LISTENING EARS July 11, 2020

When I lined up for the kilometers-long counter queue during the weekly grocery run late this morning, some of those in my line—maybe because it is lunch time already and they were probably hungry—got frustrated with our slow movement and were very vocal in calling the attention of the cashier and the grocery store security personnel.  Well, I am a bit hungry too, and my lower back is killing me, but I just listened, and excused for a while (asking the one next to me to look over my grocery cart) and dashed to the toilet to pee.

It is indeed true that because of the pandemic and people are not that free anymore to go to wherever establishments they want, the supermarkets are always (still a bit) packed on weekends.  But one has to consider that indeed, we did the shopping around lunchtime, and of course, cashiers and other grocery store personnel have to take their lunch breaks too, so that only about 3 or 4 of the dozen check-out counters are open, making the queue longer and slower-moving.  As advised over the supermarket broadcast system, we have to “make sure to take note of our grocery lists, so that we will not have to take a long time lingering around the aisles wondering what to buy, and to give time to those outside waiting to enter the store (which now still admits a limited capacity according to square meter area) and do their shopping”.

I wonder how often many of us are likewise impatient too.  Not only because during this time, we fear too much exposure since there are scientific studies being cited now that says the virus is airborne, but also because of the added stress, we want to get our way, be first, and be inconvenienced in the least time possible.  Now, I do not know what are the circumstances for each of us, for I have no doubt that many of it are justifiable, but one has to admit that there are times when we simply want things to go our way and forget that there are other people whose needs and plans must also be met, and whose rights or entitlements we may have violated or deprived too.

This post is rather long, because the Word today seems to focus on Jesus Christ preaching people to think properly and judge themselves rightly, so that they do not have to overestimate themselves, to the point of underestimating and disregarding other people, and stepping all over them just so they could have their own way.  

In the fourteenth chapter of the gospel of Luke, the first six verses tell us that Jesus healed a man of dropsy during the Sabbath day, when He was eating bread at the house of one of the chief Pharisees.  Dropsy is an alien word to me, and when I looked it up in the dictionary, it is indeed an old word which is now known as edema, or a condition where the body has excess fluids.  It is a disease because it hampers the proper circulation of our bodily fluids, leading to various complications, organ breakdowns and even death.  It seems that GOD, who is fond of teaching us about nature and showing that such things have profound implications for our souls and our humanity, is telling us that a person who seems to be too full of something is actually sick.  Dropsy or edema involves fluids, but in real life, there are many people who are full of something worse—it could be pride, love of self, love of money, love of fame, greed for attention, greed for wealth and power, ambition at the expense of peace and contentment, and even cowardice which leads to excessive escapism like being too immersed in social media or games or even pornography.  Dropsy as the disease of the body mirrors the diseases of our minds and souls that are too full of our own selves that there is no more room for GOD.  And GOD is telling us that He can and He will willingly heal us from that too, even during those times we think that we are beyond redemption, or even if others think that it is not right or proper.

The next eighteen verses talks about wedding banquets, and in it, Jesus Christ said that He is inviting one and all, no matter our stations in life, to partake of His salvation and to dine with Him in the banquet He has prepared for His people.  But even if this gift is free, we have to dress up for it.  Like we wear our “Sunday Best” in going to church, we also must wear our “Everyday Best” when we partake of GOD’s kingdom and behold His glory, for it is not a light thing to live as a Christian.  More than looking the part once a week, we really have to live it inside out daily.  Otherwise, we would just be mocking the One who invited us so graciously.

In the next three verses we learn what Jesus wants us to remember as the costs of following Him and of living the life He has laid out for us.  The KJV uses the word ‘Hate’ for everything that might hinder us in becoming the kind of people He planned for us to be—whether family or relationships and all the other things in this world.  It actually just means that we must not be tied down by material and physical things, and not be enticed by the opportunities this world has to offer, so that we lose out on the greater things He has prepared for us.  He capped this part by saying a famous and timeless verse, thus: “Whoever does not bear his cross, and come follow after me, cannot be my disciple.”  I know many who can relate to bearing a daily cross, be it their families, or their work, or their studies, but one must remember that the cross must be borne because we chose to follow GOD and His leading, and not because of our own irresponsible actions.

In verses 28 to 33, He tells people that like a builder who estimates the materials and labor costs and other incidental expenses before building a house, we too have to budget our time and financial resources, our abilities and talents, and our emotions and psychological state well too, so that we can still fulfill our obligations to Him and the work He has ordained here on earth in the form of our churches, and so that we will also not neglect our obligations to our families and loved ones, our work and our community too.  Also, like a king who goes out to battle and employs all kinds of strategies to win considering his resources and ammunitions and the capacity of his army, we too must use the same strategies to navigate among all the challenges we face in life daily.

In the last two verses Jesus talked about salt being good, but if it has lost its flavor it becomes useless and is only thrown away.  I wonder if many of us know that during His time on earth, the Roman army which guarded over their nation during their time was paid salt as part of their wages, hence, according to etymologists, the word “salary” because it came from “sal”, the Latin word for salt?  Indeed, salt is a very precious commodity, one where ancient kingdoms went to war for.  It is so precious considering that one slight moisture can liquefy it and it loses its primary use.  Even in our lives today, we would die without salt, because no food (except maybe, cereal) would be palatable without it. 

I believe that this is a clearer expansion of what Jesus Christ preached on the mount, that we His children, are the salt of the earth.  As such, we must try our best to make every situation in life be for the good of all, and not only for ourselves.  It is true that we often times get tempted to think only for ourselves, especially in times of want, war, tragedy, when supplies run low, when living conditions are harsh, when the natural elements are against us, and when opportunities to earn a decent living are disappearing.  In such cases, He has warned us not to lose our flavor.  We must still believe in faith, and we must still inspire others to do the same.  Even in darkness, we must still light His light in our lives.  Even in times when life has lost its sweetness for many, we must not lose our saltiness so that whatever happens, we can still be content and joyful and have hope that one day, things will get better.  He knows and He wants us to remember that joy and hope are contagious too.

The chapter concluded this message of Jesus with the words He often uses when teaching people how to think and how to live, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  Indeed, it is not the time to deaden ourselves from the attacks of the enemy, or to escape from our difficulties, and to deafen ourselves from those things that may be inconvenient for us or hurtful for our ego.  We need to listen with our two ears well, we must not lose our focus, we must still continue the good fight.