Of Vanities and Foolishness (18th Sunday Ordinary C)

Somebody sent me this piece of thought via facebook : The three stages of life—Teens. You have all the time and energy but no money; Workers. You have money and energy but no time; Oldies. You have money and time but no energy.

If the meaning of life were to be sought in purely materialistic terms, there is the inevitability of ending up with a pessimistic conclusion: Life is absurd and tragic. When the Dalai Lama was asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

The pessimism of Qoheleth in the first reading (Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23) expresses too the meaninglessness of man’s toil and anxiety of heart, as he would just leave his property to another who has not worked for it. For Qoheleth, “all things are vanity!” This pessimism propels us to search further for the enduring meaning of life. If material things and preoccupation with them leave our life in vain, what, then, makes a meaningful commitment and occupation in life?

The gospel reading (Lk 12:13-21) further presents what comprises our human folly. Christians ought to be wary of these three related forms of foolishness: Greed, Hedonism, and Materialism.

Greed.  Jesus, in the gospel, teaches the crowd: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (v. 15). Greed is a selfish insatiable desire for more material things, more wealth, more possessions. At heart, it is a disordered love for created things. It is not farfetched, then, for St. Paul to regard greed as a form of idolatry (Col 3:5). Greed is foolishness because it loves deliriously the wrong object. This disordered love leads to frustration and not satisfaction: “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction“ (Erich Fromm).

Hedonism. The parable of the rich fool alludes too to the foolishness of the hedonist philosophy in life. The character in the parable hoards his bountiful harvest in his new and larger barns and plans for a life of comfort and pleasure. The rich fool says to himself: “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!” There are people who subscribe to a philosophy that glorifies pleasure as the principle of a meaningful life.  Yet experience tells us that pleasure are passing and does not makes us truly happy. Making it the ultimate goal in life leads to suffering because it only ushers us to an endless cycle of frustrating attempts to satisfy our desires. The cycle can lead to destructive patterns of addiction and all of life may be wasted.

Materialism.  The parable concludes with the reminder of the foolishness of materialism: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” (v. 20).  Our contemporary lifestyle is materialistic. We are made to believe, by way of advertisements, that a good life is one that has acquired the latest gadgets, cars, and stuffs. Hence, we get up every day pursuing “earthly treasures,” accumulating more and more of material things.  We ignore the deepest longing and spiritual yearning of our hearts, hence we are never happy. And we will never be, as long as we persist in our foolish quest: “Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God” (v. 21).

In both the first reading and the gospel, the death of the man whose life is preoccupied with material pursuit exposes the vanity and foolishness of such preoccupation. Death, indeed, reveals to us what is essential. It gives us a clear perspective. I would like to suggest two Christian perspectives discernible in our readings today as our invitation: Christian Stewardship and the perspective of freedom.

Stewardship.  Material possessions and wealth are not evil in themselves. Rather, they are gifts entrusted to us by the abundance of nature and God’s providence. They have instrumental value. They are a means to our end, not our goal itself. They help us fulfill our mission. When material things are entrusted to us, we are invited to be a responsible steward. In the spirit of gratitude and generosity then, we are to share what we have been given to those who are in need.  Sharing becomes our way of loving. And we don’t love things; we love God and neighbor.

Freedom.  In this materialistic era, Christians ought to heed the gospel’s invitation to grow in freedom—freedom from and freedom for.  We need to be freed from our greed which enslaves us to our material desires. When our possessions possess us, we become slaves and no longer responsible stewards. We need to grow in our freedom from our inordinate attachments to created things. This allows us to be free for the Creator himself.  Real freedom is freedom for God, that capacity to choose God as our fundamental option and to love God above all else with ease. We are invited to grow in this ability to commit to “what matters to God,” to expend our energies in toiling for what endures—the real treasures in heaven.

When life is unreflected, it is not worth living. But when it is lived according to the gospel values, life finds its enduring meaning. It ceases from becoming a pitiful affair of vanities and foolishness.

