WALKING IN THE LIGHT

HOMILY FOR THE 3^RD SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

 

Walking over and walking across...

To walk over or to walk across implies a movement from and a movement to. And human beings always prefer to move to something better, somewhere better, and somebody better. No person enjoys moving from misery to misery. No one likes to repeat an experience of a disappointing situation of strife and agony. People naturally desire to move from a poor place to a better place; from a poor village to a merchant city; from a poor country to a rich country. We desire a better experience, expedition, and expanse. I had a discourse with some young people concerning their current experience in the educational and economic situation of the Country. Not even a person desired to continue with such frustrating experiences. Most of them had the desire of moving away to another nation where their talents will be appreciated, and where opportunities abound for their success in life. After some thought-provoking questions I asked them, many regained their hopes and desired to live in a country where they can really call theirs.

Like these youths, the Northern Israelites at a time in their history were under the oppression of the Assyrian Government. There grew a concern in the people of the deliverance they expect from the Lord. The opening lines of the First Reading (Is. 9:1-4) present us with the towns (Zebulun and Naphtali) that were the first to be subjugated by Assyrians. They were the Northernmost tribes, and so received first this invasion from the Assyrians. The prophet hence announces light for those who live in darkness; that is, new hope for the people of northern Israel oppressed by the Assyrians. He says that God has smashed the oppressor because he believes that a new king will come who will be so powerful that all nations will be placed under his feet. He promises the people that they soon will be walking over and across the present situation of frustration. Darkness can represent those worries, strife, agony, sorrow, and misery you are passing through today. The Prince of Peace has all it takes to walk you over from this darkness to the light that He is.

Walking into the light...

Yes, I believe that we are walking over from darkness to the light. But for the light to blossom all the more for our journey, we must live as children of light till we become luminous that we become lights for others. This is the message of the Second Reading (1 Cor. 1:10-13.17). Anyone who has walked into the light who is Jesus the Christ ought to know and understand what his/her calling demands. There should be no dissension among Christians in such a manner that there is an introduction of many disjointed parts that should actually be parts of the body of Christ. There must be a stress of unity in diversity. We must coming together with our varied and rich talents for the singular purpose of building the body of Christ, and not allowing our talents and goals to disintegrate the body of Christ, or to distance us from Him.

In the Corinthian Church were four parties. There were those who belong to Paul. They were the Gentiles most probably. They had lived Christianity with an exaggerated sense of freedom, thinking that the Gospel of Christian freedom implies freedom to sin, instead of freedom not to sin. There were those who claim to belong to Apollos. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria, an eloquent man and had a good knowledge of the scriptures. Alexandria was known for their intellectuality. Those who claim to belong to Apollos were no doubts the intellectuals, who were fast turning the newly found Religion into a Philosophy. There were those who claimed to belong to Cephas. Cephas is the Jewish form of Peter’s name. These were most probably Jews, who sought to teach adherence to the Jewish norm. There were legalists who exalted the law and belittled grace. There were those who claimed to belong to Christ. This must be the poor and relegated group who claimed that they were the only true Christians. Their real fault was not in saying that they belong to Christ, but in acting as if Christ belonged only to them. They are the intolerant self-righteous group.

Relating these groups to our worshipping community today, we find out that so many of us have divided the Church and are still glorifying in such division. The First group (Paul) represents those who think that our Christianity cancels our Africanity, or vice versa. They can also be those who fail to find a perfect reconciliation between the African Religion and Christianity. The Second Group (Apollos) represents the so-called intellectuals who believe that their knowledge of God assures them of salvation, and who even ridicules the mysteries of the Christian Religion for the fact that they are incomprehensible to them. If care is not taken, they end as atheists. The Third group (Cephas) represents those who still feel that they are the ‘owners’ of the Church. They make decisions and dictate what is good or bad for God. They do not give room for new findings and experiences. They are the extreme conservatives. For them, the young Christians have destroyed all that Christianity is known for. They have a rigid interpretation of the law of God, rather than the love of God. The Fourth Group (Christ) represents the self-righteous ones. They do not believe that others are also making effort to be good. They see themselves as the elects, and others as the reprobates. They see sin in everything the other Christian does. Where have you located yourself?

