One day the king and his
friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the
guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing
one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it
and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as
usual, “This is good!” To which the king replied, “No, this is not good!” and
proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the
king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of.
Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands,
stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near
to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being
superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the
king they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he
was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his
treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his
friend. “You were right” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.”
And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so I am
very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”
“No,” his friend
replied, “this is good!” “What do you mean, ‘this is good’! How could it be
good that I sent my friend to jail for a year. “If I had not been in jail, I
would have been with you.”
My dear friends in
Christ, this story conveys a message that at times we could not understand why
things happened the way we never expected them to happen. It was only later
that we realized there must be an invisible hand which made those things
happened in His own time and reason. They served most of the times as blessings
in disguise.
In our Gospel, Luke
1:67-79, the author also unfolds a blessing in disguise. Zechariah who seemed
to be “fruitless” at first because at his old age, he never had a child with
his wife Elizabeth, finally blessed God. He gave thanks to God because at the
time when it was impossible for him to have a child, God miraculously blessed
them with a son. He did not only thank God for giving them a son, but also for
appointing their son as the precursor of Jesus, the Son of God. What happened in
the case of Zechariah called so much attention from their relatives and
friends. The seemingly ordinary occasion of giving birth to a child was viewed
as the greatest blessing not only for the family but for all in the society. From
this instance, thereof, we can somehow learn that everything happens according
to God’s perfect timing and purpose. At the end, it is God’s plan that must be
followed.
On this last day of our
Simbang Gabi, we recall our experiences which seem too hard for us to bear. We recall
those moments that something or someone hinders us to find peace and happiness especially
in celebrating this Christmas. Let us lift them up to the Lord with faith that
everything happens in accordance to His will. We keep our faith by looking
forward that God shall turn our misery into a story of blessings in disguise. Whatever
problems we may have now, whatever pain we may feel today, let us be inspired
by Zechariah to wait for the unfolding of God’s blessings out of our undesirable
condition. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment