Faith

Waiting to be thanked? 27th Sunday in ordinary time – Luke 17:5-10

Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has repeatedly been critical of the witness and teachings of the Pharisees. There was a duplicity in the way they lived and he often condemned them as false spiritual shepherds leading people astray while abusing their power. Jesus now turns to his disciples as he does to all of us today. He speaks to what a true servant of God must understand.

The pericope of today must be read in its entirety starting from verse one. The reality as Jesus lays out for us is that we are all tempted as leaders and prone to stumbling (skandalon =scandal in Greek) but woe to the leader who does stumble and causes others to do the same. Jesus calls the Christian disciple to pay attention to oneself. But then there is also a shared responsibility for one another; hence the call to pay attention to the moral life of all the members of the community while constantly finding it in one’s heart to forgive seven times a day. It is no wonder that such a tall order made the disciple feel overwhelmed asking the Lord to increase their faith.

They ask for more faith, just as we do. Yet, Jesus does not offer help, at least not the kind the apostles seek. The Greek syntax of 17:6 implies a criticism of the apostles. Jesus scolds them for lacking faith even the size of a mustard seed. Jesus tells them that they didn’t need “more” faith. They simply had to be able to tap into the faith that they already had, they simply needed to put it to work.

To this, Jesus attaches a parable which is the pericope of today’s Gospel passage. The parable is about a master and his slave. It becomes evident that while the master had a slave this was still a small household for the slave doubles up as a farm helper as well as one who took care of the house hold.

Slavery was an accepted part of most ancient cultures and Jesus’ listeners would easily understand the point he is making here. In the modern world we have rejected slavery and see it as unjust. So, to apply this model, as Jesus does, to the relationship between God and ourselves is likely to make us uneasy.

Remember that Luke loves to contrast people and incidents. At the background he has the behaviour of the Pharisees while in the foreground there is a lesson for the Christian leader who perhaps was now expecting a reward for his service. Perhaps Luke’s community had run into some leaders who looked at their service as something that should be rewarded.

The Pharisees had come to believe that they were entitled. The parable highlights the reality that we are all servants and as servants the master owes us nothing. God in the same way owes us nothing. Perhaps the Pharisees and now the Christian leader sought for his service a reward of power and position. Power and position are seen as a privilege. Jesus didn’t simply redistribute power, he redefined it. Those who lead are those who serve.

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Faith

Answering his heart not his questions – Friday, 26th Week in ordinary time – Job 38:1, 12-21, 40:3-5

Job’s three friends whom he rebukes as “miserable comforters” (16:2) have nothing more to say. They still thought that Job was completely wrong, but they felt he was so confirmed in his own opinions that it was useless to keep the discussion going.

Job’s friends are followed in their dialogue by Elihu (chaps 32-37), who adds his own advice. Apparently, Elihu was a silent listener to the whole dialogue. Elihu was angry with Job because he felt that Job justified himself rather than God. Elihu felt that Job was more concerned about being right himself than God being right.

Over the previous 35 chapters (since Job 2), God has been directly absent from the account. We read nothing of God’s direct role in comforting, speaking to, or sustaining Job in the midst of his crisis. Over that time, Job has ached repeatedly for a word from God.

At the end of Elihu’ speech, God intervenes with two speeches in which he gives Job the answers to his questions. They cover chapters 38-42; and with that our book ends. In the reading of today, we are given short excerpts from the first of God’s speech. To each speech, Job will give a short response.

In a way, the answer to the ‘why’ of his suffering is that there is no answer; in the sense that no human person is in a position to call into question the infinite wisdom and power of God. Job finally accept his situation. He now understands that he is of little significance in a vast universe which is totally beyond his comprehension. How can he question the God who is behind it all?

Previously, Job had insisted that God answer him. God turned the matter around and told Job that before He would answer any of Job’s questions, Job had some questions to answer himself. Yahweh begins by asking a series of questions full of poetic images. They compare the almighty power of the creator God with the impotence of Job, the creature.

Job is asked if he has ever given orders to the morning or sent the dawn to its place. Has Job ever gone to the “sources of the sea”? Does Job have even the faintest idea of the extent of the earth? Obviously, the answer is No. Only the Master of the Universe could do such a thing.

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Food

INGREDIENTS
500 grams jumbo/tiger prawns deveined with the tail shells still on
1 tablespoon tomato purée
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil (ok if you don’t have it but it has a great flavour)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
2 teaspoons garlic (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon green onion (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon coriander stems (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon Chinese wine/white wine (ok if you don’t have it)
1/3 cup water
chopped coriander leaves for garnish or green of spring onion

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Rinse the prawns under running water and pat dry with a paper towel. You can also slice the shrimp in the back (not all the way through) to make them more plump after cooking

2. Make the sauce by mixing the tomato purée, ketchup, chili garlic sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper
and sesame oil in a medium bowl

3. Heat the oil in your wok until smoking hot. Fry the prawns on both sides for 30 seconds each side. The prawns should be 80% cooked. Turn off the heat, remove the prawns from the wok, and set aside on a
plate.

