HOMILY FOR THE 22ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A. (5

HOMILY FOR THE 22ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

THEME: MISUNDERSTANDING.

BY: Fr Andrew Ekpenyong.

1. Expensive misunderstanding. Many of us drive cars with speedometers giving readings in both miles per hour and km per hour and we are usually careful in reading either. But on Sept 23, 1999 NASA lost the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft after a 286-day journey to Mars, because Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado, which designed and built the spacecraft, provided crucial acceleration data in inches and pounds but the spacecraft engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, failed to convert them and used the numbers like meters and kilograms in firing the spacecraft. The resulting error sent the spacecraft slowly off course — 60 miles in all. In a sense, the spacecraft was lost in translation or lost in misunderstanding. To reduce the chances of anyone misunderstanding this homily, let us be clear about misunderstanding. Misunderstanding describes: (1) an incorrect interpretation of a certain point of view, situation, argument, or piece of information; (2) a conflict or disagreement between two or more parties. The first description fits Jeremiah’s complaint against God in today’s first reading (Jer 20:7-9) as well as St Peter’s reaction to our Lord’s revelation of His suffering and death in today’s Gospel reading (Mt 16:21-27).

2. Suffering of the Innocent. Whenever women and men of God fail to take God’s revealed perspective into account, their interpretations of events usually become erroneous and even misleading. Jeremiah was doing great as a prophet until he began focusing on his woes without going back to God’s earliest message to him: “They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you—oracle of the Lord” (Jer 1:19). God did not promise Jeremiah a problem-free ministry. God has consistently revealed that He allows suffering and evil to happen, turning them into ultimate good for those who endure in faith and love. Permitting suffering and bringing victory in the end are consistent with God’s attributes of being All-Powerful and All-Loving. But in the midst of suffering, innocent suffering, Jeremiah did the most human thing: cry out in fear. With child-like directness, he complained to God: “You duped me, O Lord…the word of the Lord has brought me derision and reproach all day” Jer 20: 7,8. Thank goodness, unlike the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft engineers, Jeremiah caught his error on time and quickly claimed for himself God’s perspective: “But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not prevail.” (Jer 20:11). How beautiful! How inspiring!

3. All-Powerful and All-Loving. Permitting suffering and bringing victory in the end are not only consistent with God’s attributes of being All-Powerful and All-Loving but are the essence of God’s plan of salvation. But when Christ revealed this to the disciples in today’s Gospel reading as he hinted “that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Mt 16:21), Peter, did the most human thing: refuse any suffering for oneself and for one’s family and friends. Peter, who received revelation about the identity of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (Mt 16:16) failed to bring in that Divine perspective in relation to the most spectacular instance of the suffering of the innocent. Our Lord quickly corrected Peter in strong terms that reflect the seriousness of the matter: “Get behind me, Satan! …You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Then our Lord turned to teach the disciples and all of us even now the importance of the Divine perspective about our own sufferings and crosses. As I pray for those who are carrying crosses much heavier than mine during this time of disasters, natural and man-made, I am reminded of St Teresa of Avila’s hilarious way of handling things, when she tripped on her way to establishing new convents and asked lovingly. “Oh, my Lord when will you cease from scattering obstacles in our path?” “Do not complain, daughter,” the Divine Master answered, “for it is ever thus that I treat My friends.” “Ah, Lord, it is also on that account that You have so few!” May our friendship with Christ grow as we learn to discern God’s will for us (Rom 12:2), take up our cross, and follow Christ to victory. Amen.

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