Fr. Ben’s homily for Tuesday of the 26th week in Ordinary Time Cycle I

Fr. Ben’s homily for Tuesday of the 26th week in Ordinary Time Cycle I

Theme: FIRE BY FIRE!

By: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)

Homily for Tuesday September 2i 2021

*Zech 8 : 20 – 23, Lk 9 : 51 – 56.
Many followers of Christ today still behave like the ‘Sons of thunder’ mentioned in today’s gospel; impulsive and provocative, reactionary and hot tempered, vindictive and vengeful. Borrowing a leaf from Prophet Elijah, they wanted to destroy the Samaritan village by fire from heaven for denying the apostles access road to Jerusalem. Some Pentecostal Churches like the Mountain of Fire (sorry to mention names) still have that ‘Elijah mentality’. Elijah had a different mission from Christ – to demonstrate the terrors of the law and to give proof of the supremacy of the worship of Yahweh against the occultic, idolatrous and wicked worship of baal taking place in the court of Ahab.

When Amaziah the King of Samaria fell sick and chose to consult the baals of Israel instead of Yahweh, Elijah declared woe to him. He sent a garrison of soldiers to arrest Elijah but the man of God had to call down Holy Ghost fire to destroy all of them, 2 kgs 1 : 1 – 17. When Queen Jezebel arraigned the prophets of baal in contest against Elijah, God had to stand by Elijah in conquest over them by releasing the fire of the Holy Ghost over the items of offering. But shortly after that, he had to teach Elijah the bitter lesson of his life – that he was not always a ‘God that answereth by fire’ but a God that prefers to appear in a gentle breeze, 1 Kg 18 & 19.

Use of force, threat and curses are indices of the lower religion; like Judaism, Islam and African Traditional Religion (ATR). Christianity presents a higher valency of mood – a higher elasticity of patience; 70 ×7 forgiveness model ; a sublime degree of tolerance and negotiation that cripples even the most violent of demons. Look at the waring nations of the world today and understand what I am saying. It is not usually the deeply Christian nations that are at war. It is always the Middle East; Islam vs Judaism, descendants of Esau vs Jacob; Ishmael vs Isaac, with their ‘fire by fire mentality’. We must learn from Christ’s rebuke of James and John – the sons of thunder in today’s gospel that tolerance and patience are the sublime virtues of Christian morality. Ronald Reagan said it all when he made the assertion that ‘peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflicts by peaceful means’.

Let people come to seek the Lord of hosts through you as the 1st reading says. Let men from every tongue take hold of your robe and say: ‘Let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you’. The Lord is not in the company of the violent and aggressive. He is not part of that your vengeance mission or ‘back to sender novena prayer’. He is not prepared to respond to your ‘Holy Ghost faya ya ya’ prayer rantings. He is the gentle lamb that was slain at Calvary. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto thine!