Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13 / 1 Cor 1:26-31 / Matthew 5:1-12
During this festive period, one of the common greeting phrases is “Gong Xi Fa Cai”.
That phrase means “wishing you wealth and prosperity”.
That phrase is easy enough for children to say, and it is used during this festive period as a general greeting.
For the Chinese, and as well as for other cultures, wealth and prosperity are symbols of a good and comfortable life.
And with wealth and prosperity comes along status and social standing, as well as recognition and influence.
So, with this kind of understanding, then obviously wealth and prosperity would be a priority in life.
With wealth and prosperity, then we would be comfortable and we would be happy.
Actually, the priority in life is that we want to be happy and comfortable, and the means to that would be wealth and prosperity.
But, can happiness in life be brought about by wealth and prosperity? In other words, can money really make us happy?
Oh yes, money can buy luxuries and make us comfortable, but money cannot buy us happiness, and we know that from the experience of life.
Because happiness is a blessing from God and money cannot buy God's blessings.
In the Old Testament, when God gave His people the Ten Commandments, it also came along with blessings and curses.
As long as the people were faithful to God and kept the Commandments, God will bless them.
But if the people were unfaithful to God and broke the Commandments, then they are asking for trouble in the forms of misfortune and tragedy.
The Ten Commandments form the groundwork and the blueprint for the people's relationship with God and for the norms of morality.
But along the way, the thinking became such that as long as the Ten Commandments are kept to the letter, then God will impart His blessings and that would be in the form of wealth and prosperity.
Then came Jesus, and in the gospel, we heard His teaching about the Beatitudes.
Beatitudes means blessings, and Jesus taught us what true blessings are, and how to receive those blessings.
It is in being humble and gentle, compassionate and kind, striving for justice and peace, enduring abuse and persecution, that God will pour His blessings on us.
So even if others throw a brick at us, let us not throw it back at them. Let us see as a blessing from God.
There is a story of a young and successful executive who was traveling down a neighborhood street, in his new expensive sports car.
Suddenly, a brick smashed into the car's side door! He slammed on the brakes and reversed the car back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.
The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and shouted, "What was that all about? Just what are you doing? That's a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"
The young boy was apologetic. "Please, sir, please, I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do," he pleaded. "I threw the brick because no one else would stop..." With tears dripping down his face, the boy pointed to a spot just around the corner.
“It's my brother,” he said "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can't lift him up."
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's hurt and he's too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the young executive tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you and may God bless you," the grateful boy told the young executive. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the car. The damage was very noticeable, but the young man didn’t bother to repair the dented side door.
He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: "Don't go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!"
More than that he remembered what the boy said to him: "Thank you and may God bless you"
Yes, God’s abundant blessings come in surprising and even unexpected forms.
When we understand the spirit of the Beatitudes, we will experience the wonderful and beautiful blessings of God, blessings that are beyond wealth and prosperity.
So, we continue to wish each other “Gong Xi Fa Cai”, and may God bless us with a wealth of love and may we be prosperous in good works.