WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN, WE SHALL KNOW WHO IS WHO

 
HOMILY FOR THE 16^TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Our topic today is an idiom that is got from the world of gambling. In gambling, there is a point when all the bets have been placed. At that point, there is no return. At that point, there are no more chips to bet with. At that point, there is no review. It is that critical final moment when the cards have been dealt, and then turned over for the revelation of the winner. This point is a critical time when no further choices can be made. It is also a time of crisis when things can be bad for some, because their stack of chips is low; that is, they are losing. It is a time of reckoning, and a time of judgment and testing. It is an important moment when something is really at stake. This idiom has a lot to teach us. We have thus employed it to buttress the central message of our reflection today. Good day to you all.

In today’s Gospel reading (Matt. 13:24-43), we encounter three parables. It is worthwhile to note that these three parables complete the first part of the two levels of parables we exposed during our previous reflection last Sunday. We said that Matthew narrates Jesus’ teaching in parables in two phases: one told in the public to all including the disciples, and the other told in private to only the disciples. The three parables of today belong and complete the first part; that is, the ones told in public. Among them, Jesus explained only one and leaves us to use our intellect to understand the other two. One thing peculiar to the three of them is that Jesus begins with the words: the kingdom of heaven is like. He speaks in similitude. Hence, we must first and foremost know that similitude helps to compare two realities, in such a manner that one of the realities bears or exhibits some features or characters of the other.

Similitude is not exactitude. Jesus uses the stories to explain the kingdom of heaven which he knows is incomprehensible and inexplicable if one dreams of knowing how exactly it is while on earth. We can only employ some earthly experiences to explain some of the features of the kingdom of heaven. And that is what we see in today’s Gospel. The parable of the wheat and Tares explains God’s patient wait for the time of judgment, and the seeming co-existence of evil with the good. The parable of the mustard seed talks about the surprises that may come with the kingdom of heaven, and the fact that the people’s expectations may not be in tandem with God’s expectation when it concerns the end results. The parable of the leaven exposes the transforming power of God who has the capability to change that which is stubborn in us. We can thus bring out three key themes from these three parables: Divine Patience, Divine Surprise and Divine Transforming power.

Learning from the DIVINE PATIENCE...

 

The parable of the wheat and tares has many things to teach us as Christians; the first from the side of God, and the second from our own human side.

From the side of God

The wheat and the Tares were left to grow together. The Son of man (Jesus) who is the sower of the good seeds did not bother to uproot the tares which are inimical to the growth of the good seeds. Why is this so? The wheat and tares could not be safely separated when both were growing, but in the end, they had to be separated, because the grain of the tare is poisonous. It causes dizziness and sickness and is narcotic in its effects. A small amount has a bitter and unpleasant taste. So, uprooting them at a stage when the good plants are not fully grown may inject corruption to the plants and hence poison them that they become useless. Since the good plants are already grown and have rooted in the soil, they fear no poor growth. Another is that the tare known as the darnel is indistinguishable with the wheat judging from their early stages.

 

One may thus make mistake of uprooting a wheat plant instead of a darnel weed. In the end, they will be laboriously separated from each other, and the darnel burnt.

This is true in our lives. God is patient in allowing the good to grow with the bad. He knows that destroying anything perceived as evil beside us may result to our not fully realizing our potentials. Let them grow together now they are young before a mistake is made whereby the good are also uprooted or even poisoned. This parable gives us a clue to understand why the good grow with the bad. We also must know that the only person with the right to judge is God. It is God alone who discerns the good and the bad. It is a pity that human beings are limited in their judgment. Let us accept our place. Let us be contended that in the end, judgment belongs to God; when the chips are down, we shall know who is who.

From the human side

A) The wheat was not complaining against the tares. It was only concentrated in gathering enough nutrients for its growth knowing that it belong to the good plants. Some of us are so interested in pork-nosing into people’s lives to the extent that we lose our own sanctity and goodness. We need to put more effort to work on ourselves to be better, gathering the required nutrients since the soil has been made available to us. You fail if you give the reason that your business was on the affairs of leaving your own nutrients and looking around to discover the tares. Your job is not to discover theatres but to work on yourself. Yes, there is a hostile power in the world, waiting to destroy the good ones; the lesson is to be on our guard and to work hard to remove even the smallest weeds in our hearts and lives. B) May we not be too quick to classify people as good and as bad. A man may appear good and may in fact be bad, and vice versa. It is hard to distinguish the good from the bad. We must exercise caution in classifying and maiming others we perceive to be bad. We must not be too quick to judge others. All of us will be judged by own whole life not by a single stage or act in our lives. No one who sees only part of a thing can judge a whole; so too, you cannot judge a man from a part of his life. Wait until the chips are down, and we know who is who.

Understanding the DIVINE SURPRISE...

 

 The mustard is a small seed that when it grew became the greatest of all, so that birds of the air came and made their homes on it. A) This parable warns us against ourselves who think they have a poor beginning or who see themselves as never do well. Your small beginning does not limit you. You are only limited by your mentality. In history, many people have had poor beginnings and yet they made it great. Is yours different? We have had stories of people from pagan homes who became great missionaries and evangelizers. Do not allow your limitation to limit you. What is it that makes you think you are limited in faith? Sin, strive, colour or race? You are greater than all this. Work hard to be great in faith, holiness and righteousness. B) This parable warns us against the tendency to look down on others because of their small beginning. No one knows tomorrow. The parable teaches us that the kingdom of heaven starts from a small beginning, but no one knows where it will end, because we cannot know what the future has in stock. God surprises. We should even be more careful when we have affluence in our beginnings. Never look down on others. God’s judgment comes with great surprises. And do not be intimidated when you are looked down upon, for when the chips are down, we know who is who.

 

Disposition for the DIVINE TRANSFORMING POWER

 

It is a great shock that the kingdom of heaven is connected to a leaven/yeast, because for the Jews leaven is always connected to evil influence. For the Jews, the yeast/leaven was an agent of putrefaction or decay. It causes quick decay, and hence stood for that which is evil (cf. Matt 16:6; 1 Cor. 5:6-8; Gal 5:9). However, the point of the parable of the leaven/yeast lies in the transforming power of God. The yeast changed the character of the whole baking. Unleavened bread is hard, tasteless, unappetizing, but the leavened bread is soft, spongy, porous, tasty and good to eat. The introduction of the leaven causes a transformation in the flour; so too the kingdom of heaven causes a transformation in our lives and the world.

A) An encounter with Christ transforms life, gives us hope to endure suffering and the expectation of future crown. Christianity has transformed the life of the world in so many ways. With the advent of Christianity, we learnt that life is sacred. We stopped killing twins, using virgins to erect demonic altars and sanctuaries and burying kings with the heads of men or women. Christianity has helped in civilization, and indeed is the major agent of civilization in the world. B) Another is that the Christian stands as the transformer in the world. With our lives, we must desire and work to change the society from being dry, tasteless, hard-hearted, and unappetizing to being lively, tasteful, soft-hearted and appetizing. How many lives have you given hopes? How many faces have you made to smile? How many hearts have you warmed? C) A strong point in this parable too is that the kingdom of heaven works unseen. The yeast does this function in the flour, yet it is unseen, and no one easily remembers it. We must not grief if we are not remembered or appreciated for the good works we do in people’s lives. It is a message of encouragement. You may find yourself making great effort to acquire a particular spiritual gift, but you do not seem to see it realized, do not lose hope, because the works of the kingdom is more than that which you want. Some are paid back evil for good, some are killed for the course of truthfulness, some are ostracized and relegated even when they mean well. Do not worry. Be contended with the fact that through your life, you have contributed to the success of God’s work here on earth. Never think that you have worked for nothing, because when the chips are down, you will know who is who.

May God give us the courage to work for the realization of his kingdom here on earth. May He make us learn the divine patience and so allow it to apply patience in our lives. May He make understand the divine surprise and so not be quick to relegate others. May He create in us more dispositions to submit our lives for his transforming power, and so with it transform our society. Amen. I wish you a splendid new week. God bless you.

THE SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW

HOMILY FOR THE 15^TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR, A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Matthew as the first of the four Gospels in the New Testament reflects the structure of the first books of the Old Testament; that is, the structure of five (the Pentateuch). Apart from its prologue (chapters 1-2) and epilogue (chapters 26-28), the Gospel of Matthew is divided into five discourses: the Sermon on the Mount, the missionary discourse, the parabolic discourse, the ecclesiastical discourse and the eschatological discourse. Each of these discourses concludes with the formula ‘when Jesus finished these words’ or one similar to it (Mat 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). The third discourse (Matthew 13:1-53) provides several parables of the kingdom of heaven. These parables are of two parts: the ones that took place outside (when Jesus leaves the house and addresses all people including his disciples) and the ones that took place inside the house (when Jesus goes back inside the house and addresses his disciples). Under the first part, the first of them is the parable of the Sower. And that is the Gospel of today and the central point around which our reflection circulates.

