God remembers after 400 years - dec 29 2013

Daan na ini nga joke.  Ginahambalan ko na kamo nga daan para kadlawan nyo man. There was a man who asked the Lord this question, Lord what is a million pesos for you?

And sure enough God replied, One peso. 

Lord, the man asked further, what is a million years for you? 

And God replied, A minute. 

Lord, the man said, can you give me one peso? 

And the Lord replied, Ok, wait a minute.

Sang wala gid may nagkadlaw sini nga joke kaina sang Aguinaldo kay daw medyo natuyo ang tanan, ang mga seminarista nga nagsimba nagsiling sa akon, der daan na gid man ang joke mo – but anyway I would like to use this to illustrate something in our gospel today. 

The last prophet of the Old Testament was the Prophet Malachi.  And the last prophesy that he uttered was the coming of John the Baptist who like Elijah will bring people back to the God and will prepare the way of the Lord. After this prophesy, after the prophet Malachi there were no more prophets in Israel, no more prophetic utterances, no more marvelous works.  Strangely enough, after the prophet Malachi God kept quiet for 400 years. It was a silence which lasted for 400 years.

Then 400 years later, in the midst of this strange silence of God the angel Gabriel was once more sent to the temple and appeared to the priest Zechariah.  All of a sudden heaven was abuzz with activities.  All of a sudden God seemed to have woken up after 400 years, ang Dios daw sa namuragmuragan kag nakadumdum.  In truth this is the meaning of the name Zechariah.  Zechariah means “God remembers,” “ang Ginoo nakadumdum.”  Ang Ginoo nakadumdum after 400 years.

And when the angel announced to Zechariah that God finally remembered his prayers, Zechariah it seems could not remember what he prayed for.  Nakibot sia. 

Why?  Because experts of the bible say the Greek word describing Elizabeth and Zechariah as “old” is a Greek word used only for those who have reached 60 years old.   60 years old na si Zechariah kag si Elizabeth, senior citizens na sila, may discount na sila nga 20 percent sa mga botika, tapos singganon sila sang anghel nga makabata na sila.  Siempre nakibot si Zechariah.  Dayon inakigan pa sia kay nakibot sia. 

Siguro sang kinasal si Zecahriah kag si Elizabeth, sang naga-idad sila nga 18 years old (in those days they were married early on) siguro nangadi sila nga maka-anak sila.  Sang 20 years old na sila nga wala man sa gihapon bata, probably they prayed harder.  Sang 25 kag 30 years old na sila and still no child siguro they really prayer hard for a child.  Sang 35 years old na sila grabe na gid ang ila pangadi.  40 grabe pa gid.  Pag-45 matyag ko nagsiling na si Zechariah, ga, wala na ni tsansa.  50 years old sigurado ko wala na sila nangadi nga makabata pa.  Adjus ta sang 60 years old na sila, sinabat ang ila pangamuyo.  It was as if God slept all along, tapos nakabugtaw sia, tapos namuragmuragan sia, tapos nadumduman niya ang pangamuyo ni Zakarias, 60 years old na si Elisabet.  Again Zechariah – God remembers.

Lord what is a million pesos for you.  One peso.  Lord what is a million years for you?  A minute.  Lord can you give me one peso.  Ok wait a minute.  Daw amo gid no?  But who can explain the silence of God?  I don’t know.  Who can explain why God remained silent for 400 years, why God seemed to have slept when Zechariah and Elizabeth were bombarding him with their prayers?  It happened to Israel, to Elizabeth and Zechariah when they were met with this strange silence.  Perhaps this is what some of us are feeling right now, perhaps some of those who feel like this are no longer here in church, having given up that God is perhaps asleep or even dead. Perhaps this is also the feeling of people in Tacloban or in the northern part of this island.

But that is not my only point.  My other point is, God remembers, and because God remembers, God is Gracious - now that is the meaning of the name John – the name John means God is gracious . . . because the name Zechariah means, God remembers.

Buwas anibersaryo sang pagkamatay sang tatay ko, he died 2005.  In his own way he was a good father pero indi lang gid sia relihiyoso pareho halimbawa kay nanay ko.  Sang nagsulod ako sa seminaryo wala na sia nagasimba – many times we ventured to guess why but we only guess.  Dumdoman ko Sang apgsulod ko sa seminaryo our formators told us that we should always pray especially for loved one who have left the church.  So halin 12 years old nangamuyo gid ako para kay tatay nga wala nagpalya.  Naggraduate lang ako, wala sa gihapon.  Nagpari ako 1993, wala man sa gihapon.  It was only in 2004 nga finally nangayo gid man sia nga pakalawaton, bedridden na sia.  I have trained hundreds of Eucharistic Minsiters  nga mga manugpakalawat.  Pero my greatest joy was to train my mother to become the  Eucharistic Minister for only one person – my father.  God remembers and when God remembers, God is gracious.

Advent teaches us to hope, not to give up easily.  What is hope?  The Spanish word for hope is esperanza.  Esperanza comes from the verb esperar.  Esperar means hulat, to wait.