25TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

25TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: EMBRACING THE WISDOM FROM ABOVE

BY: Fr. Celestine Muonwe

Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 / James 3:16-4:3 / Mark 9:30-37

From the earlier years of the Christian faith, the second chapter of the Book of Wisdom is considered a prophecy of the death of Christ. It describes how a godless and vain group of people become the enemies of a righteous man. This gives us definitely, the image of the Pharisees, who were mainly embittered by the the Jesus’ teaching against their hypocrisy and disregard of the true spirit of the law: “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us, and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training.” Since Jesus is the first martyr of the truth of God, as the followers of Christ, our suffering for the cause of the truth will not be different, and so also, the actions of those who would always hate and oppose the truth of the Gospel, hence Jesus declares: “Truly truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than is master, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him.” (Jn.13:16)

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In the second reading, St. James exposes the root cause of conflicts, hatred and injustice, to human passions of jealousy, greed and selfish ambition. Men who lust for power and for material things of this world at all costs, are ready to kill and destroy to get them. The root causes of wars today in many countries of the world ranges from the greed for profit by those who manufacture weapons of mass destruction, the politicians who get financial support from the manufacturers, and the countries or states, local areas that desire to acquire material things at the expense of the owners. The reason for Neo-paganism today, is also inspired by the same quest for material things, which is the painful seed of prosperity gospel. The war culture in the world today, is itself, a form of paganism; a worship of the world. However, for James, the wisdom from above is pure, marked by search the for peace among people, gentleness, openness to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or dishonesty.

In the Gospel, Jesus shocks the disciples with the message of His impending suffering and death on the cross: “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” Jesus quite understood that it is possible for disciples and Christians to lose sight of the message of the cross, of humiliation, of victory in defeat, and go after worldliness, violence, wars and the search for miracles and wonders to bring an end to all problems. This is in fact, the sickness of our age, an age in which peace and humility is scorned as weakness, where as violence, brutality and wars are seen as good and positive. Suffering for the sake of good is seen as a curse, people fail to see the redemptive power of suffering. Just like the example of Jesus, St. John of the Cross asks us to love the cross, to desire the harder path, and not the easy path. This is wisdom from above, not of the world.

Jesus further observes that the disciples were arguing on who was the greatest among them. Hence, He gives them a very important message on leadership. Leadership is a mission guided by wisdom from above: the greatest is the one who humbles himself, suffers more in love, slaves more for the good and interest of others: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Leadership is a work of selfless service and taking pains for the sake of others, of self-sacrifice and self-abnegation. Such an engagement is not an easy task, it needs a connection with wisdom that is not of this world, devoid of greed, jealousy and selfish ambition. This is why leadership has failed and continues to fail today in Nigeria and in many parts of the world, in all aspects of social life, in family life, politics, religion, education, etc.

More still, Jesus finalizes His teaching on the principles of divine wisdom by a more dramatic approach: He brought a little child and placed it in their midst, telling them that whoever receives such a child in His name receives Him, and anyone who receives Jesus receives the Father that sent Him. In so doing, Jesus teaches us that working for peace involves taking care of the weak, the vulnerable and the spiritually sick in the society. He teaches us that war and violence are not the ways of solving problems, and adults should teach the young the virtues of dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Parents should pass on to their children the Christian faith that they themselves received, starting from the home. He also teaches us the importance of total dependence on God, just as little children depend wholly on their parents. Just as children do the will of their parents in all things, in like manner, should we be totally committed to living and doing the will of God. Such is the very nature of the wisdom from above.

Prayer
May the good Lord grant us the grace to embrace the wisdom from above and disregard the worldly wisdom that is capable of leading us to death.

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