IF YOU SO CHOOSE!
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
February 16, 2014
IF YOU SO CHOOSE …
It is hard to see the connection … Wisdom is not associated
with rules and commandments. The Scribes and Pharisees were definitely learned
people, by the standards in operation then.
They were the equivalent of today’s illuminati, the few, the privileged
and the titled. Who would not want to count among the then society’s elite?
But today’s readings would have us look beyond titles and
degrees: stuff that eyes do not readily see, nor ears so quickly hear about.
Just look at what goes on repeatedly in our country. It pays to hover around
higher circles, and to hobnob with people walking in the corridors of power.
Big time thieves and crooks rubbing shoulders with “honorable” men and women in
all three branches of government change colors from being plain thieves to
being whistleblowers, to being heroes, all in a matter of a few years, or a few
months, or even a few weeks.
They are definitely not your run-of-the-mill diploma holder.
They are wise beyond doubt, street-wise
perhaps, but brilliant in ways that ordinary people like us may never be able
to fully understand.
But these same ordinary people are the object of today’s
teachings. That happens to be you and I. And in very simple terms this is what
the teachings are all about …
First in the list from Sirach is that we all have the power
to choose. Yes, if we choose to, we can “keep the commandments.” If we choose
to, we can pursue that which leads to life, not death. Just look at us … We can
choose to arrive on time for a concert or a gig that we all like, but we can
also half-heartedly choose to arrive late for Mass.
Secondly, and this is from Paul who writes to the fractious
and fragmented Corinthians … we can also choose to be worldly wise or acquire
wisdom from above – God’s Wisdom – and choose to look and see “what eye has not
seen, and ear has not heard.” We can choose to follow the well trodden path or
that which no one has dared to tread. We can choose to follow the bandwagon, or
follow the beatings of a different drummer.
Third, and most importantly, this ultra worldly wisdom means
to go beyond what the world ordinarily values and appreciates. The Lord
counsels us to go beyond the earthly wisdom of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
It means to pursue something higher, greater, and nobler.
The Gospel teaching today speaks of three things that are
closest to our experience: anger, lust, and truth-telling. I don’t know about
you, but I am very familiar with anger. I get angry very often at just about
anything, big or small. Who does not feel angered at the dawning realization
that we are being taken for a ride by people who love to call themselves
“honorable?” Who among us have not burned with illegitimate passion for the forbidden fruit of our sensual
desires? Who among us have not been tempted to run away from truth that is not
convenient, or truth that puts us on the hot seat?
We are face to face with our sinful nature everyday. We are
always on the uphill climb, always struggling to reach the summit, not of our
earthly desires, but of God’s dream for each and everyone of us. Even when we
sin, theologians and philosophers tell us, we actually are trying to address,
albeit mistakently, that deeply embedded desire for the ultimate, for the
highest, for the utmost – for God!
I love today’s readings. They touch the core of my humanity
– broken by original and personal sin (all my own, not that of others), but
called to the heights, called to become the best I can potentially be, by God’s
will.
I love and appreciate my humanity. I am not rotten to the
core, helpless and hopeless in my weakness, but strengthened and encouraged by
one who became exactly how and what I am, like unto us in all things except sin
– Jesus Christ!
I still get angry, but I know I am not called to remain in
my anger, and still more, not to give in to my anger and act it out
indiscriminately and irrespective of others’ feelings and welfare. I still fall
prey to my own unbridled desires and selfish tendencies, but I am also called
to give of myself and my best and to rise above my selfish tendencies. I still
struggle at times to tell the truth, while keeping in mind telling the same in
charity, and with no tinge of malice towards anyone.
It is hard. It is hard to keep one’s emotions in check,
especially when one knows deep in one’s heart that justice remains a pipe dream
for all of us sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.
But today, this is what I hear and this is what I tell … You
can do it. We can clinch it. And all it takes is the conviction that we all can
do it, if we so choose to. Ours is the choice. Ours is the decision. And ours,
too, is the promise of the Lord: “The eyes of God are on those who fear him.”
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