Reflection for the 6th Week of Easter
Scriptures: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29
Key Verse: "And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.” (John 14:29)
When I was little, something that excited me the most was when someone wanted to share a secret with me because it made me feel I was valued and important. We gossiped about our families, our friends, our enemies, and even our neighbors or celebrities that we'd never met. Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist, argues that gossip is the human analogue of social grooming. Through gossip, we are able to create social bonds and maintain them more efficiently. Based on research, children grasp the power of spreading gossip at the age of 5.
As I grew older, I learned that others could gossip about me just as I could gossip about others. They can be very hurtful and they can be beneficial as well. It depends on whether we do it out of love with good intention or out of hate with bad intention. Sadly and ironically, it has become a social skill that many have to adapt to in order to survive or thrive at home, at school or at work.
We all have secrets; they can be private, personal, or communal. We might feel comfortable sharing some of them with a small circle of friends or our spouse or children. What we don’t want to overlook is the habit of accumulating our secrets because keeping secrets can easily create a toxic environment and poison our relationships with others.
Since I’ve been reflecting on the issue of prejudices and biases, I wonder if our own prejudices and biases can be considered secrets. What do you think? If we never take time to reflect on them or keep them to ourselves, they are secrets. Like other secrets, if we keep our own prejudices and biases to ourselves for too long, they can easily become very toxic and poisonous, and eventually we will behave in ways in which we can’t even recognize ourselves. And at the same time, we are not aligning our behaviors with the values we treasure the most as the people of God, loving God and ourselves as others. If we keep postponing to do something about it, we are not loving ourselves, our minds, our souls and are slowly drifting away from God.
Sometimes, it is important to emphasize loving others, but let’s focus on loving ourselves for now. Because learning how to love ourselves can help us love others better. We all need to commit ourselves to unpack our own secret package filled with biases and prejudices. They are not good for us to keep! How much does it cost us to throw away the secret package? Or an alternate question could be: what do we gain by tossing away this secret package?
Last week, I re-read the whole book of Revelation because I wanted to better understand the significance of the first two verses in chapter 22. It says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” It is the final destination where we all will be. I wonder if we have no more tears, pain, and death, why does God still provide healing leaves for us? Is it because the wounds that we have inflicted upon ourselves are too deep to heal in time as we return to God from our earthly home? It might be just like how we feel after a surgery--we might be able to pick up some daily routines after a couple of weeks but the wound will take a longer time to heal fully.
Has Jesus kept secrets from us? Or do we feel there is more mystery about our Triune God, the Father, the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit? Throughout the scripture, Jesus would say things to his disciples to make sure they heard even if they might not get it as he did in John 14:29. Secret is something knowable; something known to only a few insiders. But a mystery is something simply unknowable. There is so much about God that is simply unknowable, and that makes us humans and distinguishes us from God. We have a God who knows us so well just as it said in Psalm 139:2, “O God, you know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” In order to redeem us, restore us, and heal us, God has to know us well. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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