[stephenkhoo]

THE REWARD OF THE KINGDOM

SCRIPTURE READINGS: JDG 6:11-24; MT 19:23-30

Many people seek God for selfish interests. Many come to God so that they might be blessed. To be blessed by God firstly, is to be blessed with good health, prosperity, success, wealth, power; and then peace of mind, heart etc. In some instances, the blessings of God are equated simply with material success. It is therefore not surprising at all that the disciples were dismayed when they heard Jesus saying that it is difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Such a statement contradicts the Jewish belief that riches were a sign of God’s favour. That is why, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you”; Gideon replied “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? … the Lord has abandoned us and has delivered us to the power of the Midian.”

Hence, the disciples were not happy with Jesus‘ remark on riches. It was really scandalous. But Peter, the big mouthed disciple, tried to salvage the situation. He too was not satisfied with Jesus’ remark. When he turned to the Lord and said, “Here we have put everything aside to follow you. What can we expect from it?” what he was saying is: “You mean that we have followed you for nothing! Surely, there must be something for us to look forward to. You cannot mean that we have taken leave of our senses to follow you. You are surely just joking, just pulling our legs.”

Now, in order to understand the teaching of riches in today’s gospel, we must understand why riches, more often than not, are a hindrance to our entry into the Kingdom of God. For the truth is that when riches in any form dominate our lives, be they material, intellect, abilities or talents, we tend to become swellheaded and glory in what we have.

Then we become attached to these things. We begin to believe that these are the things that make us happy. Then we will use all means to achieve, to compete and acquire all the wealth and power of this world, even if this is done at the expense of others. We cling to them strongly and cannot let go for fear that without them, our happiness would be taken away.

We will also become less dependent on God’s graciousness as we become more self-reliant and think that we can obtain all things simply by our human ingenuity and sheer hard work. Of course, on our lips, we say that everything is due to His grace. But deep in our hearts, we believe that we are the ones responsible for whatever success we have attained in life. And when we no longer refer everything to God, we become proud and insolent. In losing God we will also lose our freedom, joy and happiness, because our riches have in some ways become our gods.

What, then, is the reward of the kingdom? The reward of the kingdom can be summarized in the last line of today’s gospel: “Many who are first will be last and the last shall be first.” That is to say, we will have everything and yet nothing. In the first place, it would mean that the reward of the Kingdom in the new age is to sit upon the throne with Jesus and be named among the twelve judges. What does Jesus mean by this? Surely, it cannot mean that we will become more powerful! Rather, we will become lord of our lives. We will no longer be determined by wealth, riches, success and prestige. Like Jesus, we will be totally free. This is what God wanted for the Israelites too, in the first reading. In fact, according to the Book of the Judges, the reason why God abandoned them was because they abandoned God for the Canaanite gods of fertility, Baal and Astarte. No, Jesus wants to free us from our slavery to the idols in our lives.

In the second place, it means that we will be blessed with many friends and yet none is our friend in an exclusive manner. That is why, in a paradoxical way, Jesus tells us that “everyone who has given up home, brothers or sisters, father or mother, wife or children or property for my sake will receive many times as much.” Why is this so? Because when we say that someone is our friend, we tend to desire to possess him or her. The friendships that most of us have experienced have always been possessive and stifling. Friends always tend to control us. But true friendship, on the contrary is liberating and all embracing. When we love someone, we will love them unconditionally, regardless of their identity and status, what use they can be to us or what they can give to us. In such a situation, we will see everyone as our friend, our father, mother, brother and sister. Thus, everyone is truly our friend and yet none is really ours because they do not belong to us.

In the third place, Jesus says we will also have many more times property and prosperity than what we have now. But it is also true that none of this property belongs to us. For this reason, the religious take the vow of poverty. You own everything and yet you own nothing. Indeed, how beautiful is the symbol and the truth of the vow of poverty!. Yes, when we give our lives for others, people will pour gifts to us. They will give us whatever we appeal for. We will become rich; materially, because people will give us many things; personally, because we will develop our potentials and virtues when we give ourselves to others. But at the same time, we cannot say that the wealth, riches and talents we have belong to us. This is because we are only stewards and trustees of God’s blessings. God has given them all to us only because He wants us to discharge and expend them for others who are in need. They are not meant for us to live luxurious lives. They are meant for service and love. In that sense, we therefore own nothing.

But what we have said about the positive rewards must also be applied in the negative things that we receive. Firstly, it means that we will also have many worries and many difficulties. We will have difficulties like the camel trying to enter the eye of the needle. Yes, people will come to us with all sorts of problems and difficulties. When we have emptied ourselves of our own selfish needs, we become available for others. Others’ worries become our own. But at the same time, these worries are not ours really. This is because we have transcended them. For this reason, we can also be of help to those who are suffering and worrying too much about their needs. We too can help them to transcend their myopic problems and narrow concerns by teaching them to transcend their self-centered preoccupations.

Secondly, we will also have many enemies because we proclaim the kingdom’s values. Many people will not like us, nor like to listen to what we say. They will find fault with us. And so we will be their enemies. But yet, they are not our enemies. This is because we do not regard them as our enemies. We regard them as the children of God, truly our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even when we speak against them, it will not be out of malice but out of fraternal concern. It would be out of love.

Yes, the reward of the Kingdom is to have that freedom of having nothing and having everything. Nothing is ours and yet everything is ours. The whole creation has become ours but we do not possess it. Yes, the first and last become nothing to us. It makes no difference. To be rich or to be poor is the same. To be a success or a failure is the same. To have friends or to have none is the same. Everything sought after is surrendered to the Kingdom. By so doing, Jesus says, we will have everlasting life. Now, what is eternal life if not the life of God? Freedom in love and service is precisely what the life of God is all about. When we arrive at this stage then we will understand the message of the angel to Gideon: “The Lord is with you.” Indeed, the Lord is with us whenever we live His life and His love. This is what everlasting life is all about – the life of God. And a person who has God does not need anything else.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh