30^th Sunday, Year B: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: God doesn’t disappoint those who call upon Him with faith.

Readings: Jer. 31:7-9; Heb. 5:1-6; Mk 10:46-52

Dear friends in Christ, we have a merciful and loving God who continues to come to our aid to deliver us from the consequences of our sins and from the challenges and deficiencies we inherited from a nature fractured by original sin.

Today’s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah was one of the prophecies in which God announced His plan of liberation and restoration to His people Israel, who were enslaved and suffering in Babylon on account of their infidelity to Him. Even though they offended God by turning to other gods and, thus, lost His protection and were taken into slavery, God did not abandon them. Rather, He heard their cry and announced to them through the prophet Jeremiah, as we read today, that He would liberate them and restore them to their land. He said: “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who is in travail, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

This passage simply tells us that God does not abandon us, even if the cause of our suffering is our disobedience to Him; He does not abandon us even if we are responsible for our problems. He is a merciful Father and always hears us when we cry to Him, especially with faith and a repentant heart.

The story of the healing of the blind man in today’s gospel reading shows that God comes to our aid to deliver us not only from the troubles we brought upon ourselves but also from the ones we inherited from our imperfect nature, as well as from all other difficulties and challenges our world often subjects us to. Difficulties like sickness, natural disasters, economic obstacles, etc. The story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus is also a vivid illustration that our God comes to the aid of those who call upon Him in their time of need, as He promised in Psalm 50:15. There are some good lessons we must learn from this healing story.

First, do you know that Bartimaeus would have missed the opportunity of being healed if he had remained silent? So, we must not allow the voice of prayer to be silent in our lives, especially when we are in need. Let us always raise our voices in prayer to Christ in our problems. Prayer is essential in our lives, and Jesus said we should pray without ceasing, for He who asks will receive, he who seeks will find, and he who knocks will have the door opened for him.

Second, we must never be discouraged whenever we approach Christ in prayer. When Bartimaeus began to pray to Christ for healing, shouting with every strength in him, the people around him rebuked him to keep quiet. Most of the time, when we decide to take our problems to Christ in prayer, to devote more time to prayer and other spiritual exercises in the church or at home, we may hear many voices from friends, colleagues, and even family members telling us that we are wasting our time. Some may claim that God does not perform miracles again. However, if we stand firm and overcome this kind of challenge by moving on with our decision to approach God, as Bartimaeus did, we will discover that even those who told us to stop praying to God will be among those who will rejoice with us when God has heard our voice, exactly as it happened in the case of Bartimaeus. The crowd told Bartimaeus to keep quiet, but he persisted. Then, when Jesus commanded him to come, the same people that told him to keep quiet started telling him to be courageous.

Third, anytime we turn towards God for help in our difficulties, we must do it with absolute faith, believing that we will not return empty-handed. One of the ways to show that we have absolute faith in God is to leave our past life behind us; we have to let go of everything that gave us security in our past life and then adhere strictly to the voice of God. When Bartimaeus stood up to walk towards Jesus, He threw away his cloak, which gave him security and identity in his life as a blind beggar, and then focused on his journey towards Jesus, believing that his encounter with Jesus would transform him and he would have no need for his cloak again. This is absolute faith. Holding strong to our past life while marching towards Jesus is a sign that we have doubts about receiving what we are asking for. Such doubts are obstacles to the reception of blessings from God.

Lastly, when God answers our prayers, we should not turn away from Him; rather, like Bartimaeus, we should follow Him and worship Him all the days of our lives.

Peace be with you.

Fr. Isaac Chima.

 Monday of 14^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B: reflection

Theme: Our God is more powerful that all obstacles to your joy; approach Him with faith.

Reading: Mt 9:18-26

Dear friends, do you know that Jesus is more powerful than that thing that makes you wet your pillow with tears every night? Do you know He has the power to arrest those issues that seek to steal the joy of your life? The two miracles of today’s gospel reading assure us that Jesus has power over our joy killers or joy snatchers.

The first miracle was the healing of the woman with hemorrhage. Her sickness robbed her of her joy for 12 years. She spent all her treasures to recover her good health, but all her efforts yielded no positive fruit. But when she took her problem to Jesus, sickness – her joy killer – was conquered, and the joy of her life was restored.

The second miracle was the raising of the daughter of a ruler, Jairus, from the dead. It was said that the girl was 12 years old, which means she was at the threshold of adulthood or womanhood. So, death came to steal the joy of a little girl who was about to enter womanhood, as well as the joy her parents would have while watching their little girl grow into womanhood, because in the tradition of the Ancient Near East, at twelve years, girls are betrothed to their future husbands. When Jairus took his problem to Jesus, death – his family’s joy killer – was conquered, and his family’s joy was restored.

Did you notice that it was the faith of both the ruler and the woman that paved way for them to receive miracles from Jesus? The faith of the woman on that very day she was healed was so strong that even her physical barriers – the crowd – couldn’t stop her from reaching her target of touching the garment of Jesus. Also, the faith of the ruler in Jesus’ ability to restore his family’s joy was so strong to the point that even when news reached him that the daughter had died, he continued believing that Jesus will not fail him.

Dear friends, Jesus is capable of arresting your joy snatchers or joy killers, but you must march towards him to report your case with unwavering faith, the faith that conquers physical barriers and refuses to back down even when it seems God is delaying or when it appears that all hope is lost.

Walk to Him today with this unwavering faith and present your case. May your new week be abundantly blessed.

Fr Isaac Chima

 

Wednesday of 8^th week in Ordinary Time, Yr. II: reflection

Theme: The request of James and John and the rest of us Christians

Reading: Mk 10:32-45

In today’s gospel, Jesus told his apostles that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die at the hands of the chief priests and scribes, and to be raised on the third day. While the other apostles were perhaps sober about what would become of their master, James and John were preoccupied with material gains from the messianic intervention in human history and, consequently, they failed to understand the exact role Jesus was going to Jerusalem for. Hence, they began asking for positions at his right and left, believing He was going to seize the seat of power in Jerusalem.

What James and John did is not dissimilar to what many Christians of today consider to be the normal. It has been observed that nowadays, wherever and whenever anyone is popularly hailed as a man of God, what 90%  or more of those who rush to his church events want has nothing to do with hearing the word of God, repentance from sins, and salvation of their souls, but rather material upliftment, business success, and physical healing. Many Christians of our time have become accustomed to attaching material gains or welfare to everything about Jesus, just as James and John did in today's gospel.

Material success, bodily healing, and other miracles related to material welfare have become the only yardsticks used to measure God’s messages and true messengers of God by many Christians of our time. People appear to be less concerned with salvation of their souls or the spiritual impact of Christian events/messages on their souls. Often, many people have renounced their faith in Jesus because they didn’t receive the material help they prayed for.

Dear friends, the mission of Jesus is to liberate us from the dominion of darkness and to save our souls and, as often as it pleases God, He also uplifts the material nature of the persons who harbor these souls. So, any attempt to assess the mission of Jesus and his messengers in terms of material gains is a-Christian (anti-Christian). We should, therefore, purify our motives for going to Jesus and for attending Christian gatherings.

May God open our minds to look beyond material gains in our relationship with Jesus. Amen.

Fr Isaac C. Chima