SUDDENLY, arrogant, loudmouthed leaders ofthe world, some closer home, who with sneers,jeers andtaunts, poked fun at others, have changed their tone. Some had great plans to reshape demography, recreate borders and rebuild their nations, using cunning, clever andMachiavellianideas,they had even stolen from the handbook of Hitler. But corona has changedtheir rhetoric andtheir tone to whining whimpers! Suddenly, they realize that the destiny of their nations, is not in their hands, but in the hands of a power much greater, bigger and huger than their tiny selves, as they cower inside their homes and address their people with fear! And as I hear them now, I am reminded this Sunday of a parable from the scriptures: Luke 12 verses 13-21: Then he (Jesus) said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.” 16 He told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced very well. 17 He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’ 18 He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. 19 And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’ 21 “That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Yes, my dear friends, we who have been callous and cruel to our neighbours, and have been thinking of building a bigger barn of our country to store only like- minded people who worship like ourselves, here’s a message for you. What this virus, can teach us, is humility! That nothing, no nothing is in our hands, and like the rich man who wanted to build bigger barns, we who have trampled on others, now realize that death can stamp us out in a jiffy! Can you hear God saying to you such leaders, “You Fool, humble yourselves today, learn to be compassionate like I am compassionate, and learn to love your neighbour like you love yourself?” There is a message that is coming through this devastating, deadly, death-dealing virus, and that is to ‘humble ourselves’ instead of building our sky high, selfish barns! Or as God says, “You fool! Now who will get what you have prepared?”
