A sermon preached at Kowloon
Union Church on Sunday 21 October 2018 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings
that day were Psalm 104:1-9;
Mark 10:17-31.
Opening prayer
God of the poor,
May our mind, heart and soul
be enriched by your word. May the Holy Spirit within us enlighten us to understand
and Jesus Christ our Saviour empower us to walk in his way. Amen.
Why poverty matters to Christians and Church?
On 17 October, the world
was commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This
day was designated by the United Nations 25 years ago to appeal to leaders and
communities all over the world to end poverty. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres,
clearly stated that poverty is not a matter of charity but a
question of justice. There is a fundamental connection between eradicating
extreme poverty and upholding the equal rights of all people. The theme for the
poverty day this year is “Coming
together with those furthest behind to build an inclusive world of universal
respect for human rights and dignity.”
Poverty matters to Church and every Christian, rich or poor. Why? It is because God created human beings in His
holy image. Anyone whose basic human rights and dignity are deprived because of
poverty is a violation of God’s holiness. It is a sin that we need to repent.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the world to share our humanity and identified
himself with the poor. He was born humble from a young poor girl in an
un-respected place. Jesus, the incarnated God who came to the world to be with
us, revealed to us the God of the poor.
Christians are called not only to serve for the poor but to become
friends of the poor and church of the poor. In our congregation at Kowloon Union Church,
we have dedicated ourselves in supporting migrant domestic workers, ethnic
minorities, asylum seekers and refugees through our social ministries. Every
year the church sets a budget line to provide small grants to projects serving
communities in need both local and overseas.
The Gospel reading we heard today is taken from Mark 10: 17-31. It is a
good passage to share about wealth and poverty, that touches upon the core
teaching of Jesus.
The passage talked about a rich man. He was a decent law-abiding Jew as
he kept all the laws required of him since he was a boy. He went to Jesus
asking him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell what
he owned, and to give the money to the poor, and then come follow him. Obviously, Jesus cared for the poor, and he
called the rich man to share with them his wealth. For sure Jesus loved the
poor. But we should notice that Jesus loved the rich man too. Jesus was serious
about the question this rich man asked about eternal life.
The rich man who was seeking eternal life was required to share his
possessions with the poor so that he will have treasure in heaven and enter the
Kingdom of God.
In addressing the wealth and poverty issue, the challenges that Jesus
gave to the rich man give us some insights.
The rich man was challenged to give up what he did not need. Poverty is
caused not by inadequate resources. Poverty is caused by social injustice –
unequal distribution of power and resources. The people who have more power and
possession accumulate wealth for their own interests. This is greed and unjust
social structure that make poverty worsen and the wealth gap keep widening, in
Hong Kong and in many parts of the world.
To inherit eternal life and enter the Kingdom of God, faithful people
need to tackle the sin of greed and the structural sin of injustice.
It is not possessions and wealth that Jesus disapproved of. He did not
insist that Zacchaeus, the tax collector sell all his possessions and give to
the poor. After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus voluntarily gave up his possessions
and restored fourfold whatever he had gained by fraud (Luke 19:8-9). In Jesus’
earthly ministries, he had been supported by many people who owned possessions
and were rich.
What Jesus challenged the rich man was his willingness to share and let
go of his sense of security that was based on earthly materials. The rich man
reflected many people’s life reality, Christians included
Jesus was asking the rich man to let go of his earthly possessions and
focus his life in God and with God. This is what Jesus asked from all of his
disciples – including you and me, to follow him and walk in his way with full
trust.
There are rich and super rich Christians from Hong Kong and other parts
of the world who accumulated lands, properties and other kinds of possessions
for their own benefits. Even though they are so rich, they still try to exploit
and manipulate the poor so that they can gain more profits.
Possessions are indeed great temptations to human beings. The more people
possess, the more people want to accumulate. There is a saying “money is the root
of all evil.”
Jesus’ radical command to the rich man to sell all his possessions and
share with the poor can be taken as a divine way to liberation – liberate from
greed, liberate from materialistic attachment, liberate from fear of insecurity
and loss.
