[Note to readers: This essay was written many years ago, shortly after my reception into the Catholic church. It remains here as a testimony to my life’s journey, and is not intended to urge anyone to adopt any particular religious worldview. As my thoughts and opinions are constantly evolving and may not be identical with my past or future thoughts, each reader is encouraged to be brave in finding inspiration from all sources in order to find the best paths in his/her life journey.]
King of the Desert
Preface
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from Evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever.
Amen.[1]
This prayer, commonly known as “Our Lord’s prayer”, has become so well known that we fail to see its peculiarity. What exactly is so extraordinary about this prayer, other than the fact that the Father referred to here is extremely powerful, and that He resides in a place called “Heaven”?
First of all, this prayer tells us that the Father referred to here is a King—He has a Kingdom in Heaven. Second of all, this prayer reveals the identity of those who are praying: They call this King their Father. They, consequently, are his children and also his heirs[2], who will one day reign with him in this heavenly Kingdom.
In any ordinary earthly kingdom, the heir is usually prepared from birth for the governing role that he is destined to one day undertake. Everything in his everyday life and activities—from his education, relationships, and work habits, to the special duties, challenges and missions assigned to him—is carefully calculated to prepare him for this glorious destiny. His father’s courtiers and ministers all work together to make sure that this comes to pass, and they look forward with joy and anticipation to the day when the heir is finally prepared to take on his father’s mantle. What a great day of joy it will be, when the long years of arduous training and preparation finally pay off, and the heir is finally crowned in front of the whole world! He will surely rule with wisdom, justice, mercy and compassion, just like his father did before him. We can see and imagine this happening in our world; we have read and heard of similar tales passed down to us through the rich tapestry of human civilization. How much more, then would our Heavenly Father prepare us, his children, for divine rule in His everlasting Kingdom! Everything that happens in our lives—every single person we meet and every single event that we experience—is designed to mold us, test us and prepare us, so that slowly and surely we are conformed to divine likeness, having a character like that of the King of kings, Jesus Christ our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, Brother and friend. And when the time of preparation ends and we leave this life to enter into our Father’s Kingdom, it is hoped that we’d be fit to rule with Him forever and ever.
Scriptures provide us with rich evidence that this is so. Consider, for example, the following verses:
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?[3]
Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life![4]
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.[5]
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.[6]
If we endure, we will also reign with Him[7].
And yet, very seldom do we see our fellowmen as fellow heirs, or as potential heirs of our Father’s Kingdom. All too often, we see them as objects: Some are simply objects of our observation, while others are objects of our admiration and interest. Still others are objects of our comparison—these are the people with whom we compete, to whom we compare ourselves in order to measure our self worth and self esteem. We see still others as objects of our pity, or of our revulsion and disgust. Very rarely do we see others as the very members of our body, as the very parts of our selves. Still more rarely do we see them as potential members of a common, glorified Body for all eternity! And yet is what we would do, if we truly understand what it means to have a Father in Heaven:
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.[8]
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.[9]
What causes this sad and pitiful distortion of our thoughts and instincts? The reason is plain and simple: The Father’s Kingdom is not the only kingdom that exists and operates in this world. There is another usurper kingdom, ruled by the prince of this world[10], who is constantly trying to rob us of our rightful place and inheritance as heirs of our heavenly Father. He and his minions constantly tell us that we are as worthless and insignificant as the dust of the desert, unless we do something to distinguish ourselves from others, something that proves our worth and value. It is from this misconception that the usurper prince sets up his web of deceit, luring people into a feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, into fights and battles between one another, into misunderstandings and envy, into decay and death. Is it any wonder, then, that the Lord’s Prayer ends with this invocation: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil?
The stage is set for the battle of the Kingdoms. Into this great battle our lives are born and lived out. Each of our thoughts, choices and actions proclaims our allegiance in the Great Battle. Of course, the deceiver prince wouldn’t want us to know or believe this. He would have us believe, as he makes so many others believe, that our lives happen by accident, and that the events making up our lives happen by chance, by fate, by a stroke of luck.