Walking in the light of Christ...

The Gospel (Matthew 4:12-23) makes reference to the First Reading. Jesus walked across to the land of Galilee to begin his new message from a land that will be so receptive of it. Galilee was a town that has had great history of invasion by the Gentile world that she inhabited many gentiles in her. But the town regained her Jewish status when King Aristobolus in 104BC reconquered Galilee for the Jewish nation and made circumcision compulsory for all male. Hence, history has made Galilee to be open to new strains of blood, new ideas, and new influences. Thus, a new teacher with a new message has the greater chance of being heard in Galilee. It was there that Jesus began his ministry as the light of the world. It was in this same Galilee that he called the disciples of today’s Gospel.

“Come, follow me” (Venite Post me) were the very first words used by Jesus the Christ when he was walking beside the sea of Galilee and saw these brothers (Peter and Andrew; James and John) casting their net into the lake. At once, they left their nets and followed the Lord. These brothers had their professions. They were fishermen. They had a background that had thought them how to fish and survive. It is from this background that they can upgrade in their service of the Lord; from being fishermen to being fishers of men. If they had not learnt well the know-what and know-how of being fishermen, they would not know what it means and how to be fishers of men. They took their cultural backgrounds seriously, out of which the Lord promoted them to greater heights. Being fishermen, they were interested in stomach infrastructure, but being fishers of men, they will now be drilled to become interested in soul infrastructure.

We are like these apostles who were called by Jesus. We have biological family before we were baptised as Christians. We had our orientation, family values, home trainings, backgrounds before we became converted. Our calling as Christians ought to lead us to a better awareness of our mission in life: to be children of light, and to walk in the light. There are certain virtues our cultures bequeath to us such as respect, prudence, continence, and community love. There are also certain vices our cultures dispose us to, such as insincerity, greed and envy. Our duty is to continually make a leap out from these vices and step up to these virtues we learnt from our culture, thereby upgrading them with the formation we receive as Christians, and not throwing them away expecting to experience new and fresh values. If we throw our cultural values and trainings to the mud expecting to experience fresh values, we run the risk of syncretism and apostasy. But if we recognize that these values have been taught by our cultures and maintain them while imbibing methods and ways of improving and deepening them through the Christian doctrines and disciplines, then the sky is our starting point.

They left their nets and followed Jesus. Living their nets implies shedding off from themselves every form of distraction. It implies too stopping and rejecting any behaviour that is inimical to their new calling. As Christians, we must leave our nets; that is, the bad habits and behaviours which out of negligence or oversight we may have imbibed from our culture, and the corrupt practices which consciously or unconsciously our society has made us prone to. The Christian discipline, doctrine and devotion renders conscious those unconscious ones and brings to our awareness those negligence and oversights which are the limitations of your background.

Do not forget that these words of Jesus to these apostles came in the form of a command. But the apostles had the freewill to respond positively or negatively. We today feel this command and are responding positively. Be ready to be with Jesus the Light, following Him from place to place, loving him for the way he preaches and teaches, learning from Him, and believing in his teachings. Docility to the Christian faith is important. As a follower, you must always go after He must have gone. Indeed, the Latins capture the word ‘follow’ very well with the word post (coming after). As a follower (a disciples, a learner), be ready to learn. Be humble to learn. Be quick to accept correction. Do not be so fast as to go ahead of Jesus who actually leads you. If you go before him, Jesus becomes the one following you, and you become His teacher. Do you want to follow Jesus, or do you want Jesus to follow you?

I wish you a happy Sunday and a blessed week ahead. God bless you.