CYCLE I: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

CYCLE I: HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: LIVING BEYOND THE LAW!

BY: Fr. Benedict Agbo

HOMILY: * Heb 6 : 10 – 20, Mk 2 : 23 – 28.

Breaking the law out of human need may sound like liberalism. If you take that argument further, a lot of damage may be done especially on morality matters. Jesus is not such a liberalist. I think his indaba here in today’s gospel lies in living beyond the law ; understanding the purpose of the law so well as to know when to break it without vitiating the real purpose of that law. That is why he said in today’s gospel that ‘The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath’. Man does not need to die of hunger just because he is trying to obey the Sabbath law. There are certain essential services ( like movement, health care, feeding, etc) that could be allowed to go on on Sundays provided the religious duty of worship is also enhanced.

Elsewhere, St Paul argues that the law is holy, Rom 7 : 12. Without the law, human life becomes chaotic. We actually need all the 10 commandments of God, especially the Sabbath law so that we begin to practice how to enter God’s permanent place of rest while still on earth. We need the law against fornication and adultery for example, so that human love will not grow too carnal, promiscuous, animalistic and cause pains, heartbreaks, unwanted pregnancies and broken homes. But we should not think that God hates sex because he created it. God’s laws are not harsh/ inhuman. God is actually prolife and pro people. He cares for us and gives us laws that will make us happy on earth. If we understand this, we would live beyond the law; understand them and keep them even more than the law giver. As a Music teacher, my business is teaching my students first to know the laws of harmony and how to break it later as masters of composition. Musicology begins with the lawful use of consonances and ends in the gainful use of discords or dissonances. It begins with the pedagogical study of tonal harmony and ends with the freelance world of atonality and duodecaphony. According to John Rose, ‘Obedience keeps the law, but love knows when to break it’.

May God bless you today!

FR BEN AGBO.