WHAT IS TRUE PROSPERITY?

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and I’m sure many of us are caught up in the festivities - be it spring cleaning our homes, preparing to host reunion meals with our loved ones or even queuing up at the ATM for new notes.

During Chinese New Year, there are several practices that are deemed to be auspicious, such as wearing red, giving hong baos, wearing new clothes, and avoiding sweeping in the New Year. These practices are done with the belief that it will bring in good luck, and hence, prosperity.

One popular practice is pasting the Chinese character for fortune or prosperity (福; fu). This can be seen commonly in places of business or homes of those who observe such traditions closely. Sometimes, the word may be pasted upside down, given that the Chinese character for “upside down” sounds similar to the word for “arrive”, so the upside down 福 means “Prosperity has come”.

While we soak up in the festivities of the Chinese New Year holidays, I would like to spend a bit of time breaking down what it means to be prosperous, by studying 福. 福 can be broken down into individual radicals containing 礻,一,口 and 田.

Firstly, 礻(shi) signifies deity, or spirituality, as in the Chinese character for God (神, shen). Next, on the top right side, we have 一 (yi) which simply means one, and below it, 口(kou) which means mouth. Taken together, they represent one mouth or one person. Lastly, on the bottom right side, we have 田 (tian), which means a field, or by extension, a piece of cultivated land such as a garden.

Based on the literal interpretation of these 4 elements of 福, we find that there is prosperity (or blessings) when God and man are in the garden. I find this interpretation interesting and its similarity to what we read in the Bible.

The first time this happened was in Genesis 2:15, when God created Adam and placed him in the garden of Eden. Before committing sin, Adam and Eve enjoyed a close relationship with God, simply because there was no sin to separate God from man (Isaiah 59:2). This was truly a state of 福, because mankind enjoyed an intimate relationship with God, with God declaring His creation to be good. However, by partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve came to realise that they had sinned, and as a result, felt ashamed (Genesis 3:8, 10). God cursed the serpent, Eve, Adam and the ground, resulting in the loss of mankind’s relationship with God (and thereby the state of 福) through the introduction of sin into the world.

The second time where the elements of 福 were present was in Gethsemane, a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives. This is recorded in Matthew 26:36-46, where Jesus pleaded to God in anticipation of the suffering that He would endure on the cross. During this instance, Jesus was alone with God in the garden, as Jesus withdrew Himself from the disciples (Luke 22:41), and Peter, James and John fell asleep while Jesus was praying (Luke 22:45) in the garden. Despite this event fulfilling all the elements of 福, with one man being with God in the garden, conventionally, one would not associate this to be one of prosperity (福). During this period, Jesus endured intense sorrow (Matthew 26:38) and agony (Luke 22:44), pleaded with God to remove the cup of suffering from Him (Matthew 26:39), suffered neglect from Peter, James and John, soon experienced betrayal by His own apostle (Matthew 26:46), faced imminent death by one of the most torturous forms of capital punishments ever to be conceived, and most importantly, bore the sins of the world (1 Peter 2:24).

However, with the benefit of understanding God’s scheme of redemption (Ephesians 3:10), we can see how this agonizing period has brought about prosperity (福). 福 that is not for Jesus, but for us. Whatever agony that Jesus suffered in Gethsemane or Calvary was for our sake, that we might obtain reconciliation with God (2 Corinthians 5:18), and be restored to a state of being blessed (福) (Ephesians 1:3).

This 福 that can be found in Jesus is certainly superior to any earthly blessing that will eventually decay, because through Jesus, we are now made heirs to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7), to an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, perpetual, and reserved in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4).

Therefore, as we go about our Chinese New Year visitations, and bring wishes of goodwill to those we meet, let us remember the true prosperity that we have already obtained in Christ Jesus.

Wishing all a blessed Chinese New Year ahead.