WHAT AN UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM!!!

HOMILY FOR THE 6^TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C.

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

There was this story of the meeting of Archbishop Fulton Sheen who reported his encounter with Saint Theresa of Calcutta. He was visiting her for the first time in her place of apostolate in Calcutta. After observing the mass of dirt and depraved humanity that gathered in her centre: the lame, the blind, the dumb, and the rejected, the bishop asked her: how do you talk to this people about Christ in this their state? Of course, for the bishop, those people were so deplorable and under great discomfort that their desire would be to satisfy the problems of this life, and not to hear about Christ. And soothingly so, Mother Theresa answered him: I do not talk to them about Christ. I pick them up from the gutters and the streets; give them food and water, give them a home and a sense of belonging, the only thing that society denies them. Then I ask them if they would like to hear about Christ. To this, they have always replied: is Christ like you? And my answer has been: Christ is not like me, but I strive to be like him. “Then, tell us about him,” they all usually say; and from  there our discussion about Christ will start. The best preachers are the doers.

1. The big lesson here is that those materially poor people did not respond to Christ because of their poverty but because they experienced Christ in Mother Theresa. One thing must be spelt out: they did not desire to hear about Christ from Mother Theresa because they were poor, even though their poor status attracted Mother to them. Rather, they did because of Mother’s care and affection to them. And this is why they can be declared blessed. They are lucky enough that their status attracted them to the message of Christ. This is the first step in understanding the Gospel Reading (Luke 6:17.20-26) which is Luke’s own version of the Beatitudes. The similarity about the beatitudes of Luke to Matthew is that they were placed as the welcome speech of Jesus to his twelve apostles whom he had already selected out of the many others in Luke 6:12 -16 (cf. Mat.4:18-22). However, something spectacular about Luke is that his version of the beatitudes are four in number (8 in Matthew); together with the fact that he situated Jesus and the apostles on a level place (on a mount in Matthew). And again, there are these four woes that followed those beatitudes, most probably to act as a juxtaposition. Is it not true that the life of blessedness implies a choice against the life of agony and woes? The choice is ours to make.

2. Thus, there are two groups of people that stand out in the Gospel: the Blessed (Happy) Group and the Alas (the woeful) Group. Paradoxically and surprising indeed, the members of the happy group are those who ought to, in the world’s standard be sad and miserable: the poor, the hungry, the weepy, the hated, the rejected, the abused and the slandered; where as the members of the woeful group are those who ought to, in the world’s standard be fulfilled and happy: the rich, the wealthy, the exultant and the honourable. Is this not a miraculous and revolutionary reversal? It is indeed an upside down kingdom. And come to think of it, how can those who suffer now be the happy people? Does it entail that poverty, injustice, or hunger can be a blessing? And how can those who enjoy and are successful now become the woeful people? Does it entail that riches or wealth can be a curse? Now, let us try to get it. The poor are simply those who have discovered how empty they really are, and have learnt to hunger and hope on God. They have discovered that it takes darkness to see the distant stars. In whatever material/economical state they find themselves, they are able to profess Christ and are ready to let go of earthly acquisition to store up treasures for themselves in heaven. Thus, can we be poor?

3. Back to our lead story, those poor people in Calcutta desired to hear about Christ because they saw a good representative of Christ. Their economically poor state does not imply that they are miserable in their hearts. Similarly, it does not also imply that the economically rich are the happiest in their hearts. As against some popular notions, material poverty and lack are not the major enhancers of religion and spirituality. The true enhancer of true religion is the feeling of lack and poverty in our souls that are restlessly seeking for God. And indeed, if there is anything that can help to give a man the false impression of happiness, it is wealth. And the wealthy keeps on discovering that wealth does not entail happiness. And many times, the more the expansion of wealth, the more the feeling of emptiness widens. Riches and comfort in the end leave us in a spiritual desert. And sadly enough, people tend to believe that this feeling can be filled in with an extra pursuit for wealth, but it always turns out to be false. Now, what is it that can fill in this emptiness? How can we come out of this desert?

4. On a good look at the First Reading (Jer. 17:5-8), one discovers that the two groups of the Gospel is reflected. The Lord declared both a curse and a blessing. For those who put their trust in man, there is curse, but for those who put their trust in God, there is blessing. Does this not then offer us more clue in understanding better the beatitudes and the woes in the Gospel? The blessed and happy people are those who put their trust in God, where as the woeful people are those who put their trust in man. Trust is the spiritual vision that can quench this emptiness. If we fail to trust, we cannot love God. Thus, trusting in God allows the soul to be filled by contentment and happiness, knowing fully well that God has got our backs. We do not desire to be members of the second group, the woeful people who put their trust in man (in riches, in worldly honour, in wealth and in plentifulness). We desire to be among the blessed group who put their trust in God, irrespective of the earthly discomfort that can come with it. I hope we do.

These earthly discomforts can include: giving even in lack, going hungry even in abundance of wine and milk, that other might eat, weeping for the course of right, being hated for our faith, being rejected for our love, being abused for trusting and being calumniated for our belief; all because of Jesus. But what is indeed frightening today is that the disciples of Jesus are so frequently in comfort. May the Lord make us blessed always. Amen. Happy new week. God bless you.