Balik-Tanaw | Of treasures and salvation: How costly is to aspire for God’s kingdom?

By JIMARIE SNAP TALINGDAN
National Council of Churches in the Philippines

1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
Rom 8:28-30
Mt 13:44-52

Baka adda Apo maal-alaw yu nga kastoy nga baka, (photo uploaded), paki-pm dak wennu ni Manong ko XXX. Isu laeng ti didan masapulan, ta uray data lang kuma met iti maaka-surviven, kasi diyay 3 natayen. (crying, praying emojies)

(Anyone, if incidentally you have seen this cow (photo uploaded), please send me or my brother XXX a message. We hope that this is still alive, the other two were found dead. )

In the midst of the onslaught of Typhoon Egay (Doksuri) that hit tremendously the northern provinces of the Philippines, I saw this FB post from a high school batchmate. As I continue to browse the social media, she posted another another one, lamenting and telling to God to hug her as she feels weak. Apparently, the 3 cows she owned have been missing as the typhoon begun to strike our home province Abra. My friend is currently in Hong Kong, serving as a domestic worker for the past several years. I would have a glimpse of her life on social media as she is fond of sharing life events there. She has managed to send her children in school and has been able to sustain her family by working overseas. In her posts, I also know that the cows are her investment to help her in school expenses of her children in the near future. In our high batch facebook group, another friend working overseas also posted a video of how her newly built house is ravaged by the same typhoon. The house is barely finished.

Both my friends speak about something that they treasure most. The properties taken away by the destruction of the typhoon were acquired through hard-earned money by working overseas. I’ve seen their excitement and pride in the past as they try to acquire these for years. They do not belong to upper middle-class families, and the houses and animals are their investment through the years. They had to work for months and years, giving up every single chance for vacation to see their families at home just so they can save for these properties.

The short parables that Jesus used to describe the Kingdom of God evoked a mixture of emotions -of questions, sense of justice for those persecuted, but of discomfort on one hand. I knew that Jesus was not only being imaginative in His teachings. During his time, facing the ruling empire must have been difficult, just as how the vocal critics today are persecuted. Then and now, confronting powers that be does not come are without a cost.

I would like to imagine a God’s kingdom that exists here on Earth, just as how my faith is teaching me to believe. A kingdom that is experienced by many, especially the poor majority. A kingdom where we all experience the promise of life’s fullness and abundance while we are still alive and breathing, while we are still able to grasp life.

The first parable illustrates the Kingdom of God as a hidden treasure, which when found, buried on fields, and the keeper is willing to buy the field to own the treasure. The second teaches us the value of the Kingdom. Just like the pearls, it is costly. The merchant who finds it will be willing to sell all that he has to buy the most valuable pearls.

For my friends whose animals were dead and missing, and whose house is being submerged in the floodwater during the typhoon, they try to aspire God’s kingdom through a better life for their families. For years, they have been working abroad to sustain their families. They have worked so hard, away from their homes to provide for their families. They endure years of separation just to fulfill their dreams. What has been taken away from them are their treasures. The great deals they’ve found, the treasures that should make them experience a feel of God’s kingdom in the very near future, here on Earth.

This aspiration of God’s Kingdom on Earth is shared by many others, especially the needy. During the recent State of the Nation Address of Pres. Bongbong Marcos, people from different basic sectors – women, youth, peasants, workers, urban poor, together with advocates and solidarity group converged near Batasan along Commonwealth to launch a so-called People’s SONA. The people spoke about their punctuated realities, their conditions on the ground, in parallel to what the President is telling the public about the state of the nation. The workers talked about their aspiration of a more decent wages. The farmers talked about their assertion to own the land they till. The urban poor talked about how they long for basic social services from the government. As I listen to them speak, I see in them a God’s people, who work tirelessly to experience better condition in life. All of them aspire to find the greatest treasure, the greatest deal, and ultimately, the Kingdom of God here on Earth.

And so when President Bongbong Marcos spoke about how the government has done well in the past year, it was too contrasting to what I’ve heard from the basic sectors. Too far that I’ve gotten dissonance. He claimed about lowering inflation rate in the past months, better employment rates, better conditions and services for migrant workers, and promises of foreign investments as a result of his numerous foreign trips, among others ‘achievements’ that he mentioned.

I would tend to believe what the People’s SONA would be saying. Currently, the inflation rate in the country is the highest in SouthEast Asia, making it difficult for the poor to keep up with the unbelievably high prices of basic commodities. The quality of available jobs, which are often irregular and insecure, still pushes our people to find more decent jobs overseas. And our overseas Filipino workers still remain to be among the most neglected sector. This is not the Kingdom that God promised us to have.

Yet, God’ people continue to work for, or even demand for the reign of God’s Kingdom on Earth. But this is not without a cost. Just as how it was difficult for Jesus to stand against the abuses and wickedness of the Roman empire to the people then, the same is true today. The people’s aspiration for better life is not easily provided. It is never without a struggle. The people have learned to organize themselves in collective bodies or groups to demand for what is rightfully theirs. Oftentimes, these collective actions are met with persecution from the state. People are labelled as ‘terrorist’ when they start negotiating for better jobs, services, and rights. Right now, there is a whole state machinery to quell the voices of the people as they demand better conditions – there is the Anti-Terrorism Act that unjustly and unilaterally designates people as terrorists, the NTF -ELCAC and the Executive Order 70 that perpetuates red tagging among civilians, outspoken critics and progressive groups. These led to even more difficult time for us, people of faith, to work for the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth.

The last parable gives me the assurance that in the end, God will keep His people, and a Kingdom on earth is possible. It is eschatological in a sense that judgment will be done to the wicked who have done wrong to God’s poor people. God will choose His people, and will throw the abusers and perpetrators to a blazing furnace. There will be judgment, and justice will be served to those who has been unjustly deprived, arrested, or even killed, for working courageously so that God’s Kingdom will reign on Earth and will be experienced by many. And so we will continue the work, until the Anawim finds their greatest treasure.

Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of Promotion of Church People’s Response. The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action. As we nurture our faith by committing ourselves to journey with the people, we also wish to nourish the perspective coming from the point of view of hope and struggle of the people. It is our constant longing that even as crisis intensifies, the faithful will continue to strengthen their commitment to love God and our neighbor by being one with the people in their dreams and aspirations. The Title of the Lectionary Reflection would be Balik –Tanaw , isang PAGNINILAY . It is about looking back (balik) or revisiting the narratives and stories from the Biblical text and seeing, reading, and reflecting on these with the current context (tanaw).