GIVE UP

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION

August 11, 2013

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied,
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

REFLECTION

In last Sundays Gospel, we heard about the parable of the “rich fool” who is successful in his own business and build his own security on the material possession. Upon making his own plans, death intervenes and renders all of his wealth useless. God is clearly giving us the message not to rely on material things but to build our riches towards God.

In today’s Gospel, we continue to reflect the concern about the future security. This reality is also very relevant in our society today. These worries about the “future” plague the well-to-do, while the poor families are concern only with what they can bring on their table.  At the beginning of our Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples to sell all their possession and help those who are in need.  This gives us an idea that the intended listener of St Luke is compose of the rich and poor alike.  He is challenging the community that the well being comes not from amassing more and more good but reallocation of material good as an expression of social justice.

 I find it very disturbing last week reading an article about the top list of Filipino billionaires.  Their numbers are not even a fraction of the total population of our country.  It is nice to hear that some of these names share their fortune in a form of donation.  But for Christ, alms-giving is not simply doling out what is in excess.  It is suppose to be a reallocation of the material possession according to the law of justice.  We need to give up those things that pull our hearts and minds away from God. Possessions, the inclination to abuse any power we might have, our reliance on having enough time to turn things around before the end comes. We need face the reality that in our world today there is still the large gap between the rich and the poor. We can only change this reality if we heed in Gods commandment.

In the second part of our Gospel today, it talks about alertness and preparedness.  This establishes a firm basis for one’s security in lieu of the competition to accumulate material thing.  The parable of the faithful servant gives us a model on how to live as responsible stewards. When the master returns, he wants to find his servants busy to achieve our responsibilities without grumbling, and without abusing anybody or anything, and having a special care for those in need.  Let us not focus on what we have but rather on how we use our possession for the promotion of the kingdom. As Christian, the reason for our existence is not to get rich with material possession but for the perfection of life.  If we do not take precautions to know what is morally right and live accordingly, then the thief will find an easy way to enter into our hearts and steal our real treasure.