CHOSEN. STAMPED. SEALED.
I frequently remind my students that while they’re in Singapore, they’re guests of a country not their own, and like good guests, need to follow the house rules, whether they like them or not. After all, no one put a gun to their heads to come here.
And the same before they go flying off to Vietnam or Thailand or Indonesia or Malaysia. They’re putting up in foreign territory and must respect the laws there.
The other thing I remind them about is not to live in a state of mental vacation while they’re here but to keep up with current affairs at home. Because eventually they’ll be going back to their own countries, and they don’t want to be foreigners there when they do so, ignorant of the latest news or what’s been happening with their fellow countrymen.
I find I have to remind myself of the same thing.
Where Is Home?
While we’re citizens of Planet Earth, and more specifically of Singapore, we have obligations and duties that we must fulfil. We’re also subject to the requirements of work and school, community life and relationships. All of this can be so absorbing to the point that we might forget we don’t live here permanently, and that who we actually are and how we spend the time here is something quite different.
In today’s Gospel of the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus makes it clear that we have dual citizenship: we hold temporary residency in this place but we really belong in another. And we have to honour both. Jesus says we need to be responsible citizens and handle our citizenship duties with honesty: give Caesar what belongs to him, and give God the Father what belongs to Him.
Straddling the two, though, isn’t easy:
The bank gets our money.
Our job or school gets our time.
Our heart, our soul, and our entire identity belong completely to God.
Stamped with the Face of God
We’re already citizens of heaven. Anybody looking at us should be able to tell by the way we live our lives that we’re foreigners in this world. We follow its rules, live by its customs, but like my students, it’s all in preparation for returning home better equipped.
Logos and stamps tell us who a thing or a person belongs to, or follows.
Guess what we Christians are stamped with?
The face of God.
Chosen to be His, like Israel, His chosen one, as Isaiah relays in today’s first reading.
Stamped in His likeness, when He created Man.
On top of that, sealed with the blood of Christ.
That’s why we need to be careful not to turn into someone who belongs fully and only to this world. God, Jesus reminds us, is our ultimate sovereign King. We can’t let the things of this life steal our real identities.
When the Israelites were in exile, when they were in danger of losing their real identities, God sent prophets and guides to remind them of who they were, who they belonged to. In fact, He even used a non-Jew who had no idea who God was, for this purpose.
Cyrus – aka Cyrus the Elder – was known for his tolerance of the religions and customs of the people he conquered. Judaism honours him for his role in freeing the Jewish people, and issuing the edict to restore the Jerusalem Temple. He’s the only non-Jew to be revered as someone anointed by Yahweh and explicitly designated messiah for this task.
Like Cyrus, Caesar’s authority only exists within God's larger design. Down the road, we see the same with Pontius Pilate. Every single earthly king and authority is ultimately subject to the King of all Creation Himself.
What’s Stealing Your Identity?
In the second reading today, Paul pours out his thankfulness for how the Thessalonians live as chosen, stamped, and sealed Christians. He says he, Silvanus, and Timothy constantly remember how these new followers of Christ show their faith in action, work for love, and persevere through hope.
Here’s where I remind my students about keeping up with what’s going on back home, so they don’t end up feeling like strangers when their time in Singapore is done.
Imagine if, when you get home, you’re don’t recognise the people you used to live with. If the places are changed. If you didn’t know about the major upheavals and happenings, good and bad. You wouldn’t be comfortable and it wouldn’t feel like home. Your identity as a native there would be shaken, at least for a while.
Imagine if that’s what heaven’s looking like for you, right now. If you don’t recognise, don’t really know, who’s living there, what’s been going on, what the major upheavals are. If your eyes are fixed on Caesar’s agenda and attractions, how do you grow comfortable with the idea of leaving all this eventually and going home?
The Thessalonians are living examples of what it looks like to give oneself completely to God. The Gospel has taken root in them in power and in the Holy Spirit. They are proving that they carry God’s divine imprint rather than the world's stamp. Even though ordinary daily life demands their participation and attention, they keep their eyes on the things of heaven.
And it’s not easy, because they struggle with questions of the faith, and they still have Jews and pagans around them acting differently, thinking differently. Daily life is a challenge, faith formation is ongoing, and the two are not neatly separated at all.
We’re in the same boat.
This week asks us an important question:
Who or what might be stealing our real identity? Are we even aware?
An addictive behaviour that consumes time that could belong to God.
·An automatic form of thinking or communicating that shows a worldly, not Godly, face.
A goal we’re pursuing that, little by little, is leading us further away from Him in some way.
Becoming more and more absorbed even in simple daily tasks and gradually forgetting to include heaven in.
Focusing on the next thing in our life and eventually leaving God behind.
Letting Mass and prayer time and the Sacraments fall by the wayside because those can wait but work or school can’t.
Slowly, inadvertently dropping time spent on learning about the real people in our eternal family, our real home, because the pull to read or watch something more Earthly, more now, is greater. Until ongoing faith formation, learning about God, engaging with Scripture… all become something that lives in a foreign country.
It’s no surprise that many Christians today believe their identities are tied first and foremost to the world. It’s no surprise either that many Christians on the point of death panic over the life, the home, that they’re about to enter, because there isn’t a sense of familiarity about heaven.
The coin belongs to Caesar. We belong to God.
How do we live this out?
This week:
try to carve out just five minutes of uninterrupted prayer time before the chaos of work or school or family life starts. Remind yourself that your ultimate boss is God.
we are living testaments of faith for our parish of the Holy Family. Our presence reminds us all that earthly kingdoms and trends come and go, but God’s love stands forever. Be as serious about your heavenly schedule as you are with your Earthly one. Key in time for learning about Him and your eternal home, and for just spending time with Him.
when you pull out your phone or card to pay for something, say a quick prayer: ‘Lord, the world holds my money, but You hold my heart. I belong to You.’
Keep telling yourself and Him that every day!
May the Holy Spirit guide you to make room for God in your daily life, teach you to include Him in everything, and nudge you to stand firm in your true identity as a child of heaven.
God bless!
Article by Joyce Norma, HFC Blog Contributor