Acts 14:21-27/ Apocalypse 21:1-5/ John 13:31-33, 34-35
Have we ever wondered what it feels like to be a bird? It would be nice to fly in the sky and see things from on high.
I think that there is also a song that goes like: I rather be a sparrow than a snail, yes I would, if I really could, I surely would.
But we won’t want to be just a sparrow. We want to be an eagle, the king of birds, a symbol of majesty and might.
The Bible mentions about sparrows and eagles for various reasons.
Yet the Bible also mentions about an unattractive black scavenger bird that makes an irritating cawing sound.
That bird is the raven. But it is mentioned for a revered reason.
The first bird that that Noah sent from the ark after the 40 days of rain was a raven. It was only later that he sent out the dove.
It was also a raven that brought bread and meat to the prophet Elijah when he was taking refuge in the mountain. (1 Kings 17:6).
In the stories about the saints, when St. Benedict made the sign of the cross over a poisoned loaf of bread that was meant for him, a raven flew by and carried the poisoned bread away, thus saving St. Benedict’s life.
In Singapore, we don’t have ravens but we get their smaller cousins, the crows, which are equally unattractive.
If people say you got crow’s feet around your eyes, then that’s really bad news.
Crows and ravens are unattractive and they make an unpleasant sound, but the crows have something to teach us.
The younger crows will take care of their parents when they are old and unable to fly around much to look for food.
The younger crows will bring food to their aging parents until they expire.
So crows may be scavengers and look ugly, but they show us a profound lesson in filial piety.
We may say that it’s in their bird-brain instinct. But then their bird-brain instinct can’t match our supreme human intelligence.
Yet, with all our supreme human intelligence, we may not have fully understood and fulfilled the commandment that Jesus gave us in the gospel.
Yes, Jesus gave us a new commandment – to love one another just as He has loved us.
It is with this love for one another that others will know that we are His disciples.
A commandment is not an option or a suggestion. It means that as disciples of Jesus, it’s either we love or we love.
It is a commandment that Jesus Himself carried out as He went all the way to the cross to show His love for us.
We can speak of love in its many ways and forms, but when love is expressed as a sacrifice that saved us, then love becomes a compelling motive.
Love becomes the way of life, the rule of life and the commandment of life.
There is a story of an elderly man who would walk to the pier in the late afternoon just when the sun is starting to dip into the horizon.
With a bucket of shrimps in his hand, he would walk to the end of the pier. By that time, not many people would be around and the old man, who is wearing a military cap, is alone at the end of the pier with his bucket of shrimps.
But soon he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a flock of birds are flying in, screeching and squawking, towards that lanky old man.
And in no time, dozens of seagulls would surround and envelope that old man, their wings fluttering and flapping.
Then he would toss the shrimps to the hungry birds and he and the seagulls would seem to be in another world.
Soon the bucket is empty but the old man does not leave. The seagulls still surround him, some perched on his shoulders, and at times one would perch on his old military cap that he has been wearing for many years.
After a time, he begins to walk back and a few of the birds would hop along with him.
It is an intriguing sight - that old man wearing an old military cap, with a bucket of shrimps feeding the seagulls.
Well, that old man is Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973), a WW I ace pilot and hero.
But during WW II, he was sent as an advisor to the Pacific front.
While flying in a B-17 bomber as a passenger, the plane went off course and ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea.
The eight member crew survived the crash and climbed onto a life raft.
They floated for days on the rough sea in a remote part of the Pacific.
They fought the sun and the sharks. But by the eighth day, their rations ran out – no food and no water.
They were far from land and no one knew where they were. Hopes of being rescued were fading fast.
They prayed and prayed for a miracle. One afternoon after prayer, Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his eyes and tried to nap. Time dragged by. All he could hear was the waves slapping against the raft.
Suddenly Eddie felt something land on his cap. It was a seagull! He lay perfectly still and planned his next move.
Then with a flash of his hand and a squawk from the seagull, he managed to grab it and killed it and he and the rest made a meal out of it.
They used the intestines for bait, caught fish with it which gave them more food and more bait and the cycle continued.
After 24 days at sea, and by some dramatic events, they were found and rescued.
Eddie Rickenbacker lived many more years after that ordeal but he never forgot that seagull and how it was sacrificed to save his life.
Hence he made it a routine and a ritual to go to the pier and feed the seagulls. And all he could say was: Thank you.
We too have come to the Eucharist to say: Thank you. We thank the Lord Jesus for sacrificing His life for us so that we can be saved.
More than just a routine and a ritual, the Eucharist is a celebration of love – God’s sacrificial love for us.
Let us love the Lord in return.
May we also love others and offer that love to them as a loving sacrifice.
We are certainly more than just ravens and crows and seagulls.
Because by our love for others, they will know that we are disciples of Jesus.