HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT. (2)

HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF LENT.

THEME: GOD’S TIME!

BY: Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr)

* Is 49: 8 – 15, Jn 5: 17 – 30.

As children of God, there are three things we must never joke with in our relationship with God. We must respect God’s time, God’s will and God’s name.
(i) God’s time; Today’s 1st reading says: ‘In the time of favour I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you’. God has his own time. We are never to panic at the mere sight of adversity. On many occasions God seems to be not on our own time but God’s time is the best. His Word says: ‘Be still and know that I am God’, Ps 46: 10. Today’s 1st reading says he doesn’t forget us. According to Fulton Sheen he answers our prayers by saying either YES, NO or WAIT!

(ii) God’s will; His will is also often times different from ours. His ways are not our ways, Is 55: 8. But the Word of God assures us that he has plans for us – plans for good not plans for evil, Jer 29: 11. All we need is to learn to always respect his judgment as children of God.

(iii) God’s name; His name must be hallowed and glorified in our praise, Matt 6: 10. Worship is the advanced level of discipleship. There are moments when other petitions fizzle out and then we are left with this singular duty of worshipping and glorifying his name. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people.

The Jews sought to kill him (Jesus) because he not only broke the law of the Sabbath, but called God his father, thus making himself equal with God. In the equation matrix of the Father – Son relationship, the Son has all the powers of the father – authority to create and restore life, authority to execute judgment and forgive sins, etc but as Son he must be dependent on the father’s will, Mk 14: 37. Right from the Nicean Council through to the Council of Constantinople and Ephesus, the equality of the Father and the Son has remained a mystery to many theologians. A son, in a sense, can be said to be equal to his father by having the same ontological attributes as his father but in another sense, is often seen as subordinate to his father since he was begotten by his father. In Jesus’ case Catholic theology says ‘He was begotten, not made – one in substance with the Father’. And so, Jesus could confidently say in today’s gospel: ‘My father is working still, and I am working’ – one in essence, distinct in person. Every child of God exercises, to some degree, the authority of God provided he believes fully in him and does his will. ‘And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’, Jn 17: 3. ‘There is now, no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’, Rom 8: 1 – 2, because Christ will take his position as Son of God and be the eternal judge granting us pardon for our sins if we remain in fellowship with him. May God bless you today!

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