TOWARDS THE IDEAL POSSESSION

The vanity of all material possessions rests on their futility. The ways in which they appear are often times fascinating which hide their transitoriness. Material possessions identify us as either rich or poor, privileged or less privileged, fortunate or less fortunate. These categories are based on simple human calculations and enterprise. It is believed so often that only the industrious and the hardworking attain the best of things in life. It makes us to judge others who have not been able to make it in life as being lazy and not blessed. We most often look down on them. But this is a wrong estimation of things.  The scripture readings take a different outlook on this issue. For the author of the Book of Wisdom, earthly possessions are vanities. It is a vanity that rests upon vanity itself and which reduces all human struggles to acquire them as vanity of vanities. The emphasis is, so to say, disturbing. If everything is reduced to meaninglessness then, what is of meaning?

Rather than give praise to the rewards of human struggle and suffering, Qoholeth seems to show no regard to the input of man. If because man must inevitably face mortality, does it then follow that he should not struggle to make life better for himself while he lives? The identification of all acquisitions as vanity, and the anxiety of the heart many men and women pass through in order to better their situations cannot be reduced to a puzzle of transitoriness if not that the wisdom of man is put to question on what matters best, what comes first in life and what is the ideal possession. The response Jesus gives to the man in the crowd who asked for his assistance in recovering his own part of the inheritance gives us the meaning we seek.

The anxiety of this man could be understood. First, he had placed his hope on this wealth he was to share with his brother. Better life for him, depended on that and Jesus as a just judge and teacher can make a good arbitrator, so he thinks. On the other hand, it was customary among the Jews to bring domestic cases like this to their rabbis. However, for Jesus there was more to the request than the simple eyes could see. He saw the faith and hope which is placed on possessions, and the greed thereof as a menace to life. So, it afforded him the opportunity to caution his listeners against greed and possessions. Because of that he gives us the parable of the Rich Fool.

This parable tells us something of the man. It also tells us something of what Jesus wants to say: One’s life does not consist of possessions. This is the mistake of the complainant and the sin of the greedy brother. This is the crux of the matter. Our life is beyond our possessions and whatever we can carry along with our lives to the world beyond is what really matters in the long run. Incidentally, this does not consist of material possessions which are at the heart of many distractions. This rich fool was condemned not because he stole his wealth or he was an insincere business man. He had really worked hard to deserve his riches. Is he then being flawed for his devotion to hard work? That is also not the case. The point of contention here is that he thinks that he has made his own world and all that matters is himself and his own world. He failed to look “beyond himself” and “beyond his world”. He was consumed on what life would be like after piling up all the treasures for himself. He had one purpose; to indulge himself in a life of hedonism. Though, we may say that one deserves some respite and fun after working so hard yet, one does not need to think only of himself and his possessions as the ultimate things that matter in life. The self is the root of all greed. One may be so engrossed with the self that he forgets that the life he intends to color with all the possessions he acquires does not ultimately belong to him. It is given to him and he who had given him that life may decide to make a demand of that life without consultation. The rich fool thought less of giving back. He was ready to conserve his excess and enjoy from it than sharing with the needy as something that matters to God. He thought of life as dependent on possessions which is the mistake many of us make instead of seeing life as dependent on God. All his intentions for hard work were to better himself and not his world. With such an egocentric mind-set, he lost sight of the ideal possession which is distinct from the possession of material things. The possession of material things cannot secure our lives and because of this, it cannot be trusted.

The possessions stored up for oneself is futile at the person’s demise. This is precisely the wisdom of Qoholeth in identifying all things as vanity. Vanity here means futility, transitory and meaninglessness. The death of each one of us questions the meaning of the struggle we have had and which may have denied us of the best Christian ideals. Since these possessions are eventually left to those who may not have suffered for it and they may not value the pains the owner passed through to acquire them, Qoholeth sees them as vanities. The Lynnewood Hall mansion built at 8million dollars in 1900 today lies as a shadow of itself as an abandoned property in Philadelphia. We are also aware of the story of Wadsworth mansion in Middleton, Connecticut that was recently salvaged with tax payers’ money. Thus, the worth, the labor and all the nights of anxiety of the once hardworking man turn to mean nothing. Therefore, what should be the best approach to possessions is to see in them only as a means to acquire the ideal possession which consists “in what matters to God”. This is the intention of Christ.

What matters to God is already within our consciousness. Paul identifies them as in what is above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We can achieve this when we put to death according to Saint Paul all impurities and passions, all greed and evil desire and all misplacement of values. In the new image of the new self, earthly possessions will not be the one thing that qualifies us and identifies us; it is rather Christ in us that qualifies us and gives us the true identity of who we are and should be. Christ in us is the ideal possession which we should seek above all else.

