YEAR II: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

YEAR II: HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: WHY BLASPHEME AND VILIFY IN ORDER TO DISCREDIT OTHERS?

BY: Rev. Fr. Jacob Aondover ATSU

HOMILY: READINGS: 2SAMUEL 5:1-7.10, PSALM 89, MARK 3:22-30
Ours beloved friends, is a world where unhealthy competition and evil rivalry prevails. Ours is a world where those at the top strive to remain there unperturbed, with no one coming near. Of course ours is a world where the ‘already made’ men/women feel threatened when a new force, name or wave springs up. These try their best possible to discredit, trample underfoot, and possibly exterminate any competitors for fear they submerge them. Jesus came into a society with an already existing institution. He came to meet the religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees who enjoyed great respect and fame and wielded serious power through their dubious ways of life. Jesus’ coming to challenge them and sanitize the society meant relegating them to the background, so, they attacked him always.

Dear friends in Christ, I see this picture visibly present in our contemporary Nigerian society. In Politics for instance, those who rose to power years ago hardly want any competition. They kill their rivals, defame them like the Scribes did to Jesus. What about the business line? We hear and witness daily, an unhealthy competition which leads to the extermination of the so to speak ‘threatening’ party. The Church is not exempt. Because of hate, festered jealousy, envy and so on, many seek to destroy others. What a shameful yet true reality.

Be this as it may, the chosen of God always hold sway, they necessarily prevail. Jesus faced the villainous attitudes of the Scribes and Pharisees throughout his public ministry. However, he soared higher and as destined, completed his God-given assignment – the salvation of man. David, the chosen King of Israel went through searing or extremely fierce persecution under Saul but he remained unharmed till he reigned over Israel. Today we hear the Jebusites trying to repel him from taking his city, yet he took it and in fact, became greater and greater for God was with him (2Sam. 5:10).

We may like Jesus and David in our bid to be true Christians and realize our full potential meet many obstacles. Many things and people may try to hold us back; we may be attacked, reviled, persecuted and so on but we only need God by our side to succeed. The call today therefore is to be men and women and children after God’s own heart. That so, he will always be with us as he was with Jesus and David. With him by us therefore, we can only grow greater and greater through Christ our Lord…

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