 

Freedom and New Life (Lord’s Baptism C)

Christian Duguay's Golden Globe-nominated film, Human Trafficking, depicts the horrible world of sex slavery where abducted girls are reduced into sex commodities to be sold and resold over and over to insatiable patrons of this sex industry. The film unfolds the story of four girls who have been kidnapped from across the world and consigned into the hellish prison of international sex trade without hope of escape. Only a specialized team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are determined to bring down the global network that sponsors such heinous crimes.

One of the four victims is Nadia, a 16-year old girl from Kiev.  She winds up in the brothel after signing up, without her father’s knowledge, for what she believed to be an opportunity for modelling.  Desperate to find her, Nadia’s father sets out to save her and risks his own life by joining the syndicate that runs the dangerous world of sex trade. He has no hope of saving her unless he enters the evil world of sex industry where she is held as a slave. In the end, the risk he has taken pays off. Nadia is reunited with his father.

What has this to do with the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism?  Allow me to spell out two things.  But already at the outset, we can maintain that the film’s motif of slavery and liberation lends itself to a deeper appreciation of our Lord’s baptism which has to be understood within the similar biblical motif of slavery of sin and the promise of salvation.

First point, the Saviour’s solidarity with the sinners. Was there a need for Jesus to be baptized by John? John’s baptism was a summons to repentance and conversion.  It was directed then to the sinners.  Jesus was everything like us except sin. Hence, as far as Jesus’ personal spiritual life was concerned, He did not need John’s baptism.

But why did He submit to John as recalled now by our gospel reading (Lk 3:15-16, 21-22)? Some biblical scholars suggest that Jesus’ submission to baptism is his act of fully identifying himself with the sinful people whom He is called to save.  His public calling as a saviour demands that He be in solidarity with those whom John has called to conversion.  Very similar to the decision of Nadia’s father to bravely enter the world of sex trade to save her, for only this, risky as it may be, gives a glimmer of hope for Nadia’s liberation.

The baptism of our Lord then marks Jesus’ resolve to embrace us even more in our sinful condition in order to save us. He enters our world of slavery that He may liberate us. No wonder that He finds time to laugh and dine with the sinners.  This commitment to be in solidarity with the sinful people culminates in his passion and death on the cross. He pays the price of our sins; and in his resurrection, wins for us our freedom, our new life, and our salvation.

This gives profound meaning to our own baptism.  When we are “immersed” into the water of baptism, we experience ritually our burial into Christ’s death, from which we rise up by resurrection with him, as new creatures (CCC 1214). Our baptism incorporates us into the death and resurrection of our Lord, hence, bringing about new life in Christ.

Nadia cannot help but weep for joy as she realizes her freedom, safety, and new life with her loving father who has risked everything for her.  On this feast of the Lord’s baptism, let us relish the freedom and new life that Jesus has won for us over the slavery of sin and death.

Second point, the Saviour’s true identity.  It’s too risky to plunge into the world of sin. One can easily lose oneself.  But Nadia’s father survives in the sneaky world of sex industry because He knows who he is.  During a raid in one of the brothels, he is cornered by a police officer to whom he appeals, “I am Nadia’s father. I must go and find her.” And he runs away to continue his search. 

Jesus needs to know his true identity as He decides, in his baptism, to be fully identified with the sinful people.  The gospel of Luke reports that after Jesus’ baptism and in his prayer, the Father’s assurance comes as a voice from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22). This certainly gives Jesus a shot in the arm in fulfilling his mission. With clarity, He brings with him his true identity as he embarks into the sinful world of the people He is called to save. He is to walk not in the ways of sin but always in the ways that please God, His Father.

In our baptism, we become adopted sons and daughters of God in Christ. And this identity is indelible.  In this sinful world where we move and live, we need to be always reminded about who we really are, lest we easily lose ourselves.  We are the children of God.  Amid the growing Godlessness of our societies and cultures, do we have the conviction to stand as God’s children whose only resolve is to do what pleases the Father?

The world as it is now is beset with terrifying structures of sin.  One of these is the impenetrable structures of human trafficking and sex industry as an example. Lest we succumb to despair, let us allow the Feast of the Lord’s baptism to bring us hope—one that springs from our conviction that we have a God who journeys with us through the road of salvation  and that He calls us his children, hence, empowering us to create structures of grace where freedom and new life is celebrated.