TRANSFIGURED TO FOLLOW

The journey of faith made by Abraham was at the instance of God. God called him from the Ur of Chaldeans and directed him the way to go. This journey both physical and spiritual was not without a promise. We read today from the Book of Genesis of God’s promise to Abram. God promised Abram two major things; of numerous children as uncountable as the stars, and the great lands from “the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates”. Though Abram was at this time without a child of his own, and the land seemed beyond his reach, he was expected to trust and obey. The cutting of the covenant was a significant step to show God’s faithfulness to the covenant. However, Abram had to wait on the Lord to show his glory which the Lord did at his own time and way. Each time God calls, he determines the way and the manner the journey to him would take.

Jesus had to take his inner circle disciples away from the crowd. The mountains usually painted the picture of quietude very much needed for divine encounter. We note that both Moses and Elijah had special encounters with the Lord on the mountains. Moses received the Ten Commandments from the Lord on Mount Sinai and Elijah climbed to Mount Horeb to wait on the Lord. The mountains provided the adequate atmosphere for divine encounter. May be, the mountain climb by the disciples left them fatigued and they slumbered off while Jesus conversed with the two men recognized as Moses and Elijah. As much as scholars may speculate on the content of the discussion, whatever it may be, the major concern here challenges us far beyond all that. From the things we gather specifically, we note the presence of Moses and Elijah, we read the reaction of Peter and we take cognizance of the voice of God which comes as an assertion and an instruction. These elements mean so much for us. Moses and Elijah played significant roles in the religious life of the Jews. Even at the time of Jesus and till date, the Jews recognize their major roles in the giving of the Law and Elijah being the greatest of the prophets in their history. Severally, Jesus made it clear to the curious Scribes and Pharisees that he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Jesus’ assertion to the fulfillment of the Sinaitic covenant plays out in this encounter. It further states that these two important figures in the religious life of the Jews also identify with Jesus. Thus, the entire story of the Law and the entire Prophetic invitation to observe the statutes of the Lord, and the prophecies of the Messiah, find their consummation in the person and teaching of Jesus. There is a continuity in faith, but a separation of the new covenant from the old. Therefore, Jesus cannot be out of place in his teaching and mission. The disciples should have cause to believe in him.

On the other hand, Peter overwhelmed with joy did request to build three tents for Jesus, for Moses and for Elijah. He even forgot himself and the other disciples, James and John. In so far as they would remain in that state, it did not matter whether they themselves had tent or not. They were pretty satisfied that Jesus, Moses and Elijah had it. May be, without knowing it, Peter had placed Moses and Elijah on the same pedestal with Jesus, and God needed to remind him that. However, the reaction shows how much peaceful, joyous and beautiful the state in which they had found themselves made impression on them. It was not like anything else, seen or imagined, earlier in their lives. Since he had the best of company and the best of state, he was ready to trade anything to keep it. But then, it had not come to that yet. There will be a time for it. It was only a glimpse of what is to come; as Abram had a glimpse of what was to be his by faith.  The intention may be to sustain this faith in the face of the complexities that would be met in the spiritual journey.

The voice of God that spoke through the cloud did assert the person of Jesus. He is unequivocally the Son of God! He should be listened to. Again, it is not for Peter to talk or to question or to direct or to doubt, but to listen. He has to listen to Jesus. This is applicable to all of us who claim to be his followers. To listen to him means for us to believe in him even when we cannot understand, to follow him even to the cross, and to accept him as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. If we do believe in Moses and Elijah in what they stood for, all the more reason to believe in Jesus whom God has identified as his own Son. This is the faith that makes us citizens of heaven.

As citizens of heaven, we are already transformed by the character of our lives. As Apostle Paul would say,” he will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body…”  In that way we are transfigured. Thus, the transfiguration the disciples encountered with Christ is only a sign of what awaits all those who identify with him. But this crown will come after the cross. As it is characteristic of God, he would still choose the time and way he would wish to reveal his glory to us. It is our duty to trust and to obey. 

The Christian life emphasizes over and over again the will of the Father as against our own will. Abram is called out from his kith and kin and given a promise yet to be realized at that time to move and to follow the divine invitation, and he did out of faith. Peter had wished to stay back in the state of the beatific vision, but he was called to achieve it through the cross, and he followed. Christ’s Passion is the will of the Father, and God’s son had to act as God’s servant, and he obeyed. The challenge we face each day is to overcome the self and submit to the will of the Father. The greatest glory to the Father is that we listened to his Son and followed even when we did not understand.