HOMILY/REFLECTION FOR 26TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY/REFLECTION FOR 26TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: BUILDING COMMUNITY SPIRIT

BY: Fr Stephen ‘Dayo Osinkoya

Num. 11: 25-29, Ps. 19, James 5: 1-6, Mark 9: 38-43, 45. 47-48

Firstly, you only have to pay attention to what is trending in the society you live in for you to know that in our world today, morality has become relative. You dare not call something a sin or you yourself get labelled as insensitive, intolerant, or perhaps you are harbouring some form of hate or even suffering from some form of phobia. You may even be labelled an extremist.

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Secondly, jealousy and intolerance can be a problematic attitude. In the First Reading, we heard of Joshua complaining to Moses, and in fact, he told Moses to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying, simply because they were absent from the gathering where Moses bestowed the spirit to the seventy elders. The reply of Moses was, “Are you jealous?” Indeed, Joshua could not tolerate the two men. In the same way, in the Gospel, we heard of John telling Jesus that he tried to prevent a man from driving out demons (in the name of Jesus) simply because he is not part of them. That man is not a follower of Jesus in a strict sense. What was the response of Jesus? He told John not to prevent him. His reason, “For whoever is not against us is for us.”

God decided to which men he would give a share of the prophetic grace he had given to Moses. Moses was glad that those two elders who had not been with the others still received this gift. In fact, he wished every one of the Chosen People had received it. Likewise, we should be glad for the gifts others have received and should wish everyone had every gift. But instead, what do we see? Jealousy and intolerance.

That God is not using your child for some great work doesn’t mean you should not value another’s child that God has chosen to use. You should pray God use you or your child instead of talking down or hindering the one God is working through! We should applaud and support anyone doing any real good, whether they are in the Church or out of it. The reason for this is that good is objectively good: it is good regardless of the person who is doing it. This is why persons who do not know the Catholic faith can be saved by their cooperation with hidden graces to live good lives as best they can. In the same way, evil is evil regardless of who does it. But in a sense, evil done by a follower of Christ is even worse than evil done by an unbeliever, because we know better and have more grace to do what is right.

But in this morning’s gospel, Jesus dared to mention what is now unmentionable. He dared to proclaim that there are choices that we have, and that some of those choices go against the will of God. They separate us from Him. They cause us to sin. And what Jesus told his followers still holds true: if something causes us to sin, if it separates us from God, then we need to separate ourselves from it. Cut it off. Pluck it out.

Jesus was not in any way advocating mutilation of the self. He was using hyperbole, and he did so to remind his listeners of how attached we are to the very things that make us sin. Maybe today, the problem is not a hand, a foot or an eye. Maybe it is something else—but something that is just as much a part of us. Jesus uses the imagery of our senses as cause of sin. But in actually fact, the point he is making is that the things that cause us to sin are things we are so attached to and we feel completely dependent on them just as much as we depend on and even trust our senses.

Moreover, what causes us to sin is not limited to our senses and material things alone.

There are certain company we keep that could as well be considered ‘sure path’ to sin. Certain individual or group of individuals to whom we are so attached and pay allegiance could also cause us to sin; either because they wield so much authority over us, or out of shear fear! because they wield so much influence in the society or even in the Church. When such people speak, we simply follow. And they cause us to sin through their wrong counsels and opinions. And because of fear of being labelled a traitor, we follow in their evil counsel even when we know we are being led astray. What an irony!

The message of the gospel this morning is clear: we need to separate and dissociate ourselves from those things and people that separate us from God.

How many sins do we commit because of fear! In some Parishes, some people would be afraid the “non-indigenes” would take over the parish, hence some of the people do and say all sorts of things to stop those regarded as non-indigenes from contributing to the growth of the parish. Some even work against their holding any significant post in the parish. Because of this attitude of jealousy, pride and intolerance, many people have been pushed out of the Church. Such jealous, proud and intolerant individual and group of individuals have led many others to sin by giving bad examples. People like these, who give scandal are the real enemy of Jesus, regardless of what position they occupy in the society or in the Church.

Jesus warns his Disciples that they must not become an obstacle in the way of anyone who is searching for him. That applies equally to us and we should ask ourselves whether anyone would want to become a Christian because of who we are and how we live or whether we drive them away because of our attitudes and lifestyle. Many people have lost faith because of the way many of us supposed Christians behave within and outside the Church. Our arrogance, lousiness, pride and insolence have discouraged others from participating in the life of the parish. What kind of impression of Christian life or of the Church do we present to others?

For those who are striving to do the right thing and are struggling to be better Christians, I urge you to keep faith in God. If you want to do the right thing…do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of doing what is just, what is honest, what draws you closer to God. Do not be afraid of standing on the side of truth. Do not be afraid of following your conscience – the law of God that is written in your heart. We should not be afraid of looking at what is wrong in our lives, we should not be afraid of doing an honest moral inventory. Do not be afraid of calling a sin a sin, and making what is wrong right. That is part of the grace of the sacrament of reconciliation: to look at our humanity, our faults, and to pray to change.

It is also true that the more we turn to God, the more he encourages and motivates us and eventually the attachments and idols in our lives lose their attractiveness. “From hidden faults acquit me” says the Psalm of today. As humans we can be blind to certain aspects of our own behaviour and character. Ordinarily, these faults may be unknown to oneself but others can see them. That is why it is wise to pray for the divine torch to give light to our hidden faults, so that we may turn away from them, and as the Psalmist would say; “Then I shall be blameless, clean from grave sin.” (Psalm 19:13) It is also wise to pray for the grace not to let “serious sin” rule over one.

So for those who go about giving scandals, in today’s Gospel, Our Lord gives stern and even terrifying warnings against committing serious sins and causing others to fail. He tells us that it would be better for those who give scandal to be drowned at the bottom of the sea, just as the Egyptians, the enemies of God’s people, were drowned.

There is, however, an alternative to this perdition. In baptism the old Adam in all of us was drowned away. When the grace of our baptism is renewed, at Mass, in confession, or by any growth in charity, we drown away the enemy of God in us. Whenever we repent by God’s grace and turn back to him and do penance, we cut off some unspiritual part of ourselves and throw it away. So, let us throw away today the enemy within us and never be scandals to others, but instead be a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ – tolerating everyone and accepting them in one fold, irrespective of their tribe and status.

Instead of giving scandal and misleading others, I think part of what we are called to, is to pray for the people around us that they will discover God too. We are blessed to have been given the gift of faith. So now let us pray that God will help us to be sign-posts to him, by the way we live our faith. Amen.

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