Faith & Our Character
Yeh 2:2-5
2Kor 12:7-10
Mrk 6:1-6
So, 2 weeks ago we learnt about faith (Jesus calmed the storm when He just got woken up during the storm). Last week we learnt about faith 2.0 where Jairus not just simply woke Jesus up to get what he needed but he was somewhat forced to wait while Jesus chit chat with the woman who bled for 12 years as well as keeping his faith and hope alive when his family told him that his daughter was dead.
This week I feel like the readings are teaching us to deepen our faith and grow our character.
Adegan pertama Yesus mengajar di rumah ibadat. Bagian pertama dari Mrk 6:2 “Pada hari Sabat Ia mulai mengajar di rumah ibadat dan jemaat yang besar takjub ketika mendengar Dia. All of those people originally listened to Jesus with astonishment (takjub), they opened their heart and were ready to receive the blessings, yet their logic kicked in and they started questioning, mereka mulai berkata: “Dari mana diperoleh-Nya semuanya itu? Hikmat apa pulakah yang diberikan kepada-Nya? Dan mujizat-mujizat yang demikian bagaimanakah dapat diadakan oleh tangan-Nya?”, disini mereka mulai buka celah.
Which lead ke adegan kedua. Ayat selanjutnya Mrk 6:3 “Bukankah Ia ini tukang kayu, anak Maria, saudara Yakobus, Yoses, Yudas dan Simon? Dan bukankah saudara-saudara-Nya yang perempuan ada bersama kita?” Lalu mereka kecewa dan menolak Dia. – makin overthink, hati semakin tidak di jaga, padahal mereka tadinya uda merasa takjub (tersentuh dengan apa yang Tuhan Yesus ajarkan) yet ketika realita tidak sesuai dengan harapan, orang-orang ini kecewa dan menolak Yesus.
Adegan ketiga Mark 6:4-5 Maka Yesus berkata kepada mereka: “Seorang nabi dihormati di mana-mana kecuali di tempat asalnya sendiri, di antara kaum keluarganya dan di rumahnya.” Ia tidak dapat mengadakan satu mujizatpun di sana, kecuali menyembuhkan beberapa orang sakit dengan meletakkan tangan-Nya atas mereka.
Apa yang bisa kita pelajari dari this week’s readings?
- Guard your heart
Proverbs 4:23 NRSV stated “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” I think this verse suits this week readings. Why do we need to guard our heart? Liat di bacaan injil, orang-orang dari kampung halaman Yesus tadinya uda berapi-api hatinya karena takjub mendengar pengajaran Yesus, yet pada saat mulai ada benih keraguan, mereka goyah. It is normal untuk punya keraguan, artinya kita bukan robot who can only do what we are programmed for. Hanya, kita harus make sure our doubts do not consume our heart, keep it guarded. Same like Ezekhiel in the first reading, God practically sent him to the rebels, people who would not listen. I imagine if I were Ezekhiel, I would need to really guard my heart so I wouldn’t be bitter or resentful towards these people or even to God. If you wonder what it means to guard your heart, kalo buat aku personally artinya adalah keep it clean. Kalo dah mulai debuan, ya ke confession buat have a clean space. If you feel like being tempted sama si jahat ya spend more time with God (ekaristi, adorasi, baca surat cinta Tuhan aka bible).
- When in doubt, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.
I am sure tiap dari kita pernah ada di posisi ini, dimana kita berdoa or denger kotbah or dapet hikmat yang bikin iman kita membara. Tapi saat kita mulai pake logika kita or kita ngobrol sama orang-orang yang kurang supportive, iman kita mulai goyah. During this time, I suggest kita untuk ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Malu bertanya sesat dijalan, sebelum sesat mintalah guidance. God understands that we are not perfect and need a lot of help like a lot. So, use this free pass hooman card wisely. What I mean by that is God does not expect us to solve/fix everything ourselves, He wants us to depend on Him in any situation, big or small. So, knock yourself out, nag the Holy Spirit all you want – I am sure He is happy that you involve Him in everything.
- Humility
Yes, Jesus mengambil rupa anak tukang kayu but He is fully human and fully God. Just because the teacher in the reading is not ‘qualified’ by the eyes of the world does not mean we cannot learn something. Like my colleague said “don’t let the clothes fool you”. God can use anyone untuk melakukan perkara besar kalo Tuhan mau. What we need to do on our part is to stay humble so we will not miss God’s blessings. St Augustine said, it was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
Therefore, we need to continually ask God to remove from us the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), hati yang rendah hati, yang mau dibentuk oleh Tuhan. Now you may ask how to be humble? I ponder on this and I think the only way to be and stay humble is to die to ourselves every single day, mati dari kedagingan kita cos if we keep feeding our flesh, we basically focus on anything and everything other than God which my lead us to death.
Mungkin pertanyaan refleksinya adalah, seberapa sering kita jatuh karena keragu-raguan kita? Or seberapa sering kedagingan kita (aka kesombongan) malah menjerumuskan kita? Like kalo ada orang yang lebi muda dari kita or orang yang baru mengenal Tuhan dan dia negur/ingetin kita, apa kita bisa menerima saran/teguran ini dengan rendah hati? Ato malah esmosi duluan?
- God loves us so much that He cares about our salvation more than our comfort.
We all know kalo setan jatuh ke dalam dosa karena kesombongan, dia mao menyaingi Tuhan. Dan people from any generation have that tendency, to be like God – kaya Babylonian misalnya yang mo bikin menara setinggi-tingginya untuk sampe ke langit. Di bacaan kedua, kita lihat kalo Paulus begged God to deliver him dari duri dalam daging (ada beberapa scholar yang bilang kalo Paulus punya sakit epilepsy, jadi kalo lagi ngomong di podium terus dia tiba-tiba kejang-kejang dan berbusa mulutnya, malu juga. Makanya Paulus minta dibebaskan dari sakit ini) yet Tuhan jawab di 2 Kor 12:9 “Cukuplah kasih karunia-Ku bagimu, sebab justru dalam kelemahanlah kuasa-Ku menjadi sempurna.”
When I reflected on this, emang bener gitu Roma 8:28 “bahwa Allah turut bekerja dalam segala sesuatu untuk mendatangkan kebaikan bagi mereka yang mengaishi Dia, yaitu bagi mereka yang terpanggil sesuai dengan rencana Allah.” St Catherine of Siena said virtues grow as they are tested. Suffering, difficulty and adversity test them and so a human can grow in virtues. Mungkin Tuhan tau dengan adanya duri dalam daging Paulus, dia jadi lebi bergantung sm Tuhan, sadar kalo semuanya hanyalah anugerah.
St Catherine of Siena In the Dialogue of Divine Providence, she describes Christ, with an unusual image, as a bridge flung between Heaven and earth. This bridge consists of three great stairways constituted by the feet, the side, and the mouth of Jesus. Rising by these stairways the soul passes through the three stages of every path to sanctification:
- The kiss on the feet – detachment from sin
- The kiss on the side – the practice of the virtues
- The kiss on the mouth – love, sweet and loving union with God.
Dari 3 stages ini, we all want to reach stage 3 – kiss on the mouth, the most intimate one. Yet there is a price to pay to get here, we need to abandon our lives in Christ who hold them karena sama seperti Paulus yang tetap setia even if God ga take away the thorn in his flesh, we too need to stay faithful even if jawaban Tuhan berbeda dengan harapan kita, even if Tuhan seolah diam or even if Tuhan berkata tidak.
You will not arrive at what you desire by your own path, or even by high contemplation but only through a great humility and a surrender of the heart
– St Therese of Lisieux –
No responses yet