For to every person who has something, even more will be given, and he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.As for this useless servant - throw him outside in the darkness; there he will cry and gnash his teeth.'
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel from
Matthew 25: 14-30
LaoQiun Instant White Coffee (Manufactured in Melaka)I decided to take sometime off yesterday to go down to Macalister Road, in town, to get some biscuits from Ban Heang. This shop also sells local Malaysian products from biscuits, sweets, pastries and white coffee powder. It is only my second time at this shop since returning from Australia, and must admit the biscuits and products are rather encouraging; they are nice, but still cannot beat Ghee Hiang and Him Heang.
So today after Church, I decided to give the new white coffee I bought yesterday a try. On the outside the packaging looks very nice and excellent; smooth water proff packaging, nice story about the product on the back and good design. Opening the package, I look inside and each white coffee powder were packaged in a long golden wrapper; they look like I was opening into a bag of gold! Today, most products in the market come in excellent packaging, and yes consumers like me and you, end up paying the higher price.
As I touched the packet of coffee powder, I asked myself how do I see myself?
Today's Gospel is again another interesting one, calling us to be ready when the Lord comes; the 2nd coming of Jesus. Today the parable of Jesus from Matthew is about 3 servants; 2 good servants who produced more from what was given by the Master, and 1 lazy servant who produced nothing from the little he was given. The Gospel reminds me of employers, the Master in the Gospel is said to be a "hard man" and the servant who produced nothing did so out of "fear" of the Master; this lazy servant buried what he was given.
Throughout my life, I have come across many people - people of various personalities, weaknesses, strengths, background. Yet, when I sit and reflect I admire the beauty I see in each person. It is amazing because when you sit, you will see that each is given a GIFT from God; each person has his/her unique gift. As the Gospel today mentions, "He gave to each one according to his ABILITY." In lay man's term we say that this divine gift as the person's abilities. It is strange because even the greatest sinner I come across, has a positive ability; true, but can be hard to digest.
I am sure any employee has a certain degree of fear of the employer; we show respect to our boss and strive to meet the boss' demands.
The Gospel here ask of us, for a different fear - the Gospel speaks of a Holy Fear, a matured fear. Each of us do desire heaven, we desire peace, we desire success...Name it all, but at the end of it all we want a piece of heaven. I realized that heaven is not only about the invisible, but also the visible.
What am I doing today that reflects my hope of heaven?
Looking at today's circumstances whereby everything we buy does come in excellent packaging, I wonder if humanity is still able to see its true self. I am lucky the LaoQian instant white coffee I bought does reflect the good packaging; the coffee turned up creamy and delicious. But, I realized my life is no packaging. I may try to justify and do all sorts of method to 'glorify' my visible self. The hard thing here is no one, till today, I find no one who can manage to cover up their inner secrets. Even I myself, cannot hide my good and bad inner self.
The desire of heaven, or the preparation for the 2nd Coming is not about doom's day. It is not only about stars falling from the sky, the earth opening up. Every obstable I face, I see it as a 2nd Coming, as an oppurtunity to face that obstacle and if I face that obstacle wrongly - at least I learnt a bit about the reality of salvation. Yes, any obstacles is an occasion for fear. This is an undeniable fact! I too, when obstacles are coming the first thing I tend to invite is fear and doubt; I start moving back rather than forward. This is a human weakness - a sad fact that the needs of the flesh always tend to dominate the Spirit.
So, for me the preparation for heaven is about me; how do I see myself? When I look into the mirror who do I see? If I claim to be a person of God, can I see at least a bit of God in my appearance? When I look at myself in the mirror, yes I see Bro Kenneth Gan - a bald handsome young man, perhaps a pimple or two around the cheek, some unshaven hair on the chin...When I look into the mirror I also see a young man striving to serve God, to be obedient to His Will by being a good neighbour to others.
This I hope will be your desire too as you look into the mirror today. Let us work hard to remove all our outer packaging, because let us remember we can never hide our inner self from anyone; as the Bible says, 'anything hidden in the dark will be brought out into broad day light'.
Have a good week ahead, together let us be God's Holy instruments...Do try LaoQian Instant White Coffee!