By Ishongkun Kurbah, CSC –
Readings: Wis 13:1-9; Lk 17:26-37
I have heard many people saying, ‘I have heard a preacher preaching about the coming of the kingdom and the second coming of Christ Jesus.’ They say it would be like this and it would be like that and some interpretations sound very frightening and very scary. And some have even made imagined movies and used these kinds of passages to create fear in the mind of people.
Should we love God because of fear? Should we avoid sin because of the fear of punishment? Different people have different interpretations. But the fact is that nobody knows. Who can know the mind of God? Who can fully comprehend and understand his words? Neither philosophy nor theology can help us to grasp and understand the depth of God’s word completely.
But one thing we can absolutely say without doubt is that Jesus has come to us and has shown us how to live: to live as a true human being made in the image and likeness of God; to live as a true brother and sister to his/her brothers and sisters, as true children to the parents and as true parents to the children, as true neighbor to a neighbor, as true friend to a friend and so on so forth. To live a life as Jesus has shown is to participate in a sacrificial and selfless journey. If we live and walk in his path we will learn how to sacrifice, to give up things for good, to be true and above all to love out of love. Let us trust in him, as he has taught us.