of the population to reverse the majority viewpoint. This committed minority, relentless and dedicated, by modeling behavior--repeatedly and consistently--eventually leads the rest to copy such behavior.

Dear Friends, do not forget this. Ever. Tradition tells us the Jesus Movement began with Twelve. Sunday's Gospel Reading reminds us of the behavior that eventually changed the world: love for others, especially the least, the lost, the last, and the left out. Loving the way Jesus loved.

Bonifacio had 30,000 Katipuneros. Each one of them ready and willing to die for our Motherland. Each one believing that love for country is the same as love for God. Each one loving as Jesus did.

Monday's midterm elections served as a showcase of solidarity and volunteerism on the ground, a concrete expression of the youth sector's protest vote, and a testament to the masses' collective quest for genuine transformation.

As I write this, Kiko Pangilinan has over 15 million votes. Heidi Mendoza has over 8 million. Teddy Casino has 4.6 million while many among the Makabayan candidates have around 4 million each!

Again, a committed minority, relentless and dedicated, loving as Jesus did, needs to reach 25% of the population to reverse the majority viewpoint.

Friends, the 25% Revolution is slowly but surely unfolding! Monday's elections is but one of the signs of this unfolding. Change is in the air.

We are almost there!



*The 25% Revolution—How Big Does a Minority Have to Be to Reshape Society? [The Scientific American]
**Political scientists argue that Bam Aquino is the biggest beneficiary of the youth sector's protest vote and the ongoing rift between the Marcos and Duterte camps.
 

GOOD SHEPHERDS

Most of us know Psalm 23 by heart. We are not talking about one or two verses here. This is a whole chapter from the Bible that most of us know! This is one chapter that has given courage to so many when they were afraid. This is one chapter so many people have held onto when they crossed over to the life beyond.

Shepherd works as a metaphor for God in the Psalm. The good shepherd will never abandon the sheep. The sheep will never, ever, be alone.

In Sunday's gospel reading, people gather around Jesus and ask, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." These people expected a male leader who will lead them to victory. These people expected a strongman who will destroy the Romans and restore the former glory of the monarchy.

These people expected a leader who will make sure that the people who put him in power are rewarded handsomely--with riches, with the privilege of being at his right hand.

Jesus responds by talking about sheep and shepherds. Sheep do know the voice of their shepherd. Sheep do follow their shepherd in and out of the sheepfold. Sheep do run away from those whose voice they do not know. Shepherd works as a metaphor for Jesus in Sunday's lection. The good shepherd will never abandon the sheep. The sheep will never, ever, be alone.

Our country does not need messiahs nor strongmen. We need shepherds.
Lest we forget--then and now--women make up more than half of the world's shepherds. Let's stop imagining that the good shepherd in the Bible has to be male. Rebekah, Rachel, Miriam, Zipporah and her sisters were shepherds. The shepherds who visited Jesus when he was born were probably all women. Most importantly, many faith communities celebrate Mary--the mother of the Lamb of God--as a shepherd!

Good shepherds can be women and men. Good shepherds work as a metaphor for persons whose track records exemplify love for God via service to the people. Like Sarah Elago and the women of Gabriela. Like Neri Colmenares and the men of Bayan Muna. Like Liza Maza. Like Arlene Brosas. Like Teddy Casino. Like France Castro. And like Danilo Ramos.

Friends, on May 12, let's elect good shepherds!
*Art, "The Good Shepherd," JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon (available at the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).
 

LOVE. RIGHT NOW.

In Sunday's Gospel, Peter tells Jesus "I love you!" three times. In the Greek, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him with an agape kind of love. Peter responds yes, with a filial kind of love. Again, Jesus asks... agape.... Peter again responds... filial.... On the third go, Jesus adjusts. He asks for filial love. Peter responds yes, filial.

God asks us to love unconditionally, to love the unlovable, to love those who can never love us back: agape. But like Peter, most of us can only offer what we can offer right now. Mutuality. Reciprocity. Solidarity. The love most of us know: filial.

So many among us who confess to be followers of Jesus promise to offer what we actually do not have. We will volunteer our services when we get a vacation. We will give more support when we get a raise. We will serve the church and its ministries when our situation changes for the better. The future is in God’s hands. Not ours.

Only in John do we find the source of the five barley loaves and two fish that led to the feeding of the 5000. It was from a child. A poor and hungry child. One among the hungry multitude. The child offered what he had. Right there and then.

In Sunday's narrative, Jesus adjusts. He asks Peter for the best but when Peter could not give it, Jesus accepts what Peter could offer right there and then.

My friends, what we can offer right now is better than the best we can offer tomorrow.

What can we offer right now as expressions of our solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers? What can we do right now to demand justice for victims of extra judicial killings and enforced disappearances? What can we contribute right now to aid relief operations locally and internationally?

What we can offer right now is better, much better than the best we can offer tomorrow.

Especially for a world, that is like sheep without a shepherd, that needs to be fed, to be given drink, to be welcomed, to be visited, to be clothed, to be set free, to experience justice, to hear the Good News that God has left heaven to be with us.

Love. Right now.

*Art, "Breakfast on the Beach" by Peter Koenig (available from the vanderbilt divinity library digital art collection).
 

GOD REMEMBERS

 

Many imagine the resurrected body. I have heard long discussions on how resurrected bodies are supposed to look, including what superhuman abilities these new bodies will have. Sometimes, our imagination gets the better of us.

Of this, I'm sure: despite their differences (and there are a lot), the four gospels all tell us that the Risen One has a body. In Sunday's Gospel from John, Jesus tells Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side." The Risen One has a body, and that resurrected body still bears the marks of the crucifixion. God knows who is responsible for each wound.

Over 50,000 men, women, and children have been killed by the genocide being perpetuated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian People. And the murders continue. Take heart! God knows who are responsible. God never forgets.

Every single day so many of our sisters and brothers--who serve the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized--are red-tagged, abducted, tortured, brutalized, and crucified. Take heart! God knows each and every one responsible. God remembers.

God will never forget the crucified. God will raise up each and every one of them. God always remembers the marks of each crucifixion. And God knows who is responsible for each of those wounds!

Dear Friends, then and now, the resurrection requires warm bodies that embody justice, solidarity, and life-giving. The resurrection requires warm bodies that will rise up for those who have fallen, that will continue the struggle for peace based on justice, that will inspire solidarity and accompaniment.

For every one that has fallen, God will raise up ten. For every ten, a hundred. For every hundred, a thousand...

The resurrection always requires warm bodies. The resurrection requires your body. And mine.

*Art, "Jesus appears to Thomas," JESUS MAFA (from vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).