In order to live lives worthy of our calling[11] as children and heirs of our Father’s Kingdom, therefore, we need to understand the nature of the Great Battle, and the strategies employed by each party. Then we shall know how to gird ourselves accordingly, with the mighty armor of the King of kings. Only then can we learn to be conquerors who overcome the world, as the saints themselves have proclaimed:
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us[12].
This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith[13].
—***—
- The Oasis
All of us who were born into this world were born into a desert. Although we were all created by our loving heavenly Father and meant to be his heirs, we were not born into the Kingdom proper—that is, we do not start our lives in the atmosphere of the very Kingdom we’re meant to inherit.
The reason for this exile[14], of course, is the rebellion of our forefathers.
But before we talk about that, let us first talk about the nature of this desert that we were all born into.
Imagine the desert: The volatile, shifting sands; the scorching, merciless heat; the deadly scorpions and poisonous snakes that lurk under the ground. Water and other life necessities are always limited. Imagine the travelers that are traveling through it and must survive in it: Imagine their weariness, their anxieties and fears, imagine the uncertainties they face. Imagine the battles they must fight with the harsh terrain and with one another, simply to survive a little longer. Imagine their feeling of helplessness, exhaustion and fear in the face of this harsh climate.
Dotting the desert are some very lush oases. People would do anything to get to them, for in the pleasure of abundant water and rich fruit they can forget all of their fears, exhaustion and uncertainties. To secure one’s own oasis, people would trample over each other; so important are these resources to their physical and emotional well being. For you see, as the sweet water and fruits of the oasis slake their thirst, their feeling of helplessness and uncertainty also fades away. Momentarily, they imagine themselves to be powerful creatures capable of reaching any dreams that they desire.
Their well being, therefore, depends on their ability to secure and maintain an adequate oasis. Men’s hearts, however, are not made for the pursuit or maintenance of desert oases; our hearts are meant for heaven, for eternity. And yet, our bodies require these oases, and to a certain extent, our emotional and spiritual well being depend on their adequate care and maintenance. Thus the stage is thus set for the Great Battle of the ages, between our Father’s Kingdom and the prince’s usurper kingdom of the desert.
The prince constantly tells us that if God loves us, there would be no desert. There would be no exhaustion, no helplessness, no pain so severe that words and prayer fail us in the dark night. His strategy of luring people away from the Father’s Kingdom into a permanent desert exile lies in his promise of quick, dazzling oases. For these oases of pleasure, fame and temporary desert glory, he seduces people to see one another as mere objects—either as objects of pleasure, or of admiration, or of observation, or of comparison, or of pity and ridicule—to be arranged, regarded and treated as befitting one’s current circumstances. That is why relationships undertaken in this mentality are often unsatisfying, disheartening and disappointing. And yet, we fail to see his cunning. Most people spend their entire lives in the pursuit of these oases. Take the body, for example. What is the human body but a tool to be used in the pursuit and maintenance of pleasure and achievements? And when it breaks down; when this tool is no longer dependable, we would spare no expense to fix it. Everything becomes permissible; no cost is too high. And when despite all our effort it is still unfixable, many think that their lives are no longer worth living. Indeed, what is life but the pursuit and maintenance of these oases? When frolicking in one such oasis, we are momentarily unaware of the desert. We can temporarily forget that we come from its dust and shall return to it, that our entire world is permeated by the dust and decay of the desert. Without constant cleaning and maintenance, would not our bodies and everything around us start to manifest signs of disrepair and decay? And yet, we want so much to flee from the reality of the desert that jobs of daily cleaning and maintenance are called menial jobs—jobs that are looked down on and despised, jobs that are only taken by those with no other alternatives. This proves how much we hate ourselves—that is, those parts of ourselves that manifest the desert most clearly. And yet, no matter how much we seek to escape it, we shall have to return to it one day, for such is the destiny of all living organisms.
