Wisdom 9:13-18/ Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17/ Luke 14:25-33
One characteristic of most Singaporeans when they travel overseas, especially when they travel out of the Asian region, is that they will bring along a particular spice.
And that particular spice is none other than chilli.
For most Singaporeans, or at least a number of Singaporeans, chilli is the spice of life.
So into the luggage will go a bottle of chilli, be a dried chilli, or chilli powder, or sambal chilli or whatever chilli.
If there is such a thing as chilli perfume, it will also be brought along. (Not to spray on the body but on the food! : P )
Yes, in Singapore, chilli is the spice of life. So if you are a Singaporean, and you don’t eat chilli, then it may mean that you have a crisis of identity.
Having said all that, chilli after all, is only a spice. And spices are used to add flavor to food or to preserve food.
We don’t eat chilli as food, or consume spices as food!
Food will still be food, with or without spices. And when we are very hungry, we will eat whatever food there is, even without the chilli or the other spices.
In other words, without chilli we won’t die. Even without the other spices of life, we also won’t die.
And the spices of life is not just about what we put into our food.
Broadly speaking, there are many things that can spice up our lives.
For example, there was the “Spice Girls”, though they are not so hot now. There is also a smartphone model called “Desire”.
Oh yes, these kind of spices certainly fuel our desires and make us forget our essential needs, just like how too much chilli can make us forget the original taste of food.
When there is too much of these spicy flavoring in our lives, then the 1st reading has this to say: The reasonings of mortals are unsure, and man’s intentions become unstable.
Then like the examples that Jesus gave in the gospel, we will build but we won’t be able to finish. We can fight with all our might but we won’t be able to win.
When there is too much clutter in our lives, then we lose the clarity of our vision, and hence our reasoning become unsure and our intentions become unstable.
In today’s gospel, Jesus gave a rather severe teaching on discipleship.
Jesus makes it clear to us that if we want to be His disciple, then He must be over and above what we treasure most.
And that means that He must be above father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
And as if that is not tough enough, He asks for where it will hurt most – and that is our very own life!
And that is where Jesus brings in the cross.
As we all know, and for those who are listening to Him knew it as a reality, the cross was the ultimate punishment for those who are sentenced for rebellion or subversion.
Hence, His listeners know, as a matter of fact, what crucifixion was, how horrible it was, how gruesome it was and shockingly cruel.
And yes, Jesus said that anyone who does not carry his cross and come after Him cannot be His disciple.
Certainly the cross meant pain and shame. And along with that it also means fears and tears.
So the cross challenges us in a very shocking way.
The cross challenges our fears of losing our loved ones – father, mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.
The cross challenges our fear of pain and suffering.
And finally the cross challenges our fear of dying to ourselves and giving up our lives for others.
Because our understanding of the survival of the fittest is that the one who has the most and who possess the most, will survive.
It is so unnatural to let go and sacrifice and give ourselves for others.
Here is where we can learn something from the grey squirrel. As we know, the grey squirrel would run around gathering nuts for food for the winter.
It would hide the nuts in a few places. Yet very often it would also forget where it has hidden the nuts so in the end it would only consume about 10% of the nuts that it had gathered.
Well, as for the rest of the 90% of the nuts, after winter, they will germinate and bear fruit for the next cycle.
So unintentional and out of forgetfulness, the squirrel helps in the reproduction of the food cycle.
Like the grey squirrel, we too will gather, but as a disciple carrying the cross, what we gather we must scatter and give to others.
The cross is painful because it challenges us to give up ourselves for others.
The cross will cut away all that we spice up our lives with, but when all the spice of life is cut away, we will get the real taste of life.
No doubt, the cross will bring tears to our eyes, but very often tears are the lenses we need to see Jesus (quote from Pope Francis); yes, to see Jesus clearly and to continue to carry our cross and follow Him as His disciple.