HOMILY FOR THE 27TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR B
Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
There are many ways of understanding the word “unite” - to make one, to combine, to join, to clasp, to grow together, to make to agree. But in the context of the message the Church desires us to grasp from the readings of this day, it can be understood as “to marry.” Hence, to unite here entails to glue as in the state of wedlock. However, we may not be so limited as to not allow this message be felt by so many parts of us that need to be united, and that need to make to agree once more. These parts, as they are, were never meant to be separated or divorced from another. They were created to be together, work together and accomplish together. When these parts suffer from separation, their efficiency is diminished, their frequency is slowed down and their proficiency is hampered. And so, going through the readings, the bells of caution and consciousness are sounded in our hearings to let every creation that God has made to be together to remain the way God ordained for them.
In the First Reading (Gen 2:18-24), and as dramatic as the story may seem to many people, we must notice something which carries in itself the truest proposition. The exclamation of the man at the sight of the woman God made for him unravels the inner drive in the man who was relentlessly searching for completion everywhere. And lo and behold, he finally found. That exclamation was one of gladness. It was one that superseded the exclamation of someone who finally discovered a scientific truth of knowledge. This is an exclamation incomparable with the great Eureka of Archimedes. The exclamation of Adam is not just one from the mind or the soul or the body. It was one that flew from the entirety of his being. He finally found the best companion, a suitable partner. His quest for partnership was not quenched in the midst of other creatures, but in the woman. She was indeed “the bone of his bone and the flesh of his flesh.” They were suitably made for each other. God made them for one another. Does this not tell us that it is only in the man that the woman can find perfect companionship, and not in other animals or things? Again, and according to this first book of the Bible, this pericope became the basis for the matrimonial union between a man and a woman.
But, it is very clear to us how this biblical teaching comes to a head in the secularistic teachings about marriage, divorce and sexuality. Many today seem to claim that these teachings should replace religious teachings, and particularly the Christian values we have so cherished. Fine as those secular thinkings may appear, yet Christianity can never be obliged in any way to loose its values in the guise of moving with the signs of time. A pertinent awareness should even be drawn to the fact that those Christian values were not even, as they were, doctrines taught by men, but doctrines set out by God himself. So, humans ought not to tamper with them. And so, the Church has no option than to uphold marriage as a sacred union between a man and a woman,because the completeness of each is discoverable only in the other. Marital union between a man and a woman is of God’s over all plan. This is the pillar that holds the thesis of the Gospel.
In the Gospel (Mark 10:2-16) The Pharisees had approached Jesus to ask him questions about divorce. And what a great answer there is in that phrase of Christ: what God has united, no one should separate. The first here is that it is God in his love who has united the man and the woman in Holy matrimony. The second is that no human institution can cancel this divine union, not even based on human frailty. Our frailty does not stop God from loving us. The sacrament of marriage is the vocation of man and woman in a procreating love which mirrors on earth the love of God. Since God’s love is ever faithful, unconditional and eternal, shall we then not be inclined to believe that the love on earth which mirrors this divine love ought to also be faithful, unconditional and lasting?
Going down into ourselves, we discover an important question we need to ask ourselves: have we got something in us which God made to be together, but due to varied reason have been made separate by us? The spirit, soul and body are meant to be together. But now and again, we tend to make one fight against the other. And there appears to be war going on inside us, ranging from psychological, emotional and spiritual tensions. This war truly would seem endless until we find a way of joining together what God has united in us as human beings. Disobedience (sin) to the inner voice of God causes this disintegration. These components of the human person are all good and are meant to work with one another to achieve God’s will. The body is good, the spirit is good and the mind is good. No one is bad. We are the ones raising tensions between them. They need to work to produce harmony in us. And one may not be totally wrong to think that the various disintegration in the human society is as a result of the inner disintegration of the various individuals that make up such a society. Remember, if disobedience is the cause of this disharmony, then obedience (contrition and love) is the way to solution. Love conquers all. God bless you; Happy new week.
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