Things aren't always what they seem.
Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.
As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?
"The first man had everything, yet you helped him," she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die."
"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied.
"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."
"Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."
There are a lot of junk messages floating around the Internet. Some cry wolf, while others pretend to be inspiring and touching. I received the above message more than three times, from my students and friends. With 'angels', it looks innocently Christian and moralizing. However, the morality conveyed in the above message is un-Christian and vulgar. To save its skin, it has the title as its fig-leaf: Things aren't always what they seem.
Question: What biblical teachings did the older 'angel' go against?
The wealthy family was rude, or was it? They did not make available the luxury of the guest room. The 'angels' were put into the cold basement.
Now, just think about it. I'm sure the 'angels' would not reveal their wings or blinding lights to identify themselves as angels. How could you, then, blame a rich, cautious man for putting two total strangers in the 'cold basement'? Admitting them into the mansion was hospitality enough!
Question: Was sealing the hole in the wall an action appropriate for an 'angel'?
I suppose the treasure must have come from God, who is generous and patient. Our Father showers us with life, time, health and talents so that we may make good use of them, to glorify God (Matthew 5:16), to store up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20), to bear fruits, 30 folds, 60 folds or even a hundred folds (Mark 4:8). We are stewards of God's free gifts. Our job is to make good use of them.
Therefore, it is not sinful to be rich. Money, in itself, is not evil. To be evil or not depends on how I make use of it. Unfortunately, this message betrays an envy, a hatred against the rich.
What if I misuse, abuse these heavenly-sent gifts?
I am just putting fire on my head. At the end of the world, I repeat, at the end of the world, there will be a judgment day. I will be held accountable for what I have done and for what I have failed to do (Matthew 25:31-46). At the moment, God wouldn't seal my life, shorten my time, reduce my health and reclaim my talents (Matthew 13:24-30). My own greed, selfishness and follies will naturally kill me.
Question: Wouldn't God want to intervene, to prevent us from committing more sins?
Probably not. Otherwise, September 11 tragedy would never have taken place. There would have been no more bank robberies, drug trafficking, domestic violence, drink driving etc.... To respect our free-will, God simply hadn't made such moves. The father of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 did the same. In the Gospel, God our Heavenly Father has given us a free hand to manage our life.
What if this time God really wants to intervene? Probably the older 'angel' was trying, on God's behalf, to help the rich man by preventing him from committing more sins, from becoming greedier. But wouldn't it be more constructive to leave a note among the treasure, informing the greedy man that the treasure was God-sent? So you had better made good use of it, to help your needy neighbours, to do penance for your former greed, to store up treasures in heaven.
In conclusion, the action of the older 'angel' preempted God's plan. It (I am not sure about its gender) passed judgment on God's generosity. It placed itself above God!
Now, let's turn to the poor farmer and wife.
Question: By exchanging the life of the farmer's wife with that of the cow, was the older 'angel' unbiblical again?
Affirmative! It was unbiblical. Read Ecclesiastes.
"There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:
A time for giving birth,
a time for dying;" (3:1-2)
When the angel of death came for the farmer's wife, it was time for her to return home, to be relieved of the burden of poverty, to meet her Creator. The older angel's action reminds me of sympathetic magic. Through rituals and sacrifices, primitive people redeemed life and appeased evil spirits with animals. Its action also reminds me of our many medically advanced practitioners. Sustaining life with extraordinary means, they play God!
Why are modern people so obsessed with life? Why don't they let go when it is time to go? Why are people so afraid of death? Who is the Master of Life? Who decides whom to live, whom to die? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)
Don't take me wrong. I'm not against saving life, in accidents, in disasters, in hospitals etc. We don't know for sure those victims must die. So, we must try our best to save their lives. In those cases, we are not playing God. Alas, not in this case of the farmer's wife. The angel of death had already crossed the threshold!
It is time to turn to love, the core of Christianity.
In His Last Supper, Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) In dying, the wife would improve the quality of her husband's life. Her death would not be wasted. Had the wife known that she would die, out of her love for her husband, she would have been glad to go, to rest assured that her husband would live on the whole cow, improving the quality of his life. Loving someone without insisting on staying together with him may be a higher, purer and nobler form of love.
Question: What about the pains (or joys) of losing a wife?
I do not want to philosophize about love. Daily life experience has taught me that love has never promised of incurring no pains. Neither do I intend to do a 'cost and benefit analysis' between bereavement and poverty. But in sacrificing the cow, the 'angel' had denied the wife of a higher form of love and the farmer of the inevitable bitter-sweetness of love itself, inevitable because sometime in the future, one of them would die and usually the life-expectancies of men and women are different.
Lastly, the above message is annoying in making the naive younger angel a girl and putting the woman, not the farmer to death! The author of the original message is probably guilty of sexual discrimination!
Jan 22, 2003