Isaiah 63:7-9 / Colossians 3:12-17 / Luke 12:22-31
A couple of weeks ago, a movie was shown in the cinemas and it’s still showing, although it’s coming to the end of its run.
The movie had an uninteresting title – “Ant-Man” – but what is interesting is that Ant-Man is one of the original superheroes of the Avengers in the Marvel comics series.
Maybe compared to the size and power of the other superheroes like Superman and Iron Man, the profile of Ant Man was getting smaller, literally, and maybe slowly forgotten until the recent movie.
That’s why there is this tag line in the movie trailer “Heroes don’t get any bigger”. Quite appropriate to describe Ant Man and his role.
Besides the size of the hero, in that he can become as small as an ant, there are also some cute lines from the movie.
Like when the scientist who developed the Ant Man suit was trying to convince the main character of the movie to help stop the villain, his reply was this – I think our first move is to call the Avengers.
And when the scientist was getting desperate, he put across this direct proposal to the main character – I want you to be the Ant Man.
And the response was this – Just one question … is it too late to change the name?
Obviously, the name Ant Man doesn’t sound like a grand hero’s name and the size of an ant almost says it all.
But there is an interesting line in the movie that expresses the profound meaning of size, and the smallness of it.
“When you are small, you have superhuman strength; you are like a bullet”.
Yes, size does matter, but if size is all that mattered, then the king of the jungle would be the elephant, and not the lion. But as it is, we call the lion the king of the jungle.
And talking about the lion, our country’s name is “Singapore”, which means “Lion-city”.
The name sounds big and grand, but the reality is expressed in the logo for this year’s National Day, which is the SG50 and the little red dot.
The little red dot represents what we have come to know as home and our 50 years of independence. The logo celebrates the Singaporean spirit – signifying that our dreams are not limited by the physical size of our island nation.
So being small does not mean that we are invisible. In fact as a little red dot, Singapore has become quite visible on the world map, and also quite incredible.
And for a country that does not have any natural resources and can’t produce enough food to feed its population, Singapore is like a survival miracle and we need to be proud of that.
And the gospel text chosen to celebrate our country’s National Day is indeed appropriate as Jesus tells us this: Do not worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. For life means more than food, and the body more than clothing.
And Jesus concludes by saying : Your Father well knows you need them. So set your hearts on His kingdom, and all these other things will be given you as well.
To live in Singapore in certainly to live quite precariously. We are such a small country, almost like an ant compared to the other countries around us.
Although the ant is small, tiny actually, it has a remarkable strength. It is said that ants can carry about 100 times its own body weight.
In the gospel, Jesus used the images of ravens and birds, flowers and grass to teach us that just as God provided for them, then all the more God will provide for us and for our country.
And the image of the ant, or ants, can also be relevant for us who are the Church in Singapore.
The book of Proverbs 6:6-8 tells us this about the ant – “Go to the ant; ponder her ways and grow wise: no one gives her orders, no overseer, no master, yet all through the summer she makes sure of her food, and gathers her supplies at harvest time.”
We may remember one of Aesop’s fables about the ant and the grasshopper. It goes like this:
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping my fellow ants to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; "We have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.
When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger - while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for days of need.
It is said that Singapore is an economic miracle and a success.
And we the Church in Singapore has the duty and obligation to pray that our country will not only progress economically, but that there will be peace and democracy, justice and equality.
St. Augustine has this to say: Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
Yes, we must work, like the ants, that our country will grow and progress materially.
But we also must pray, as St. Augustine had taught us, that God will continue to watch over our country and guide the leaders in governing so that there will be peace and democracy, justice and equality.
May God bless Singapore and also the Church in Singapore.