[stephenkhoo]

Monday, 30 January, 2012, 4th Week, Ordinary Time
USING THE SUFFERINGS THAT COME FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN TO PURIFY US IN HOLINESS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 2 SM 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13; MK 5:1-20

How can we grow in holiness in communion? As we all know, when living in the community and family, misunderstandings, miscommunication, misperceptions, even betrayals, presumptuous judgments and false accusations are inevitable. It is necessary that we confront the reality of such situations in community life head on. All of us have on some occasion, been hurt because we have been misunderstood especially for our good intentions, or because people have attributed wrong motives or reasons for our actions.

How then do we handle such pain in our lives? How can we forgive people who have portrayed us wrongly or detracted us? Of course we must learn how to dialogue and seek the truth. However, this is easier said than done. This is because quite often, there is no way of finding the truth simply because one does not have all the facts of the truth available to us; and those concerned are not willing to own up or simply because the facts of the case are too complicated due to miscommunication and different interpretation. That is why even when conflicting parties are brought together, quite often, there is no real reconciliation because we do not know the full truth of the matter or simply because we see the issue from different perspectives.

What such mediation sessions do is to help us to see the complexity of the issue. And at the end of it all, we have to agree that it is due to misunderstanding or misinterpretation. But such sessions do not punish the wrongdoer. At the most, the wronged party has the opportunity to clarify himself or herself and those who seek clarification would get to know the truth of the matter. However, if we are seeking for vindictive justice, we might never be satisfied because no one is penalized or punished. We might end up feeling unjustified, angry, and resentful and continue to nurse our grudges. By so doing, we lose our peace, freedom and happiness.

Today, we have the inspiring example of King David. He was reduced to nothingness and a pathetic state because of the rebellion of his own beloved son, Absalom. The sight of a king fleeing not only from his enemies but from his own son is heartbreaking surely. One can imagine how heartbroken he must have felt to know that his son had betrayed him by committing treason. It is always said that there is no greater ingratitude than to have your hand bitten by the one whom you have fed. Such was the tragedy of King David.

And to add salt to injury, King David was falsely accused of supplanting the throne that belonged to the heirs of Saul and thus was hated by Saul’s tribe. He was cursed by Shimei who bad-mouthed, ridiculed, and threatened the king publicly.

How did David respond to the betrayals, false accusations and humiliation he suffered in public? The answer is simple: he turned his sufferings into redemptive suffering instead of bitterness and revenge. Regardless of what Absalom had done to him, he refused to take revenge or kill his son. You might say it was because Absalom was his son after all. Well, the Benjaminite who cursed him was let off too. Instead of being vindictive, David said, ‘If the Lord said to him, “Curse David,” what right has anyone to say, “Why have you done this?” … Let him curse on if the Lord has told him to.”

Yes, through his suffering, David was invited to examine his own conscience. Instead of thinking that his enemies were pursuing him, he asked whether the Lord was giving him a message through his enemies. He used his suffering to ask God for forgiveness for his past sins. Although he did not usurp the throne, he did usurp his faithful general’s wife. He did not kill Saul’s family, but he did kill his lover’s husband.

If David could benefit from the curse by becoming humble and repentant, what about us? What do we do when the worst happens in our lives? What do we do when we are falsely accused? We too can benefit from our enemies’ onslaughts. Like David, we must humbly consider whether there is any truth to the accusations of others. We should use the occasion to reexamine our conscience and repent of our sins rather than curse our enemies. We must be careful not to behave like the townspeople who rejected Jesus for fear of discovering the truth. The truth is that God can forgive us but if we do not repent as David did, then it would not be God punishing us for our sins but rather, we are being punished by our own sins. Evil will consume.

And if we have searched our conscience thoroughly and believed that we are innocent, we must follow David who foreshadowed Jesus by calling upon God’s mercy and uniting one’s sufferings with the redemptive suffering of Jesus. Indeed, this was the example set by the man who was liberated from the unclean spirits. He wanted to follow Jesus but instead, he was told by Jesus to stay back in his homeland to proclaim the wonders and glory of God at work in his life. It does not suffice to do what is right, for his desire to serve Jesus was a good thing. It is more important to do what the Lord wants of us. At times, the Lord might not want us to defend and vindicate ourselves. He might be inviting us to share in His innocent suffering.

Indeed curses can become blessings for us. Even if we are not wrong, certainly the sins of others can help us to recall our past sins and therefore help us to repent. In some ways, we are experiencing the consequences of our sins through the sins of others. Like David, we can use such occasions to pray for wisdom, enlightenment, grace and forgiveness. It is an opportunity for us to grow in humility and compassion. In the gospel, Jesus was even compassionate to the unclean spirit who requested to be sent to the pigs.

But if we seek to retaliate or choose self-defensiveness, we will be at the losing end. We would have missed out the opportunity to grow in humility, holiness and faith. By devising strategies to attack our enemies; the anger, bitterness and revengefulness in us will eat us up and we will find no peace. We will only destroy ourselves and lose the opportunity to grow in compassion, sensitivity to the evils of sins in our lives and humility in recognizing one’s sinfulness in the other.

True victory over our enemies at the end of the day is not to destroy them, but to transcend them. Indeed, the possessed man appeared to be free because he had all the strength to break all shackles. But his freedom was the cause of his self-injury. He was miserable. It was the same for the swineherds. Although they saw the power of Jesus over the unclean spirits, they used their freedom to drive Jesus away because they were more concerned about their business rather than true freedom and happiness in life. True freedom and power over our enemies is when we refuse to allow them to destroy us. We do not try to destroy our enemies.

Today, like the man who experienced the liberating compassion of God in Christ Jesus and wanted to follow Him but was told to stay back, we too must pray for the same liberating grace so that instead of escaping from difficult situations in life, we will be strong to overcome them. Instead of taking revenge on others, let us surrender our pain to the Lord who will heal us and give us strength to overcome the sins of injustice against us. But we do all these not with our strength but by His power. So like the psalmist, we must pray, “Lord, rise up and save me.” Only with His strength and power, can we conduct ourselves humbly before our enemies.