Jesus’ radical command to the rich man to sell all his possessions and
share with the poor can be taken as a divine way to love – love to share with
others, love to connect with others.
Sharing of wealth with the poor as a divine way to love led me to
remember a lady from Taiwan. Her name is Chen Shu Chu, 67 years old. She was
recognized by Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 most influential people in
2010. She was a hawker selling vegetables in a wet market. What had she done
for such an appreciation? She saved up most of the money she earned and donated
to schools to help poor children. Do you know how much she donated? Ten million New Taiwan Dollars (equivalent to
2.5 million HK dollars).
Ms Chen’s generous giving is impressive. What’s more touching and
profound is her philosophy about money. She said if money is not used for the
needy, that money is useless and meaningless. Paraphrasing her statement on the
recent Lantau Tomorrow Vision proposed by the government to build artificial
islands to create more land for future use: Land which is not used for common
good and to be shared by all people especially the have-not would be useless
and meaningless.
I don’t know whether Ms Chen is a Christian or not. But what she did
was Jesus’ radical command of sharing wealth with the poor. In this regard, she
has kept her treasure in heaven and she is not far away from the Kingdom of
God.
For friends who are literally poor without good income or without any earned
income to have the means to meet ends may say the story about the rich man is
not speaking to me because I have no possessions to sell and share. I can
understand that feeling, but still I find there are messages that speak to people
living in poverty.
Many people think if they have nice house and a lot of money they would
be happy and their lives will be secured. Look at this rich man, although he had
a lot of possessions, he was not happy and satisfied because within his heart
he has no joy.
Possessions and money do not necessarily bring happiness. Don’t take me
wrong I am not justifying poverty. People who are rich could be very poor in
spirit and love. On the other hand, people who are poor in material life could
be very rich in love and joyful at heart.
Here I would like to share with you another old lady who is from Hong
Kong. I call her Mrs Heung. She is now over 80 years old. She is a widow with
five children. When she carried her youngest daughter in the 1960s, her husband
passed away. All her children were very
small. She was the only one to take care of the whole family. Like many other
poor families at that time, she lived a very meagre and difficult life. One day
she heard children crying next door. When she went to see them, she felt great
pity on the children because they were starving without food. Their mother just
gave birth to a new born baby. Mrs Heung went home to give some rice to that
family. She said at that very moment, she did not consider at all whether she
had enough for her own children tomorrow. Out of deep compassion she just gave
and shared what she had. Mrs Heung is a very devoted Christian and I always
find smiles on her face. Although she was poor and yet she is so rich in love. From
Mrs Heung’s generous giving, I found one truth, the giving to the little one
and to the needy made the givers rich.
Pope Francis once said: “No
one is so poor they cannot give what they have, but first and foremost who they
are.”
Sisters and brothers,
remember what Jesus assured us that we are God’s beloved children. Psalm 104 reminds us also that the
earth and the whole world is God’s creation. We are God’s loving and beautiful
creatures, full of dignity and worthy of his love. God will take responsibility
to protect and provide everything that He made. Not only for our own goodself
but all creatures. In God we lack nothing. In Jesus’ teaching and his
sacrificing love, he assured us also all things are possible with God. (v27)
The passage from Mark 10:31
– many who are first will be last, and the last first.
These are radical teachings
and affirmation of Jesus. Jesus Christ came to radically change the human order
and norm of the world. In Jesus’ own
death and resurrection, in the loving acts of Ms Chen from Taiwan and Mrs Heung
from Hong Kong, we may see how God’s power works in His people. Both ladies
were giving to Jesus Christ who is fully present in the little ones and the
poor people.
Their giving with love generates divine wealth that is the treasure God
receives in heaven.
Today I gave my sermon a
title: to whom we give? Are you ready to give what you have and what you are to
God and follow Jesus?
I will end my sermon by singing a song with Janet.
It is a song of thanksgiving.
It is a song of commitment to the radical command of Jesus.
It is a song of divine love that lead us to eternal life.
It is a song to manifest the beauty of God’s kingdom.
