Mum's the Word

Most, if not all, of what we’ve been discussing in 101 has been framed in the context of God’s will and His purpose for Creation. Doing so, we’ve come to understand, will help us lay the foundation for living free.

Two weeks ago, a bunch of my friends gathered round the table to embark on the study of the Book of Romans. We reflected on the idea of Lordship in the first century Roman world – the lords of people’s lives who commanded a strong sense of respect, love, loyalty, and sometimes even fear.

Who are the lords in our lives, we thought?

What ensued was quite unexpected. We turned out bellyfuls of laughs, as well as sobering revelations and poignant listening points.

The exercise went something like this:

Share with the group someone who has a major authority or influence over your life? Describe who he/she is, in what way does he/she influence your life?

What are some of the things you appreciate about him/her? Are there things that you don't appreciate?

There were a variety of answers reflecting the different seasons and stages we were in life. Named amongst the list were loving mums and strict dads, spiritual leaders and personal mentors – and who could forget those fearsome lecturers whom we suffered under their tyrannical rule and the judgment of that dreaded red pen?

Next, read Romans 1:1-16 aloud.

Read it aloud again, this time at the end of all the occurrences of “Gospel”, “Gospel of God”, “Gospel of his son”, “the Gospel”, etc. add the phrase - “which is, the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord”.

This made sense. The Gospel, we had learnt earlier, is a Person. The Gospel is Jesus. He is the Good News.

Now, for the third reading, replace “Lord” with the title of whomever you described earlier.

For example, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God (which is, the Good News that Jesus Christ is my boss) – the gospel (which is, the Good News that Jesus Christ is my boss) he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son...”

This sure didn’t. But after much confusion and mind acrobats, the distinctions and implications of this started to become clear for us.

What would it mean, if Jesus Christ is your “boss”? How would things change? Would it be Good News for you? Why? Why not?

It wasn’t talking about mum or dad or our boss being Jesus to us. But rather, what would it mean if Jesus was mum or dad – i.e. if Jesus were to have his way in our lives as mum and dad did in our lives? Who are the people who have powerfully shaped our lives, the people we have become, and the way we think?

It could possibly mean a very different way of doing things.

Whether we cared to admit it or not – mum, dad, spiritual leaders, mentors, siblings, lecturers, husbands and best friends – not in a generic sense, but actual people with a face to a name and label – these were the lords that ruled our lives: Those whom we worked hard to please, to win their respect and honour, and from whose approval we gain our sense of significance, value and worth.

In effect, these were those whose will we carry out here on earth. Not God’s, and surprisingly, sometimes not even our own.

An only child, I’ve grown up in an environment where mum was largely my pillar of support and source of strength. It was made all the more so when my father died during the time I gingerly stepped into “adulthood” at 21. It was abundantly clear then that the only people we had in the world were each other. We would go the greatest lengths for each other. We would love each other and care for each other.

I would, and I wanted to do her will. To make sure she was happy and make up for the difficult life she had suffered.

But it is here that I begin to comprehend what it was all about when Jesus called the disciples to drop their nets and follow Him. To leave father and mother, and let the dead bury the dead.

It is a hard call, when we find the wills of the lords in our lives conflicting with the will of the Creator. It rips you apart, in those moments where you realize you no longer wish to serve the same purposes of your lords.

You can’t serve both mammon and God – you will either love one or hate the other. There are things, I’m learning, that may not be as important for me to have as I originally thought – to determine my success and worth – as perhaps mum, aunties and uncles, and loving relatives are want to believe.

Why should we care about what everybody thinks? I agree.

But I’d be lying to say I don’t care about what some people think. It is hard to lay aside the opinions and sincere hopes of people whom I love and are closely knitted to, those who do genuinely want to see the best for my life, through their eyes, through their knowledge of good and evil.

It takes incredible faith to do God’s will – to even want to do God’s will – to defy society’s conventions and disregard popular wisdom. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane only serves to remind me of that. May I grow from faith, to faith. The reverence of God is the beginning of wisdom.