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SEIZING THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES - stephenkhoo - 03-18-2017 04:55 PM
SEIZING THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GN 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28; MT 21:33-43 ]
Lent is an invitation to enter the kingdom of God. It is an invitation to live a life of love, joy, peace and freedom. It is a great opportunity for anyone to receive the grace to embrace the life of the kingdom. During this season of Lent, the Church presents us many possibilities to journey together as one family of God to enter the Promised Land of the life of the Risen Lord. What we make of it depends on whether we seize this opportunity of grace or whether we let this prospect pass us by.
Indeed, in life, we are given many opportunities to be happy, successful and to live life to the fullest. Every day that we are alive is itself an opportunity. Every day that we are able to walk, eat, talk and think means that we have the opportunity to grow and make a success of our life. To have good health is the greatest blessing, for with health, everything is possible and within our reach. It is a question of whether we are open, receptive and courageous to seize the opportunities when they come, and whether we are alert, proactive and positive in making use of the occasions presented to us. And such opportunities abound.
Unfortunately, instead of seizing the opportunity of the day, many of us live in the past, lamenting what it could have been, bemoaning our misfortunes, blaming people for our failures and falling into depression. The sad reality is that whilst they are grumbling about their problems, the opportunities fly past without their notice. So downcast they are and stuck in the mud, they cannot see the graces that God sends through their friends, colleagues and family members. Jobs are offered to them but they make excuses that these are not suitable for them, because the place of work is more than three bus-stops away! Friends invite them out for a meal but they give excuses that they do not have nice clothes to wear, or that it is too hot or crowded. Such people are impossible to help or please. And there are many of them. In fact, many times we try to help such supposedly “poor” people but they are not interested to be helped. All they want is regular hand-outs; not work, not a solution.
In the scripture readings, we are told that our God is a God of opportunities. He never gets tired of helping us. He is a God of many chances. He does not give us one chance but repeated chances. He is always patient, forgiving and long-suffering. He never gives up hope on us. The parable of the vineyard speaks of this God who perseveres in saving us. Since the beginning of salvation history, God has been sending the Israelites one prophet after another to call them to conversion. The vineyard refers to the people of Israel because God called Israel His vineyard. Yet, instead of taking care of the vineyard, they abused their authority and sought to be masters and lords of the vineyard, instead of tilling it to serve God who was the master. They did not listen to the prophets sent by God to ask the kings and the peoples to repent. Instead, not only did they persecute the prophets of God, they even had them killed.
This history of infidelity and the rejection of God’s grace continued into the time of Jesus, when the chief priests and the elders of the people rejected Jesus, who is the son of the owner, the only begotten Son. They killed the Son of God and put Him out of the vineyard. This is the sad reality even today, because often the call to conversion and repentance is rejected not by the common people but the leaders of religion and society.
The tragedy of the world today is that instead of seizing the opportunities for conversion and new life, we seize the opportunities for evil. This was what happened to Joseph’s brothers and the religious leaders during the time of Jesus. In the first reading, we read of how the brothers of Joseph were jealous of him. They were envious that their father loved him more than the others. “He was the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him.” Naturally they felt angry and resentful of Joseph and “came to hate him so much that they could not say a civil word to him.” And so, when the opportunity came, they plotted to have him killed so that they could get rid of their competitor once and for all. They said, “Here comes the man of dreams. Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say that a wild beast devoured him, then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.” It was an opportunity indeed, but it was an opportunity for evil.
In the gospel too, we are told that the leaders of Israel, both in the Old Testament and during the time of Jesus, had the opportunity to put their lives in order. Alas, instead of seizing these opportunities, they looked for the opportunity to put away the prophets, Jesus and His apostles. Indeed, all through the history of Israel, the primitive Church and even today, leaders are using every opportunity to silence the truth of the gospel. Instead of being receptive to the grace of God that comes through His prophets, we seek to silence them instead. The Church of old and the Church today continues to suffer under the persecution of secularism, relativism and pragmatism.
The critical question is not just whether we seize the opportunity at hand but whether we are using the grace of God rightly. We can use the grace of God given to us for the wrong things. There are many who are intelligent but use their intelligence to enrich themselves and to cheat. Even Joseph was equally at fault because although God gave him the gift of leadership and intelligence, he became boastful and caused his brothers to feel insecure. Some are talented and eloquent but use their gift to gain popularity and even to manipulate people. Whatever we have in life is given to us so that we can use them for good. But often, because of jealousy, pride or greed, we misuse the gifts for evil intentions.
Regardless, God is gracious. The sins of man cannot disrupt His plan for the salvation of humanity. He would not let us down if we repent. Even in the case of Joseph, God inspired his brother Rueben to save him from being killed. And then in accordance with His divine plan, God had Joseph sold as a slave but later made him a great adviser to Pharaoh. Joseph must have learnt his lesson and thus when he cooperated with God’s grace, God made him a great ruler in Egypt and the savior of his people. This time, he seized the opportunity correctly.
We too must learn how to seize the opportunity for growth and conversion when God sends His prophets to us. Through them, we can grow in our faith and relationship. We must see them as instruments of God to purify us in our growth in authentic love. At the same time, we are called to transcend our enemies by conquering them with love. This was the case of Joseph and Jesus. They did not succumb to the reign of revenge and bitterness in their lives against those who did them harm. Instead, they returned love for hatred. That is the way we too are called to act in dealing with our enemies. This is using the opportunity of grace positively.
When we adopt such attitudes to the prophets of grace in our lives, we will find that we can grow and be purified in love and holiness in every way. It will always be a win-win situation. With our enemies, we grow by transcending them; with our true prophets, we can learn from their advice and challenges. Whether true or false prophets, they are our spiritual benefactors, helping us to grow in grace and love. Consequently, those whom we find a nuisance in our lives, especially the difficult ones, are probably people who can really help us to purify our motives of loving in life. That is why they are often called our spiritual benefactors. In fact, the more a person is a thorn in our lives, the more he or she is our spiritual benefactor. Thus, what we perceive to be unwanted stones or pains in our lives, are often the very instruments through which we grow in virtue and faith. Let us pray that we will be able to always respond positively to the prophets in our lives and all the opportunities of grace so that we might not miss the opportunities for conversion in our lives.