11TH Sunday, 2018

I Give Hope to Life, When I keep Hope Alive: Your Life is the Difference that Matters

Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-35

Albert Camus, that Algerian-French novelist and existentialist philosopher, has this as the opening sentence and thesis of his book, The Myth of Sisyphus: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” “Suicide” is the termination of earthly existence; despite the reasons adduced for that decision, Albert Camus found those reasons absurd. For us and our liturgical readings of this Sunday, we worry about “spiritual suicide,” instead of physical suicide. Spiritual suicide takes place ever before physical suicide kills. The human spirit must have been dominated before the decision to severe it from its earthly habitation, the human body, through suicide. God is the truly existential problem of human life, how to attain communion with him besides the theories of Philosophy and Philosophers, is the solution to spiritual suicide!

The Christian solution to both spiritual and physical suicides is the theology of hope. When “hope” is defined as a theological virtue because it links humans directly to the divine, it must be mentioned that “hope” links God directly to human beings too. It isn’t human beings alone that hope, God hopes as well. God hopes and waits for the salvation of every human person, just as every human person waits while hoping for salvation from and in God. So, when the Council of Trent defines “hope” as a “supernatural virtue which convinces us that God will do all for our salvation,” that implies that both God and humans must keep this hope alive in order to achieve the desired result – eternal life. God’s hope for human salvation is kept simultaneously when the human person works out his/her salvation in fear and trembling; the human person must cooperate with God’s hope for himself/herself before hope can be hope.

The prophecy of Ezekiel, our first reading, teaches us how to keep hope alive. It argues that even a severed branch still contains life provided it finds a fertile ground on which to sprout or a healthy tree on which to be grafted. That is to say, despair is the first enemy of hope to be overcome, in order to keep hope alive. Even in despair, there is life. It is only the living that can despair not the dead. The severance of a tree branch from its bough is not the end of the story, it only changes the course of its life because the potency for life and greatness is still imprisoned in it. The capacity to engender life and nourish it when it is threatened is the first sign of hope.  For Ezekiel, “hope” means that life is worth living no matter what!

The metaphor of “a tree branch,” in our first reading, narrates the journey of Israel as a nation from grace to disgrace and back to grace again. The Babylonian captivity was one of Israel’s lowest points, but the glorious return was their triumph. Israel convinces us that obstacles on life-journeys aren’t hinderances to success, but moments to recalibrate and re-strategize. Every human life too has got low and high points, sin and virtue coalesce in the history of salvation. Saints and sinners both hope for and need salvation because neither has attained it yet, as long as they are living on earth. Salvation remains in potency in both the good, the bad and the ugly. “Hope” for salvation is a string that binds up all living beings on their pilgrimage of salvation; only those who are already with God experience this hope differently, they experience hope as “rest” and prelude to eternal reward. If Israel clung to life despite the shame and humiliation of exile, life must be protected at all costs against suicide because life is worth living!

What links the two parables of the gospel together is “life”: the seeds in question blossomed wherever they were planted because they were viable. As signs of “life” they provided shelter and habitation for the birds of the air and food for human beings at the harvest. Dead seeds couldn’t have germinated and borne fruits. Like human life, as long as breathing takes place, there is life, and there is hope. “Life” is a gift from God, that is why the man who scattered the seeds, in the first parable, could afford to sleep, while the seeds grew, and he returns only at the harvest. Apparently, the sower needed only to “scatter” viable seeds, and God takes care of the remainder. To complement this first parable, the second emphasizes the smallness of the seed, when sown, compared with the tree that came from it. That is, it is not the size of the grain that matters, but the viability of the seed. Life is God’s and hope sustains it.

In the first parable, two terminals feature prominently: sowing and harvest periods. The seeds were scatted in view of the harvest. Between these two extremities is the period of “hope”, that harvest time is judgment time, wherein the measure of viability takes place. Only those seeds sown in hope, and have borne fruit are useful at harvest time. “Hope” comes to an end, at the end of the journey of life, at harvest time, never before that. Just as the harvested produce nourishes life, so does hope nourish and sustain life. Also, a full grown mustard tree provides sustenance to the birds of the air and keeps life going for them. “Life” bereft of hope is dead, it is suicidal. I give hope to life, when I keep hope alive. Whenever every human life is allowed to blossom up until the harvest, there is hope found. Every human life matters because your life is the difference that hope provides for fellow travelers of the planet earth. Like the mustard seed which provides shades and habitation, every human life is created in hope of preservation and sustenance of other lives.

“Hope” manifests itself in the courage we bring to living, despite the roughness of human existence on earth, with its betrayals and sufferings. The expectations of life must concur with what ordains in order for life to be meaningful and hopeful. In the words of Paul, in our second reading, “We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight”. To “walk by faith, not by sight” is an admission that God owns human lives, and it is only fidelity to him that works against every form of suicide and the protection of life. “Faith” is the confidence and trust that life is a pre-written script by God, and human beings are its actors in consonance with divine will. Every human life is important because it has its place in God’s symphony orchestra. No wonder Paul maintains, in our second reading, that “Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away”.

Let us conclude with a story: A man was seen by passers by under a tree, with a rope around his stomach and the other end of rope tied to a tree branch above his head. The passersby asked him: “what are you doing with a rope tied around your stomach under a tree?” He replied, “life is too difficult, so I want to kill myself”. The passersby said to him, “if you want to kill yourself, tie the rope around your neck”. The man responded: “at first, I tied the rope to my neck, and I couldn’t breathe, so I untied it from my neck and tied it around my stomach!”

Assignment for the Week:

Could you provide 3 reasons why your life is worth living despite the vicissitudes of life?