HOMILY FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C
Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi
A particular family was forced to live in a deep cave because of the hostility and unrest of her town’s people. At first, they found it difficult to live in there because it was dark. But because they found the new place safe enough, they learnt to see in the dark. The only time they left the cave was at night in search of food and other necessities of life. Their day-to-day activity and life were all in the cave. They kept on reminding one another how unsafe, wicked and hostile the outside world was and how the people were all evil. They looked on themselves as the saved ones and even pitied the people who lived outside. They were happy with their new home and vowed never to return to the world of hostility again. Years passed and the first generation had turned very old. However, their oral tradition of tagging the outside world evil and their mode of survival in the dark did not stop. They were so interested in the evil of others that they could not see the limitations of their existence, the smallness of their world and the fact that they were living in fear.
One day, a young man in their midst took the courage to leave the cave at daybreak. He saw how beautiful the daylight was, a world warmed up by sunshine, perfumed by the scent of flowers and filled with birdsong. His people on discovering that he left the cave tagged him as a traitor. Soon, the young man saw how different the world outside the cave was. It is true that ugly things happened, but he believed his tradition exaggerated them. He made friends and started living happily. But soon, he remembered his people in the cave, and feeling sorry for them decided to go bring them out. On arrival and on entering the cave with his torchlight, the old people shouted at him to ‘put out the light at once! You will give us all away.’ He told them the story of how lovely and safe the outside world now was and that he desired to liberate them from their self-made prison. Of course, they did not listen to him. They had not even forgiven him as a traitor who left the cave. They rushed at him, smashed his torchlight and bundled him out of the cave.
1. That young man was a prophet to his people who desired to liberate them from darkness, fear and timidity, but his own people rejected him. Sometimes, we are inclined to think of prophets as fortune-tellers or those who tell what is going to happen in the future. This is not who a prophet is according to the Scripture. A prophet is simply someone who is sent by God to speak on his behalf. Far from being a magician, he/she is someone who is able to speak the exact message from God and truthfully too. Even when people are afraid to say and confront the truth, the prophet is not. Filled with courage, he/she speaks truth to the face. Now, we can imagine why he/she faces rejection a lot. The prophet is not diplomatic with the message of God. He/she destroys our illusions and lays bare our pretences. He/she tells those truths about us that we are afraid to confront. He/she does not caress us with what we want to hear, but with what God wants us to hear. This is what Jesus was to his people when he spoke to them in the synagogue (cf. Gospel: Luke 4:21-30). This is also the mission to which God sends us as prophets to the nations (cf. First Reading: Jer. 1:4-5,17-19).
2. Jesus spoke in his home town, Nazareth in such an amazing way that instead of believing in him and growing in faith, his people trivialized his message by reminding themselves of his family root: surely, this is Joseph’s son? And citing episodes in the Scriptures about Elijah and Elisha, Jesus told them the most painful truth that any Jew would not want to hear: that salvation is also meant for Gentiles. On hearing this, they acted exactly like those elders in the cave according to our lead story. They even wanted to kill him. Jesus faced rejection in his own town. He was rejected and ejected by his own people, because he did not say what they want to hear. How many prophets have we as individuals, families, groups, societies and even as a Church rejected? We fight against any truth that we do not want to face. In the fear of changing our old ways, we force ourselves to despise the truth, reject the message and even eject the messenger. A prophet is not a noise maker at all, but he cannot help but speak. If he does not speak, that role of prophecy becomes superfluous. The prophet is ready to die for his message.
3. But the hard truth about it is that even when we succeed in killing the prophet, the truth does not die, for even after death, the voice of truth would endlessly echo in our minds. Our times need us to become the new prophets. It is now time to reclaim our identity as Christians who are ever ready like the apostles of old to speak the truth to power and even die for it; otherwise we may have to watch our faith heritage as it crumbles before our very eyes. It was almost inconceivable for a Jew to think, not to talk of speaking about the salvation of Gentiles and God’s option for them because of the hardness of the hearts of Jews. But as the prophet Jesus was, he broke that fear in an effort to liberate his people from such erroneous notion and belief. Sadly indeed, and as humans could be in their tenacious grip to selfish and exclusivistic notions, the people tried to kill their prophet. They preferred darkness to light. We are today extensions of Jesus, commissioned as prophets. Yes, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and consecrated you as prophet to the nations. Thus, brace yourself for action, stand up and speak what I command you. It is the Lord who speaks through Jeremiah to you and I today.
4. We must be ever ready to face rejections as prophets, because the people we minister to reflect also the people of Jesus and the people of the cave. It is our collective duty as Christians, for we have been commissioned by virtue of our baptism as prophets. We have received the empowerment as prophets and teachers of the message of faith, hope and love. We must therefore not shy away from this. Nothing should be able to make us afraid, for after all, there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love (cf. Second Reading: 1 Cor. 12:31 -13:13), and never are they wealth, security, and the law. Sadly indeed, we have replaced the last three things with these three earthly pursuit. It is our plight to face rejection. That the Lord knows us from the womb signifies that he is most interested in the child in the womb. Speaking truth to power attracts some attacks. However, it is our plight to be killed. Do not stir up a stagnant pond and expect a lot of mud not to rise to the surface. We must encourage one another and work towards building a kingdom of truth here on earth, for without truth and courage, we fail as prophets. Happy new week, and the new month of February. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment