20^th Sunday Year C: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

The Gospel of Christ: a message that overthrows the peace of the graveyard

Readings: Jer 38:4-6,8-10; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today's gospel presents some of the most challenging statements made by Jesus: two sayings that would be hard to accept as originating from Him if not properly interpreted. They are as follows: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled.” "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."

We are all aware that our Lord Jesus is the prince of peace. On the night of His birth, the angels who appeared to the shepherds proclaimed the beginning of the reign of peace on earth. They sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of goodwill." Throughout His teachings, Jesus emphasized peace, particularly in the beatitudes, where He stated, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." On the numerous occasions He appeared to his disciples after His resurrection, He greeted them with 'peace be with you’. Thus, it becomes quite challenging to comprehend how this God of peace would assert that He has come not to bring peace but division within familial relationships and that He has come to cast fire upon the earth.

A misunderstanding of these sayings of Jesus by certain Christians has resulted in unnecessary divisions and issues among family members, various churches, and communities; it has also caused some individuals to adopt prayer patterns that cannot be classified as Christian. While some of these Christians perceive prayer as invoking fire upon all their adversaries, some others take pride in distancing themselves from the positive actions that others are undertaking in society.

Therefore, the Church urges us to comprehend the significance of these two challenging sayings of Jesus to avoid aligning with those who misinterpret them. When Jesus stated that He has come to cast fire upon the earth, He meant that He has come to proclaim a gospel that will dismantle the structures of evil in the world like fire, that His gospel will not reinforce the status quo of evil within human communities or societies, but rather, it will incinerate them like fire. This is the kind of gospel message that Jesus has entrusted to us. This is the call we have received from Jesus as Christians. Our mission is to confront and oppose the dominion of evil and the moral decadence of our world with the message of the gospel. The authentic gospel of Christ does not remain passive where evil flourishes, and a genuine Christian does not stay silent where evil is endorsed.

Whenever this type of gospel, which has the power to eradicate evil and challenge malevolent policies and teachings, is proclaimed, it inevitably leads to attacks and divisions from those aligned with evil. Dear friends, wherever the message of Christ is preached, it shakes the foundation of the false sense of peace that the world often promotes, because the peace offered by Christ is fundamentally different from the peace the world gives. The peace of Christ is characterized by love, justice, equality, and equity, fostering the reign of goodness. In contrast, the peace of the world is often like the peace of a graveyard. In a graveyard, there is an appearance of silence, serenity, and tranquillity; however, those interred in it are subject to the ravages of decay, being consumed by worms and suffering from the effects of time. The graveyard seems peaceful simply because the deceased cannot voice their suffering. The world sometimes misinterprets this silence of the graveyard as true peace. Frequently, the locations deemed peaceful by society are so only because those enduring injustice, marginalization, and deprivation are unable to speak out against their plight, or they are threatened by forces that would harm them if they dared to raise their voices. Jesus did not come to establish the kind of peace that permits silent suffering and the continuation of injustice. Instead, he brings forth a peace that will dismantle the false peace of the world, overthrowing all structures of injustice and the wicked one.

It is, therefore, the responsibility of every Christian to promote the peace of Christ throughout the world. We are called to achieve this by confronting erroneous teachings regarding morality, sexuality, justice, humanity, and so forth, using the gospel of Christ. However, fostering the peace of Christ on earth may require swimming against societal currents, which can result in persecution. This was the case of Jeremiah in the first reading. Jeremiah stood against the evil present in his city during King Zedekiah's reign. He used the word of God to challenge the reign of evil and condemned his fellow prophets who preached solely about prosperity without urging the people to repent from their wrongdoing.

Jeremiah was aware of the repercussions of his actions, yet he remained steadfast. The second reading of today encouraged us to be resilient like Jeremiah and to persist in our battle against sin and evil, even if it entails sacrificing our lives in this struggle. This second reading encourages us to consistently fix our gaze on Jesus as we combat sin and evil. Fixing our gaze on Jesus means not being discouraged. If we fix our gaze on Jesus, He will not let us down. When Jeremiah was imprisoned and cast into the cistern, God did not forsake him but rescued him from that pit.

The psalm for today is a hymn of praise to God, who will not forsake us to the power of our adversaries, but will consistently deliver us. It states, “I waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped down to me; he heard my cry. He drew me from the deadly pit, from the miry clay. He set my feet upon a rock, made my footsteps firm.” (Ps. 40:1-2)

Let us pray that God will continue to keep us safe when people rise against us for speaking against evil in society.

Peace be with you. Have a blessed Sunday

Fr Isaac Chinemerem Chima.

 

20^TH SUNDAY, YEAR C: REFLECTION BY FR JULIAN EKEH

THEME: CHRIST'S BRAND OF DIVISION BETTER THAN THE PEACE OF THE WORLD

(Luke 12:49-53)

There is time for everything under the earth and a purpose for every activity. There is time to be silent and time to speak up. There's time when silence is golden and other times when it is evil. There are moments when not speaking is noble and other times when speaking is not acceptable. Divine wisdom helps to strike the balance. Christ speaks out with passion His line of action and His idea of mission. He voiced aloud His vision for the world in relation with God and their acceptance of the word. He speaks in wisdom with imageries. He disclosed the contents of His package for us in the world.

FIRE UPON THE EARTH

Of all things, fire? Jesus, Why fire? Yes! It is figurative. Jesus has come to cast fire upon earth. The fire may be inviting. The fire of invitation which Moses saw and drew closer to God. Thus, with this fire, Jesus invites us to closer relationship with Him, to a more personal rapport with God, to a more intimate understanding of the will of God for us. It is a sublime fire of the Divine awareness; it is a fire that calls for human attention. It is a fire that takes us away from every distraction.

This fire is also a purgative one, it plays a purification role, it refines. Jesus sets a fire that brings about the gold in us. The fire is meant to make us shine; the fire is meant to cleanse us from every defilement. It is meant to burn to ashes whatever that is not of God. It burns away evil that good alone may remain.

Here is a story of a community where a wild devouring beast attacked a community and killed some men of integrity, an alarm was raised and the entire hunters in the community came out and pursued the beast and it ran into the big forest of the community known as "ohia ika". They took counsel and decided to set ablaze the forest with the hunters surrounding all the corners of the forest. When the fire became very threatening and started burning the wild beast, it cried out from the forest and was shot dead.

This is what the fire of Jesus has come to do in the world; to make evil and evil men so uncomfortable that they are made to change or are destroyed.

Another perspective from which we can view the purpose behind the fire that our Lord Jesus Christ is coming with is as figure representing zeal. It stands for the zeal in Jesus. It is a pointer to the zeal that should burn in us for the sake of Jesus Christ. How zealous are we for heavenly things? Are we zealous Christians? Are we passionate in defending the integrity of things of God? Are we passionate in our personal prayer life, in our communal spiritual participation and in our defence for moral positions of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth? Jesus is not calling for weak Christians, Jesus is not advocating for Catholics who just come to Church on Sundays, Jesus is disapproving spiritual and moral indifferentism. For Him therefore, it is either we burn with the fire and zeal for goodness or we are burned by the fire that purges. The fire is a dividing line. It is a differential fire. It separates good from evil. It attacks that which threatens clarity. The fire is the source of light. There can't be marriage between the duo. In His division mission, Jesus draws a line between darkness and light. Jesus wills that this light be kindled no matter what it takes. It took Him a fire baptism. It will also please Him that we all queue in to see to it that His will is accomplished in us.

PEACE ON EARTH? NO, INSTEAD DIVISION

This is surprising. Is this really the Jesus we know? The Jesus we read about in the prophecy of Isaiah? The Jesus called the Prince of peace? The Jesus that would command his disciples to greet every house: peace be with you? The Jesus that would impact peace on the apostles after his resurrection? Why would He now turn to contradict what He stands for?

There is indeed no contradiction. However, what there may be is definition of peace by Jesus. If peace would mean condoning evil, Jesus would not allow that. If peace would imply not pushing hard to condemn anomaly Jesus would not permit it, rather, He will choose the opposite. If peace would mean sacrificing virtues on the altar of immorality, Jesus would rather preach division. If peace would mean keeping quiet when my daughter is dressing indecently to an occasion, Jesus says no. Better to make the evil doer feel offended and change than allow him to offend God and make you offend God.

We have to ask ourselves some pertinent questions: what is it that is bonding our Union? What's the thing that we overlook which we are not really supposed to overlook for peace to reign? Let us make peace with God and not with the world. Let our peace with people be on the ground of godly characters they possess. Let us not seek our own peace. Let us not work with the enemies of Christ. Jesus says: "If you're not with me you are against me." The peace of the world is against the peace of God. It is the peace that says: oh, let us allow homosexuals to relax in their practice. For peace to reign let us pass abortion into law, for the peace of the suffering man let us help him die. For peace to reign let the man marry the animal. This peace Jesus condemns is a type that says in order not to hurt my dad I join the secret society, in order not to hurt my mum I will not help that poor woman, in order not to bring shame to my father who is a catechist let me abort that baby, in order to have peace with my aunty let me do the prostitution.

 

RESOLVE

Let us not be at peace until everyone around us becomes at peace with God.

May God bless His word in our hearts.

LET US PRAY

Oh Lord, save us from the temptation of currying favour with enemies of God in the name of peace. May the peace and love of God in all its richness dwell in us, in our homes, in our land in the Church and in the world at large through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Happy Sunday to you. (20th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Yr C)

Rev Fr. Julian O Ekeh

 20^th SUNDAY, YEAR C: HOMILY BY FR. JUSTIN ADIELE

THEME: “PERSEVERING IN THE WORK OF FAITH/GOD”

INTRODUCTION

The readings today present us with the daring and harsh reality of doing the work of Faith/God (i.e. bearing witness to truth, love and goodness) either as a king, prophet, disciple or just as a steward in the family of God. In the first reading, Jeremiah withstood opposition from his own people to bear witness to the truth, the king faltered to stand by the truth; Ebed-Melech took up his own challenge as a steward. Jesus stood firm with his mission as seen in the second reading. How firm are you in witnessing/living your faith?

THE FIRST READING (JER. 38: 4 – 6. 8 – 10)

In the first reading, four classes/groups of people were identified:

The group of Jeremiah: those who stand by the truth of the word and commands of God not because it is so sweet, but because it is the right way of life. Jeremiah kept preaching repentance to his people who preferred living amoral lives to any rule of life. Minority factor, attack and threat to his life did not make Jeremiah change or sugar coat his prophetic message.

The group of the princes of the peoples: this group do not want any message that will challenge their moral decadence. They want to feel no guilt; and so, Jeremiah must die, must be silenced, or leave the scene for them to thrive. They do not want to hear the truth. They cherished personal pleasure and indifference to any right or wrong way of living their faith. They used their majority vote, their positions and connections to silence Jeremiah, the truth and God so to say.

The group of Ebed-Melech: this the group of strangers, the minority voice, the steward/servant of the king, the uninfluential, those who think that their voice will not count in the scheme of things. The Ethiopian, Ebed-Melech summoned courage and raised his single/tiny voice to the king and that was enough to effect the release of Jeremiah from the dry pit.

The group of the king: this group of Zedekiah doesn’t know what to do with their power and position. This group is neither warm nor cold, neither for nor against; always changing opinions as it suits the majority; kill Jeremiah for he is lying he accepts, save Jeremiah for he is telling the truth, he also accepts. This group doesn’t like taking any stand at all, they will please everybody. What will God do with this kind of persons? Spit them out.

THE SECOND READING (HEB. 12: 1 – 4)

The second reading challenged us to run with perseverance, the race that is set before us, looking up to Jesus who endured opposition from sinners, hostility of the Jews, the shame of the cross, to carry on with his mission. We are encouraged not to allow any weight of sin, oppression, persecution or opposition to hinder us from witnessing for Christ and for the truth.

THE GOSPEL READING (LK. 12: 49 – 53)

In the gospel reading, Jesus made us to understand that being his disciples will certainly light up the fire of attack, opposition and division amongst brothers, sisters and family. Family, kinsmen will certainly come against you, but you must stand firm in the truth and in God’s righteousness.

CONCLUSION

We must persevere; not in our indifference, not in our pleasures, not in the bandwagon or erring majority; but in the truth and righteousness/goodness of our faith in God.

Happy Sunday!

Fr. Justin.