Into this world where everyone seeks to carve out an oasis for himself, where people constantly compete and fight with one another in their effort to secure and maintain the best oases, comes our Lord. And so strange and incredible was His coming! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords; He is Life and the Author of all life. And yet, by some strange reason called True Love—which He is—He has decided to bear the full brunt of the desert. Not for one or two days, not even for a few years or one thousand years, but for the entire length of time: So long as people are still being born into this desert, He will share their burdens, their joys and pains, their defeats and victories. He has come to set up His everlasting Kingdom, and to prepare all people to be his children and heirs. But what a strange Kingdom it is! Whereas all kings demand submission and service from their subjects, the King of kings comes to serve, to teach, to accompany us and lead us by His example. Whereas all of us spend our lives in the pursuit of life’s oases and pleasures, He denied himself each and every one of them—even birds and foxes have more share of the desert’s oases than He does. Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head[15]. He chose to be born in a manger to a poor, simple family before the advent of modern technology. Daily he must face in his body and soul the indignities of the desert, the pain and exhaustion of hard labor, the cruelties and injustices of human nature. And these were the very human beings He had created and made in infinite Love. Behold, He said, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me[16]. How peculiar is this King of kings! He stood at the door and knocked, as if he were a simple traveller begging for lodging. If He had tapped into His omniscience, He would certainly have known who would have answered His knock and when. And then He could have knocked at certain doors and not at others, or send some of His servants to knock for Him until the door is about to be opened, so that He wouldn’t have to stand there knocking and waiting for a long time, His hair drenched by the dew of the night[17]. And yet, He didn’t do any of this. He uses his own bare, calloused hands to knock at the door of each of our hearts, and each of His knocks is filled with faith, hope and love. He has faith in us long before we had faith in Him; He hopes for our return to His embrace long before we learned to hope in Him. What kind of Love is this?
How different is His Love from what many desert people call ‘love’! Unfortunately, most people in this world show their ‘love’ by the exchanging of oasis accessories, such as pleasantries, compliments on one’s looks or possessions, the giving of needless gifts that are nonetheless pleasing to the eye, and so on. After accumulating enough ‘accessories’ (in the form of wealth, possessions, achievements, etc.), one is expected to revel in them, flaunt them and rejoice in them. A person who cannot do this is often accused of ingratitude and questioned: What more do you want? Don’t you know that there are many people in this world dying and drooling to have what you have? And here you are being ungrateful and unhappy. Accusations of ingratitude will soon be followed by suspicions of emotional imbalance, psychological trauma or even mental illness, all of which supposedly prevent a person from being content in the multitude of oases offered by our modern age. How pitiful is it to be a sensitive, clear minded person in this time and age! Those who can see the hypocrisy and superficiality of these oases will most likely spend their lives being ridiculed, maligned, gossiped and misunderstood. Some of them will fall prey to the misleading advice of narrow minded, oases-loving ‘experts’, who will then misdiagnose them with clinical depression or label them with some frightening, incurable mental syndrome. Their strange way of looking at things will often be ascribed to some unspecified ‘childhood trauma’ by these so-called experts. Many of them spend their entire lives feeling and believing that there’s something seriously wrong with them. How sad and pitiful are their fates!
And yet, in the King of king’s glorious eyes, they are infinitely blessed. Blessed are they, for their dissatisfaction with this desert’s oases may point them to a Love that is greater than life itself. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven[18]. Yes, blessed are they!
One might ask, “What is so wrong about living our lives in pursuit of these oases? Are they not there to be pursued, enjoyed, flaunted, maintained and expanded? Is not their pursuit and development the basis of all human progress and civilization?” Well, it depends on what we mean by “civilization”. It is true that technological advances have made it possible for us to enjoy ever deeper and fuller sensations of pleasure, power and control. These oases, which once could only be enjoyed by the privileged few, are now available for most people at a very affordable price. For the price of a few cents, for example, one can play a most exciting video game and derive great enjoyment and pleasure from it. For a few dollars, we can buy a meal that excites all of our taste buds and gives us a few minutes of pure, luscious indulgence. In the modern age, these oases are becoming ever more abundant, and the more money we have, the more choices we have as to which luscious, extravagant oases we want to bask and revel in. It is no wonder, then, that most people spend their entire lives in the pursuit of these ever-increasing, ever-expanding oases!
In this struggle and pursuit of ever expanding desert oases, most people are aware of only one caveat: Oasis enjoyment reduces one’s pain threshold. It is common knowledge that a person accustomed to higher standards of living will feel extremely dejected and dispirited when this standard is forcibly lowered, even if his new circumstances are still relatively better than those of the average person. All the more reason, then, to pursue and maintain the greatest number of oases possible! This way, when one investment fails, one can still turn to another. When one oasis fails, when it runs short of water and there’s no way of easily refilling it, it’s nice to have other oases to choose and find comfort from. And so, to guard ourselves against “oasis depletion” and the extreme dejection brought about by slight dips in our living standards, we need to have “everything”, or as much as possible: looks, wealth, renown, the goodwill of all, good standing in society, romantic love, a wonderful family, a secure and well-paying employment, etc. This extreme fear of oasis depletion is what causes so much anxiety, stress and pressure in our present society.
Most people are unaware, however, that the greatest drawback of oasis pursuit is not merely increased anxiety or stress, or a mere reduction in one’s pain threshold. Rather, it is the slow but sure destruction of our own humanity. Allow me to explain. The pursuit of oases thrives on the notion that the desert is nonexistent or negligible. When the dust and the decay of the desert asserts themselves and permeate the pores of our oases, we tend to find reasons to explain them away, so as not to ruin the illusion of perfection, progress and pleasure that we’ve so carefully constructed in our own oases. And so we ascribe war and poverty to the inefficacy of bad governments, or to the lack of birth control amongst uncivilized people. We ascribe the constant melancholy of our friends to some sort of character defect, childhood trauma or even mental illness. In short, we always find something or someone to blame for all the ills, calamities, prejudices and injustices that plague our world. Some people even go so far as to assert that positive thinking produces nice oases just as surely as negative thinking brings calamities and disasters. Thus, these people take pains to avoid others they label as “toxic”: those who often complain about life, or about life’s injustices and cruelties. These people, in their opinion, bring negative energy, negative thinking patterns and as a result, negative things that will surely tarnish their carefully constructed oases.
Slowly but surely, we lose our ability to clearly understand ourselves and those around us. We do not understand why they are sad and unfulfilled; we do not understand why we are sad and unfulfilled. We only know that some things feel bad and other things feel good, and we want the “good feelings” to last forever. We might even go to doctors who will prescribe feel-good concoctions for us, but the good feeling never lasts. Some people who are ill, elderly or unhappy no longer feel the same pleasure that they used to feel when reveling in this world’s choicest oases, and as a consequence, they decide that life is no longer worth living. “What is life,” they often think, “but the pursuit, maintenance and enjoyment of these oases?” And so they live and end their lives in great misery, ignorance and regret. Oh, if they only know the King of the desert! If only they know that Life is much, much more than the pursuit of these oases. If only they know Him who has borne the curse of the desert for them, and will continue to bear it together with them, teaching them to be conquerors, heirs, victors, and beloved children. If only they know! But many of them do not know, and they live and end their lives in misery.
This is why those who seem to be “blessed” by this world’s best oases are often the most miserable people in the world. After securing an endless supply of the world’s choicest pleasures, fame and wealth, all they want and long for is true love: to be understood and accepted for who they are, to be guided by gentle hands that will never take advantage of them or lead them astray. How ironic it is, to find love wanting in the middle of the world’s most lavish luxuries! And yet, this fact should hardly surprise us. The human heart is not created for mere oasis pursuit or maintenance, but rather for Eternity. It desires everlasting Love and perfect communion with its King, with His angels and ministers, and with its fellow human beings, who are also fellow heirs of our Father’s Kingdom.