4. Turn the heat to medium-low, and add the remainder of the oil in the wok.

5. Add the ginger and infuse for 15 seconds and add the garlic and white of the spring onions. Once caramelized (about 1 minute), add the sauce mixture and continue to stir and fry for another minute until incorporated. Add the chopped coriander stems and then the white wine.

6. Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the water to thin the sauce. Bring everything to a simmer.

7. Once the sauce is simmering, add the prawns and any juices that may have collected on the plate. Toss the prawns until they are completely coated in sauce. Serve, topped with chopped coriander leaves and or the green of the spring onion cut diagonally.

DO NOT REHEAT or the prawns will be rubbery and hard to the bite

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Faith

Why me God; question or exclamation – Wednesday, 26th Week in ordinary time – Job 9:1-16

On Hearing of Job’s misfortunes, his friends Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuite and Zophar the Naamathite come to visit him. So great has been Jobs’ sufferings that they fail to recognize him and join their dear friend in his lament by tearing their clothes while scattering dust on their heads and then sit in silence for seven days with Job. We need to see his friends for what they are, concerning and caring. Let not their arguments that follow be seen as judgment of their friend for they are trying to wrap their heads around something that seems way out of their league.

Job cannot bear the emotional and physical pain he is subjected to and breaking down curses the day he was born. There is no word spoken against God but Job’s life has become such a terrifying and meaningless void that he would prefer death than the life he has.

The Book of Job now focuses on the three friends of Job who will express their analysis of Jobs situation and this will be followed by Jobs response. These guys have plenty to say, and Job isn’t their biggest fan. He calls them “miserable comforters” (16:3), and he spends almost the whole book arguing with them. At the end of these speeches, God answers Job and his friends and settles the matter.

Over two chapters, four and five, the first of the three friends, Eliphaz, feels constrained to reply to Job’s outburst. The premise of Eliphaz is that Job’s problems have come upon him because of some sin on his part, and that he should confess and repent of his sin in order to be restored. He noted that even angels had fallen into error, therefore it should surprise no one that man, including Job, has also fallen into error.

Job rebuked Eliphaz and his arguments and becomes very acrimonious and at times irreverent towards God. While he accepts God as the Holy One, he does not hold back his accusations against God who has become his ‘crushing enemy’, punishing him beyond human capacity and pain.

Job’s outburst in response to Eliphaz is a little too much for his second friend, Bildad, to swallow. He is indignant at Job and now champions God’s cause and God’s justice. For Bildad, man’s destiny is measured by God according to one’s merits; the good prosper and the wicked suffer. He reiterates Eliphaz’s arguments that those who suffer must have sinned and receive their due punishment; and that by extension includes his friend Job.

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Opinion

When a Catholic priest comments on any political situation (we don’t comment on politics)for the good of the nation or for the good of the Church you find that one group of people (often Catholics in politics) begin their ‘whataboutery’ while the other groups begin to attack the priest like as if he has no role to play in nation building and ought to stick ‘his nose’ in religious matters only. We don’t ask a lawyer or a doctor not to comment on a political situation yet when it comes to religious leaders they should be seen and not heard. I suspect it’s because we do have a voice of influence and you want to shut us up. Actors (another voice of influence) sadly have been numbed into silence when it comes to their political views with political parties via their trolls calling for boycotts and attacking cinemas causing huge financial losses.

We speak of teaching politicians a lesson at the ballot box; that, one will argue, is the democratic way. Yet the ballot is stolen at the box or even worse, enforcement agencies are sent en mass to ‘convince’ you to mend your ‘wicked ways,’ ; that is if you have not sold your soul for several crores of rupees.

I know this comment comes a bit late in the Goa political scenario but I feel compelled to write as the congress MLA’s who were voted by their constituents on a congress party ticket and have now switched to the BJP, betraying their very constituents; DO YOU HAVE NO SHAME? And many may say that these politicians don’t have any shame, yet I feel compelled to ask this question even to my own MLA in my constituency. Do you not fear God ? May I remind you that if you truly profess the Christian faith then you should fear the fires of Hell.

To this, add the woes of so many people getting demolition notices along the Mapusa -Panjim highway; all in the name of infrastructural development. A nation is know not by her bridges but by the way she treats the poorest of the poor. Right now so many senior citizens are in panic mode with these demolition and ‘vacate your premises’ notices.

I am happy to put my name to this protest. I would rather say something even if it is on social media than be guilty of being complicit via my silence.

Wake up Goa your ‘true liberation’ is at hand.

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