FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER (3)
FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER
THEME: BEING ON THE SIDE OF JESUS!
BY: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY MAY 13 2022
*Act 13 : 26 – 33, Jn 14 : 1-6.
The message of salvation can simply be summarized as being on the side of Jesus – following
O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend; I shall not fear the battle if thou art by my side
FR. BEN’S HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER
THEME: BEING ON THE SIDE OF JESUS!
BY: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)
HOMILY FOR FRIDAY MAY 13 2022
*Act 13 : 26 – 33, Jn 14 : 1-6.
The message of salvation can simply be summarized as being on the side of Jesus – following him as the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Bible assures us that there will be no condemnation for those who are on the side of Jesus, Rom 8 : 1. Our hearts should no longer be troubled with any form of fear or anxiety because Jesus provides everything we need pertaining to life and godliness, 2 Pet 1 : 3-9.
1. HE IS THE WAY; He provides the sense of direction so that we can never miss our bearing. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of him wisely as ‘the holy way – the highway – the redeemed shall walk’, Is 35 : 8 – 9. We couldn’t have made heaven if he didn’t suffer and die for our sins and open the gates of heaven. Our prayers to God ascend heaven through him and God’s blessings also descend upon us through him.
2. HE IS THE TRUTH; Jesus is the ultimate reality – the ‘summum bonum’ or highest good as opposed to all the shadows or figures of the truth that we find in the Old Testament and other religions. For example, the manna was a figure of the heavenly bread but Christ is the substance – the true bread. The brazen serpent was an Old Testament figure of the redeemer, Wisdom 16 : 6, but Christ is the redeemer par excellence. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, he must be lifted up in our Churches that those who look and believe in him will be saved from the devil’s bites, Jn 3 : 14. As the Ark was the symbol of God’s presence and protection for the people of God in the time of Noah, Gen 7, and the Shekinah glory of God hovered over the Ark of the covenant, 2 Sam 6, Christ Jesus is now the new reality. He wants us to worship him in his sanctuary in a new way through the curtain of his flesh residing in the Eucharistic tabernacle, Heb 10 : 20.
He has been opposed so much by the devil, the father of liars, Jn 8 : 44 who have deceived the world hitherto through many false religions . When the Jewish highpriests arraigned him before Pontius Pilate he told him that those who are on his side are those on the side of truth, Jn 18 : 38 because he is the very embodiment of truth.
3. HE IS THE LIFE; Christ is the fullness of life and the source of a new sense of vitality that transcends the physical. That’s why he taught us that ‘man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’, Matt 4 : 4. He is the living bread that has come from heaven. Anyone that eats this bread will live for ever, Jn 6 : 51. Communion with Christ not only guarantees fullness of life on earth but immortality since he is both the resurrection and life, Jn 11 : 35. Having said these, we are left with no better choice than to be on the side of Jesus – to be daily configured to his Word and to be daily fed by his Eucharistic meal. May God bless you today!