Of course, the usurper prince doesn’t want us to know this. He will do everything in his power to deceive, delude and disinherit us, to prevent us from having a genuine knowledge of our heavenly Father. To some, he whispers that the Father doesn’t really exist; that He is merely a myth concocted by ignorant, self-serving men, and that our existences are no more valuable than those of the animals or plants of the field. To others, he portrays a distorted and misguided picture of God, so that we may not know Him as He truly is. That is why some view God as simply an oasis provider—an arbitrary Being to be entreated, appeased and cried out to in times of need and shortage. This view of God as an impotent, hard-of-hearing Santa Claus has caused His name to be blasphemed and mocked amongst the nations. Is not such a view of God too primitive for the modern man? Only the stupid, desperate or ignorant can believe in such a God! Why not believe in one’s own strength, or in technology instead?
Still others view God and their faith as some sort of “exclusive club”, by which they seek to distinguish themselves from the rest of mankind. They regard non-members and unbelievers as a “mass of pagans” to be pitied, disdained and looked down on. Although they may call themselves “Christians”, there is nothing Christ-like about their character. They see religion as a mark of superiority and pride. Many of them try to isolate themselves from the rest of mankind, believing themselves to be too pure for this soiled world. How different is their character from that of our Savior, who soiled His hands in order to seek the lost! Though He owned and created the whole universe, He put aside His divine majesty and became poor for our sakes[19], in order to show us the way back Home.
There is nothing more damaging in the entire world than spiritual arrogance. That is why the Lord, so kind and gentle to all, spoke His harshest words to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law:
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.[20]
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.[21]
Indeed, nothing defiles our Lord’s love more than the prideful and disdainful attitude of His so-called followers. It is no wonder, then, that the world has a tendency to delight in religious scandals. It is tired of being looked down on, disdained, and preached to with an attitude of superciliousness and condescension. So when a scandal breaks out amongst those deemed to be ‘righteous’ and ‘pure’, it often feels the sinful thrill of gratification. If it could put its thoughts to words, this is what it might say: After being looked down on for so long, now, finally, here’s a reason to look down on them!
All these distortions prevent us from knowing and loving God as He truly is. One of the most remarkable things about Christianity is that Christ sees us—his Church—as both His Body and His Bride. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body[22]. Can you believe that? All other religions see their so-called god or gods as spectators in the sky, who just let things happen. Not so with Christ. To all who received Him into their hearts as King, Lord, Brother and Friend, He gave the right to be children of God[23] and members of His very own Body—flesh or His flesh, bone of His bone[24]. Whatever we feel or experience in this life, He feels it too, perhaps even more acutely. For if any part of our body is sick or hurting—even a very small part, such as a tooth or a toenail—wouldn’t our whole body, especially our head, feel it most intensely? For we know that all pain signals are sent to the brain. If that is true with us, how much more truer it is with Christ, the Head of the Church[25]! In making us the very members of His Body, He is pledging to suffer and rejoice with us, for as long as this earth endures, until He comes again and both Time and space are Consummated in glory. Indeed, is this not the longing of every human heart? What we long for the most is perfect communion with one another and with all creatures. Whenever this bond of love is broken or misused, we feel its pain most intensely for a very long time. We feel this pain even more intensely than any kind of physical pain, which we soon forget after our body is healed. We may remember that a certain part of our body used to hurt very badly, but soon after it heals, we forget how much it hurt, for we no longer feel this hurt. Not so with the heart! This heart, which was made for Love, for perfect communion with God and all creatures, feels the pain anew with each remembrance of such and such a betrayal, abuse or hurt. We shouldn’t wonder why, for these hearts of ours were made for and by God. As St. Augustine once said, “You have made us for Yourself, o Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” What we should wonder at, though, was how our Lord consented to have His Sacred Heart broken and wounded over and over again for our sakes, all for the sake of His infinite Love for us! For this is indeed what He has consented to when He pledged to make the Church both His Body and Bride. Just before His Passion, he told his disciples: I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom[26]. Henceforth, our happiness is also His happiness, just as our sorrows are also His sorrows. He has made it so. There shall never be a day or a moment when we are in the throngs of pain or despair, and He is only remotely concerned from His blessed abode. Never! Indeed, we may feel exactly that way towards victims of war or disease that we see on TV, but not so our Lord. For did He not ask bloodthirsty Saul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”[27] He did not ask, “Saul, why do you persecute my followers? I shall have my vengeance on you!” the way we would expect any powerful earthly king.
