Facing persecutions with prophetic courage
1st Reading;
Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
Responsorial
Psalms; Psalms 71:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 15-17
Second
Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, through the readings of this Sunday, the church draws our attention to the persecutions and tribulations that await those who have been commissioned by God to proclaim His Word in the world. She also directs our minds on what to do when we are persecuted on account of the gospel, on account of doing good.
The Gospel of today is a continuation of the
gospel of last Sunday. In last Sunday’s gospel, Jesus had proclaimed the
beautiful message of liberation and favour to his native people of Nazareth.
They were filled with admiration for the wisdom that flowed from Him. However,
that admiration did not last long. The episode of the gospel of today showed us
that when Jesus applied demands of the Word of God He read to the lives of His
people, the admiration on their faces vanished, and they were filled with rage.
Thus, they rejected Him and His Message outrightly. But they did not stop at
just a verbal rejection, they also seized Him and wanted to murder Him by
throwing Him down from the cliff on which their city was built.
Dear friends, the treatment which Christ
received from His native town has not stopped showing its face in our world
today. It is on account of such treatment that the ancient history of the
church is littered with the stories of men and women who were killed because of
their faith. Also, it is on account of it that thousands of Christians
have been killed in the recent past in many Moslem and Communist countries. As
we speak, many Christians are languishing in prisons in many countries just
because they preached the gospel. Many Christians are also facing different
degrees of rejections, deprivations, calumny, hatred and name calling in many
advanced countries because they chose to model their lives by the teaching of Christ
and His Church, and also called on others to do so. Many of us have seen how
many liberal politicians and
judges, supporters of many extreme far left groups and many agnostic and
atheistic media centres constantly ridicule and insult Christians with
unprecedented vengeance.
Dear friends in Christ, speaking God’s truth by words or
deeds in our world has become a risky venture. This risk involved in it has
made many Christians to shy away from the responsibility of embracing God’s
call to preach the gospel. Of course, no one wants to face rejection from
friends, families, societies, and governments. No one wants to be tagged a derogatory
name. Many Christians now prefer to close their mouths in the face of evil,
since it has become obvious that condemning evil and correcting wrongs from a
Christian perspective have become an invitation to mockery, ridicule and
rejection.
Dear brothers and sisters, it was in this same situation
of shying away from the call of God because of its negative consequences that
the prophet Jeremiah found himself. Jeremiah was called by God to condemn evil
and pronounce doom to a generation of Israel that had closed its ears to God’s
messages. The people of Israel, just like ours today, preferred ridiculing and
killing messengers of God to changing their evil ways. Having seen the doom
that speaking in God’s name would bring to him, Jeremiah made excuses to God.
He wanted a serene life. Do we have those who are making excuses to God today?
Those who are afraid to speak out the truth, to condemn evil, to correct others
because they want to run away from ridicule, insults and rejection?
The message of God to Jeremiah addresses all of
us who are afraid to speak in the name of Christ. God is saying He had
commissioned us to speak for Him before we were conceived in our mothers’
wombs. He said: “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them
whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you
before them.” “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for
I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. In all,
God is inviting us to withstand all trials and tribulations with the courage of
a prophet because He will stand with us till the end of time; He will not
abandon us.
In the second reading of today,
St Paul gives us the ingredients that helped to sustain him in his missionary
work among the Corinthians. St Paul revealed that the driving force of his
prophetic mission when he travelled to Corinth to heal the Christian community
of jealousy and divisions were the cardinal virtues of love, faith and hope. Faith
in God sustains us in our prophetic ministry despite the obstacles we
encounter. Hope for a bright future motivates us to remain focused and believe
that our efforts will not be in vain. Then, love is the greatest and most
important of these virtues. If love is not at the base of our mission, all our
efforts might be in vain. A prophet who lacks love for God, for the good news,
and for the people he is called to prophesy is a clashing cymbal. Love must
motivate us to follow God’s initiative to be his prophets for the salvation of
all nations and people. We need these virtues as we speak in God’s name to our
friends.
Dear friends, the church invites
us to face rejection, ridicule, scepticism and criticisms on account of the
name of Christ with the courage of a prophet, especially with faith, hope and
love. Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus believed that they were commissioned by God to
proclaim a disturbing prophetic message. No matter how strong the opposition,
the three had the conviction that God was with them. We also have the same
mission. Let us be strong in our courage.
The church also invites us not to
deafen our ears to God’s message that calls us to change our evil ways.
Finally, dear friends, we need to
speak for God, not by being politically correct, but to speak the truth of
Christ with love, without being disrespectful or hypocritical. Also, we are
called not to remain silent in the face of evil for fear of being tagged or
thought “politically incorrect.” We should remember that Jesus taught us to
love and respect others without condoning or encouraging sinful behaviour. Thus,
we need to be kind, charitable, honest, forgiving, but clear, in speaking out
our Christian convictions as Jesus was when he spoke in the synagogue at
Nazareth (Cr. Fr Tony Kadavil). We end this homily with the words of the
Psalmist of today saying: “My mouth shall declare your justice, day by day your
salvation.”
Peace be with you.
Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima
#4thSundayYearC #FourthSundayYearC #FacingPersecutionsWithCourage #ChimaIsaac #IsaacChima #FadaIsaacChima #CatholicChurch #Christianity
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