[stephenkhoo]

01 July, 2012, 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time
THE WAY TO A RICH LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: WISD 1:13-15, 2:23-24; 2 COR 8:7,9, 13-15; MK 5:21-43

Everyone wants to be happy. But happiness in this life seems to be so elusive. Most of us think that if we have more wealth, more power and a higher status in life, we would be really happy. This is the world’s philosophy of happiness and success. Yet, we all know equally well that wealth, power and status are accompanied by a host of problems as well. The irony is that when one becomes rich, one becomes more greedy and insecure. One lives in anxiety, worrying about how to preserve the value of one’s money or to make it grow. When one becomes powerful, one becomes arrogant and also lives in fear that one’s enemies and competitors will one day overtake him. When one has status in life, one becomes overly concerned as to how others will judge him in the way he eats, dress and lives. So the fact is this: money, power and status are no guarantee to happiness. In fact they can bring just about the opposite – self-destruction, family disunity and death instead of life.

So why is it that we do not have happiness in life? The Book of Wisdom says: “it is the devil’s envy that brought death into the world.” Hence, the author warns us, “those who are his partners will discover” this truth for themselves. If we are not happy in life, it is because of greed. The truth is that happiness cannot be found in getting and having more but only in giving and losing. This is the paradox of life, for the more we try to secure our lives, the more we become insecure and anxious. But the more we lose our lives, the more we give ourselves to others, the more life becomes challenging, interesting and exciting.

For this reason, St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians shares with us that we must lose ourselves in love, in mercy and good works. Paul reminds us how generous the Lord Jesus was, for “he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty.” It is in giving ourselves to others in compassion, love and service that we can truly live a rich life. A life of riches cannot guarantee us happiness, meaning or joy, but a rich life that is lived in love and compassion can give us that full meaning in life. Yes, when we are unable to give, we become miserable – hence the link between misery and a miser. A miser cannot give, therefore he is miserable.

So what is preventing many of us from emptying ourselves for others? The primary reason is fear. It is fear that cripples us in life and in love. Our fear for the future and the unforeseen make us unable to care for others. But fear springs from a deeper malaise in us. It is the child of ingratitude. This is the root cause of much envy and unhappiness in the hearts of people. It is ingratitude that makes us seek for what we do not have instead of being contented with what we already possess. In comparing ourselves with others who have what we do not, we become restless and greedy. It is on this ground that Paul reprimands the Corinthians who were rich businessmen but not generous enough even though they “have the most of everything – of faith, of eloquence, of understanding, of keenness for any cause, and the biggest share of our affection.”

What then is the cure to our fears? To the woman with the hemorrhage, Jesus said, “your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.” And to the synagogue official, a similar advice was given: “Do not be afraid, only have faith.” Yes, it is the faith of the official that restored life to his daughter and the faith of the woman that restored herself to health. So, the key to overcome all fears of giving, sharing and loving is faith.

What kind of faith? Namely, faith in the providence of God and His promise that He wants us to live fully, both spiritually and physically. This is clearly promised in the book of Wisdom. Yes, God did not create us to suffer or to live a living death. But this faith is not a blind faith. Rather, it is a faith founded on the life of Jesus. As we see in the Gospel, it is Jesus’ desire to heal us from our sickness and give us life. Truly, the whole life of Jesus was lived in such a manner. Jesus literally spent His life unto death on us. Every moment that He lived, He lived for us. The more He spent His life on us, giving of Himself in love and service of the proclamation of the Kingdom of justice, peace and love, the more He lived fully. Yes, Jesus who lived entirely from God emptied Himself of all that God had given Him to us. This was the way that Jesus lived His life. Consequently, if we affirm faith in Jesus as our life-giver and healer, then we are called to live this same kind of life. If we do, then life will also be ours.

How? Firstly, when we give ourselves to others in service and love, we tend to forget our own problems. This explains why the best antidote for those who are full of problems and miseries in life is to do works of mercy and charity. For in reaching out to others who are suffering as much or even more, they come to realize that their sufferings are slight when compared to others. Even if it were not so, they would eventually forget about their own needs and troubles, since in giving themselves to others, they lose themselves. And when we lose ourselves, then there is no ego that needs to be nurtured or nourished. In losing ourselves in others, God finds us and we find Him in others especially the poor and the needy.

Secondly, in reaching out to others, we become more in touch with life, with love, joy, compassion, kindness and gratitude. Such experiences of life make us more in touch with the essence of life. This explains why many people are involved in social and charity work. The joy and fulfillment that they get from helping the poor and the unfortunate simply cannot be translated into material or monetary terms. Yes, when we are in touch with life’s concrete problems and challenges, we become more human. We are able to distinguish between what is truly essential and what is not. And what are the truly important ingredients for a full life, if not peace, love, joy and meaning. Without these, no life can be said to be truly wholesome.

Thirdly, in giving ourselves to others, we become grateful and thankful for whatever we have received. Not only do we become more grateful but we also become more humble, sensitive and appreciative of God and others as well. We realize our nothingness and unworthiness of whatever blessings we have received. Yes, we will to recognize that health and life are blessings from God. No matter how powerful or rich we are, nothing can prevent us from death. Such realization humbles us to recognize that we are really nobody. In the face of death and sickness, we are naked and dependent like anyone else. We cannot take care of ourselves. We need others. We need God.

Such is the reality that Paul reminds us to balance “what happens to be our surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need.” Yes, today we might be the helper but tomorrow we might be the recipients. We are made for each other. Life in that sense is very fair. The rich find life by helping the poor; and the poor gives the rich a life that their riches cannot buy. Once we realize this, we will never again take things for granted nor life nor people around us. We begin to live one day at a time; treasuring each moment we have with our loved ones and grateful for the little that we can contribute to humankind. Although we are open to whatever gifts that God wants to give us, we will have no demands or expectations since we are already grateful for all we have already received. We dare not ask for more.

Finally, humility and gratitude gives us the courage to give even more. When we realize how much God has given to us, we cannot but want to share His gifts with others. The truth is that God has given us the gifts that we have not only for ourselves but also for the good of the community. Whatever riches, wealth, power, talents or status we are blessed with are not meant for our egotism and our selfish indulgence. Nay, we are called to be stewards of God’s grace and blessings. God has given them to us so that through us, God can bestow His love and blessings on others. We cannot hoard what has been entrusted to us from God. This is what Paul insisted when he encouraged the Corinthians to share their surplus with the more unfortunate ones. And if we do that, God will bless us even more for “The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short.”

Yes, the question and the challenge before us are whether we are truly seeking a true life in death, or whether we prefer a living death. Do we want to continue to prolong our misery, like the woman with the hemorrhage who suffered for twelve years in her infirmity? Do we want to be like her seeking all the wrong places to find wholeness, only to discover that everything was in vain? If indeed we do not want to fall into that situation, then we must be like the woman and Jarius who were courageous enough to have faith in Jesus as the life-giver.