In December of 2016, some of my friends invited me to their family Christmas Eve Party. There were about forty to fifty of us in attendance. It was fun-filled, and I enjoyed every bit of it. But there was an aspect of the party that stood out for me. It was a game called White Elephant. All the participants came with well-wrapped gifts. I did not go with any gift because no one told me about it, but before I got there, my friends made provisions for me. When it was time for the game, the hosts assembled all the wrapped gifts in the center of the room, and we sat around the gifts. We all picked numbers randomly, after which we began to pick the gifts, starting with the person who picked number one. I carefully watched as people were choosing their gifts. I discovered that the first few people chose very attractive wrappings. As participants were unwrapping their gifts, I also found that the best-wrapped gifts did not necessarily have the best contents, while some of the simple packaging had very precious contents.
After the party, I was the last guest to leave the venue. I watched the other guests as they left with their gifts. I discovered that no one left with the wrapping papers. We all carefully took the contents home and left the wrapping papers behind for the hosts to clean up. At this realization, I wondered, “If we were going to end up leaving the wrapping papers behind, why did we make our choices based on the wrapping papers?” At that point, I concluded that the White Elephant Game is like an enacted parable that shows how we live our lives.
How often do we pass judgment on people based on their gender, how they look, dress, talk, where they went to school, and where they come from? We quickly condemn people based on appearance and consequently miss the treasure they carry in them. “All that glitters”, they say “is not gold.” In Nigeria, when teenagers are approaching adulthood and preparing for marriage, the older generations would counsel them not to be carried away by physical appearance in making choices. They say, “The wife’s beauty and the husband’s handsomeness are only beneficial in the first weeks of marriage.” After the first weeks, they are left with the reality of their compatibility; the reality of their characters. After the first weeks of marriage, the wife’s beauty and the husband’s handsomeness would only be enjoyed by outsiders. Sometimes, people congratulate the man for marrying a beautiful wife and he smiles and says, “Thank you!” But in his mind, he thinks, “I wish you knew what I am going through at home.” Or when people congratulate a woman because of a handsome husband, she says, “Thank you!” but deep down in her mind, she thinks, “Can I loan him to you just for a few hours?”
Today is our third consecutive Sunday of reading from the Gospel according to John 6. Today’s passage begins by telling us that “The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven,’ and they said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother?’” They added, “Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” The Jews were too self-confident. They thought they knew everything about Jesus because they were sure they knew his family. They did not realize the family was just the packaging God prepared for him. They were not patient enough to allow the content of the packaging, Jesus Christ, to introduce himself, so they missed out.
Unfortunately, that hasty conclusion did not stop with the Jews at that time. People continue to question God’s gift to them based on the packaging; they look at the packaging and conclude that they know the content. Very soon, at this Mass, Jesus will give himself to us in the packaging of bread and wine. Those obsessed with the packaging will deny his presence in the Eucharist. They will even make a mockery of those who adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Thomas Aquinas says, “Faith will tell us Christ is present, when our human senses fail.”
Our God is all-powerful; nothing is beyond his power. The packaging does not limit him. He chooses to reveal himself and to present himself to us whenever, wherever, and however he wishes; it is not for us to dictate. My dearly beloved in Christ, as we continue to reflect on the Gospel of John 6, let us pray that the Holy Spirit may enlighten us to keep recognizing God wherever, whenever, and however he chooses to reveal himself to us until we come to our heavenly inheritance, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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