HOMILY FOR THE 25TH TUESDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY FOR THE 25TH TUESDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
BY: Bishop Anthony Ewherido
Prov 21:1-6, 10-13; Psalm 118(119):1, 27, 30, 34-35, 44; Luke 8:19-21
Although Jesus came into the world through a biological family and an ethnic group, the claim of the members of that biological/ethnic family to the saving grace of his presence can only be made by those who also have a spiritual connection with him. What was given birth to in the flesh must also be reborn in the Spirit; so, it is through baptism, not by kinship relationship, that people become members of Jesus’ household; his brothers and sisters. In Matt 12:46-50, Jesus actually pointed to his disciples as he defined the criteria for membership of his new family. Interestingly, the disciples were with him inside the “house” while the family (with simple human links) was outside the “house” when he made that definition in Matthew.
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Today’s gospel actually makes it clearer by stating that those who came in search of Jesus were standing “outside.” It is, however, on record that some members of Jesus’ natural family and relatives were among his disciples. His mother, as we all know, was her son’s first disciple; a commitment that she made by her Fiat in allowing God to do with her whatever God willed. So, when the woman, who heard him speak and marveled at his wisdom, blessed the womb that bore him and the breast that nursed him, Jesus retorted saying: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:27-28). He makes the same demands of us. Being baptized and members of a church are not enough. We must prove our true identity by keeping and putting into practice the word of God that we have heard. If not, we are actually standing outside the “household of the redeemed” even as we are claiming a relationship with Jesus. We must therefore heed the exhortation in today’s first reading, urging us to shun evil and walk on the path of righteousness.
Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands. Amen.
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