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.
“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” [28]
I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, He replied. I am Jesus, who was hungry and thirsty, who was sick and in prison…[29]
Indeed, how great is the Love He has lavished on us, that He should pledge to unite to us both His Body and His Heart, now and for all eternity[30].
The usurper prince will do everything in his power to make us doubt God’s existence, goodness or omnipotence. In our moments of darkness, doubt or despair, he will whisper to us, “Look at how much cruelty, pain and injustice there is in this world! How can God be as good or powerful as you think? Are you sure that He is not simply the product of man’s desires and imaginings?”
At times like these, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to remember that the Lord doesn’t see us the way we do our own bodies—as vulnerable organisms prone to damage and decay. No, He sees us as God’s beloved children, prince and princesses that will inherit and reign in our Father’s everlasting Kingdom. All our lives are merely a preparation for this glorious destiny. The more willing we are to cooperate with Him in each and every moment of our lives, the greater our joys and capacities will be in our Father’s everlasting Kingdom.
This is why St. Paul confidently asserts:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. [31]
For indeed, as our own Lord proclaimed after His Resurrection, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”[32]
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?[33]
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.[34]
One of the most remarkable things about Christianity is the doctrine of the Trinity: One God in three Persons. Other religions can only have a god or gods that function as Rulers and Spectators: God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see[35]. Indeed, if this is all God is, it would be impossible for Him to be both omnipotent and good. But our God is not just the immortal, unapproachable, all-powerful Ruler. He is also a God who emptied Himself for our sakes, who suffered for and with us, our Lord, the King of the desert. He taught us that the answer to all the ills of this world is not a deep plunge into some man-made, temporary oasis, but rather a deep plunge into His Heart of infinite Love. Our Lord, who is the image of the invisible God, by whom and for whom all things were created[36], humbled Himself and became subject to all kinds of cruelties and injustices, even to the point of dying on a cross—a most humiliating death[37]! As Scriptures so beautifully declared:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.[38]
Oh, to have such a God, King and Brother! What is Love but this? How often do we tear up when we see romantic movies, in which the male protagonist makes a lot of tender sacrifices for the woman he loves? If we can be so moved by this world’s tenderness, how can we remain unmoved by our Lord’s tenderness? For He is Love itself. Long before we knew Him, when we were still hard-hearted and callous, He looked at us through eyes of Love—that Love which bears all things, hopes all things, and believes all things[39]. And He has given us His own self. We are members of His body, and He dwells in us through the Holy Spirit[40]. Our sacred duty in life is to live and grow in this Love[41], the Love through which He has given us all things to inherit[42]. As we live and grow in His Love, we shall be transformed into His likeness in our hearts, minds and actions:
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.[43]
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.[44]
