HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME. (1)

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME.

THEME:  HERODIANS AND PHARISEES IN OUR MIDST!

BY: Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr)

* Tob 2: 9 – 14, Mk 12: 13 – 17.

Herodians and Pharisees were guilty of behavioural excesses and artificialities – vices that denied God his due respect and gave human beings (especially the leaders and the rich) undue praise and adulation. Flattery, sychophancy and hypocrisy were their trademarks. In today’s gospel Jesus sees a deadly combination of flattery and treachery in their hearts: ‘Seeing through their hypocrisy, he said to them….”Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”. Yes, loyalty to authorities and loyalty to God can coexist together without conflict. You can tell a king the truth without being disloyal to him.

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Today, we have so many Herodians and Pharisees in our midst all over our secular and ecclesiastical governmental positions. They tend to over honour the Emperor, President, Governors, Bishops, etc at the expense of telling them the sincere truth. It is such people for instance that are telling many of our Presidents, Governors and leaders to continue grandstanding as ‘Your Excellency’ even when the processes that gave them the mandate are not excellent by any means.

We must encourage everybody to eschew hypocrisy and live holy and saintly lives while we wait for the day of the Lord so that he will find you at peace. We must remain loyal to our leaders but remain more loyal to God by telling them the raw truth without insulting them or disobeying them. Let Pharisees and Herodians in our midst repent. While we accept that no one is perfect and faultless, we affirm that leadership must be accompanied by a level of transparency that is objectively impeccable! Loyalty to God means loyalty to the truth which is beyond all political loyalty! May God bless you today!

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