It is through Love that our Father’s Kingdom extends its boundaries all over the world. Unlike the usurper prince, who seduces his subjects and extends his authority though trickery and deception[45], our Father extends the boundary of His authority through the force of Love. By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another[46], our Lord once said. This royal Love, which is infinite, glorious, tender and everlasting, is very different in nature to the love procured by this world’s wisdom. Many wise men throughout history, such as Plato, Confucius and Gautama Buddha, have also trained themselves to be loving, peaceful and compassionate, and taught others to do likewise. These wise men are indeed to be admired and emulated, but their love, compassion, peace and precepts cannot be compared to those of our King. At best, this world’s philosophers can only teach us to have self-control, to avoid the seduction of overindulgence, to be aware of the impermanence of pleasures, to enjoy the beauty of nature, and so on. They teach us to train our bodies and our minds accordingly, so as to survive a little longer in the desert, to have more peace and happiness than the average ignorant brute. But they cannot see beyond the desert of this life. Even if they believe in the afterlife, they do not see that so-called afterlife clearly, for they are mere mortals and creatures of the desert. So we find that the majority of their teachings have to do with ‘desert survival tactics’: What to do, what to avoid, and what to tell oneself in order to have the most peaceful and carefree life possible within the confines of our desert mortality. Not so with our King! Whenever He and His apostles command us to live a certain kind of life, the reason is always the same: Because you are children of your Father in Heaven[47]. You have been redeemed by the King of kings and Lord of lords; He has rescued you from the dominion of darkness into His Kingdom of Light[48]. Therefore, live lives worthy of your calling and Destiny[49]! Live lives of love, and see everything and everyone through the prism of Eternity[50]. It is such that you will save many souls and make disciples of all nations[51], extending the boundaries of His Kingdom to the farthest reaches of creation. And when your mission in this life is complete, you shall receive a rich welcome into the Kingdom that is your inheritance[52], that has been prepared for you since the creation of the world[53]. You shall hear your Lord and Savior say, in front of His court of angels and heavenly hosts: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”[54]
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father[55].
And they will reign for ever and ever[56].
—-***—-
(Maria Thérèse) Audrey YU Jia Hui
Shanghai, PRC, February 2017
[1] Matthew 6:9-13
[2] Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:28-29; Ephesians 3:6; 2 Timothy 2:12; Titus 3:7; Revelations 2:26-27, 3:21, 22:5
[3] 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
[4] 1 Corinthians 6:2-3
[5] 1 Peter 2:9
[6] Romans 8:16-17
[7] 2 Timothy 2:12; see also Revelations 2:26-27, 3:21, 5:10, 22:5
[8] Romans 12:4-5
[9] Ephesians 4:4-6
[10] John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11
[11] Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:27, Colossians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:12
[12] Romans 8:37
[13] 1 John 5:4
[14] The saints see this life as an exile: See Hebrews 11:13-16, 1 Peter 2:11-12.
[15] Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58
[16] Revelation 3:20
[17] Song of songs 5:2
[18] Matthew 5:3-6
[19] 2 Corinthians 8:9
[20] Matthew 23:13
[21] Matthew 23:27-28
[22] Ephesians 5:29-30
[23] John 1:12, 15:15; Romans 8:29
[24] John 6:56-58
[25] Ephesians 4:15-16, Colossians 1:18
[26] Matthew 26:29, Mark 14:25, Luke 22:18
[27] Acts 9:4
[28] Acts 9:5-6
[29] Matthew 25:42-43
[30] Revelations 21:2-4
[31] Romans 8:16-18
[32] Luke 24:26
[33] Hebrews 12:7
[34] Hebrews 5:7-10
[35] 1 Timothy 6:15-16
[36] Colossians 1:15-20
[37] Philippians 2:5-11
[38] Hebrews 2:14-18
[39] 1 Corinthians 13:7
[40] 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 1 John 4:13
[41] 1 Corinthians 16:13-14; Ephesians 4:15-16, 5:1-2; Colossians 2:7
[42] Romans 8:28-39, 1 Corinthians 3:21-23
[43] Ephesians 5:1-2
[44] 2 Corinthians 3:18
[45] John 8:43-44, 10:10
[46] John 13:35
[47] Matthew 5:43-48; 6:1-18, 25-34; Ephesians 4:17-5:21; Colossians 2:9-15, 3:1-17
[48] Colossians 1:12-14
[49] Ephesians 4:1-6, Philippians 1:27-30, Colossians 1:10-12, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
[50] 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Colossians 3:1-4
[51] Matthew 28:18-20
[52] 2 Peter 1:10-11
[53] Matthew 25:34
[54] Matthew 25:21, 23
[55] Matthew 13:43, Daniel 12:3
[56] Revelation 22:5