Jesus uses in this parable the picture which every inhabitant of Palestine would easily have understood. But there is a point which many Bible versions try to obscure. It is the translation: a sower instead of the sower. The original Greek has it as the sower. The use of the definite article the possibly has two implications. One is that it may have been that Jesus pointed to a particular sower who was seen visibly by all present. We must recall that Jesus taught from the boat by the seashore; and the fields around the seashore attracted many farmers. It is not therefore ruled out that a farmer was there. So, pointing to an actual farmer who was doing his job, Jesus said the sower as if he was trying to say look at the sower there sowing his seeds. In this case, Jesus uses what is perceptible; that which here and now to teach about that which is there and then.

Another is that Jesus had in mind the particular sower that he was talking about. It is most likely, especially from the meaning we make of the explanation of the parable by Jesus that the sower is the evangelizer, the preacher of the word. The prototype of these preachers is Christ. In this viewpoint, the sower here is the preacher who stands at the pulpit spreading and announcing the message to people of different temperaments, dispositions, consciences, and hearts. The difference in the people can be analogous to the different surfaces the seeds that the sower was sowing fell unto. In this case, Jesus opens our minds to the differences of the hearts that receive the Gospel message. The truth of the matter is that no one should blame another on any category he/she finds him/herself. The First Reading (Isaiah 55:10-11) was explicit on this that the Lord makes the rain and the snow to fall down to water the earth and does not return to the heavens until it accomplishes its purpose. So too, the word of the Lord falls on every heart because no heart can claim to have not been watered by God. A person is held accountable for the kind of heart he has: hard, emotional, superficial, thorny, soft or tender. From the narration of the parable then, we discover then that there are four ways for the ground (hearts) to hear and receive the word (seed).

1. The seed that fell along the path (hardened hearts)

The pathways are trodden down as hard as pavement by the constant use of the travelling public. This is the wayside referred to by Christ. These are the large number of people that heard the word but did not allow the word to permanent root. They did not understand the word. They were in Church regularly, but never did they allow the word to penetrate. They pay little or no attention to what is going on in the Church. They have no interest and are indifferent, failing to realize how important the word is to them. They do not know the name of their Pastor or his assistant. They do not care about the program of the parish but will like to be acknowledged as her members. They do not belong to any pious group in the Church, and even when they belong show little or no commitment. Such persons, even when they are touched by a particular homily, it lasts only for a few moments. Christ said that the evil one comes and snatches away whatever word is sown.

There are reasons why people act in this manner. A) They are easily rebellious to any suggestion to move the Church forward. If they encounter problems in life, they easily blame God for it. B) They are distracted by many things. The Gospel is not their prerogative in life C) They treat the Gospel as a part of life instead of life itself. Their attitude is that the Gospel has its place, but it is not the permeating factor of life that so many make of it. D) What matters to them is being present in Church, and associating socially with other Christians. A change of life is somewhat meaningless. They love ceremonies, and prefer the Church to be ceremonious always, dancing and acting drama for fun. Such persons need encouragement. But encourage one another daily...so that no of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Heb. 3:13).

2. The seeds that fell on rocky places (Dramatic conversion and profession)

In some parts of Palestine lying right beneath the ground is a layer of limestone. When seeds fell upon this ground, the limestone holds the rain and heat from the sunlight under the surface; therefore the seed sprouts quickly without having any root. These are the persons that appear to have a dramatic and a sudden conversion. They make a decision for Christ, and stands as an example of a changed life and quick growth, but the change lasts only for some time. This person hears the word, receives it immediately and with joy but endures for a while.

The reasons why these people fail are: A) He has no root. He has not grounded himself in the life of prayer and reading of the word of God. He has not learned the doctrine, discipline and devotion of the Christian faith. Perhaps, he began with the emotional joy of the word. He cares little about the high demands of Christ. He does not attend Catechism and if when he does cares little to understand the rudiments of the faith into which he has been converted. Most probably he was drawn to the faith through a friend or a good pastor who in his mind is the best. Immediately the friend travels out or the pastor is transferred he slacks. He rests his faith on transient things. B) This person has little spiritual courage and strength to withstand the trials and persecutions of life. Pressure from circumstances of former friends of the world such as mockery and abuse annoys him deeply and causes him to give up. This person is like a man who built his house on the ground without foundation. The moment the torrent struck the house, it collapses and it is destroyed completely (Luke 6:4). Such persons need firmness; for he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Mt 10:22).

3. The seeds that fell on thorns (worldliness)

The thorny ground is a deceptive ground. It looks good and clean and appears to be clear of weeds and thorns, but it is not. Right under the surface is a chain of roots ready to spring up, but the thorns being stronger cannot allow the good seed to grow faster. They will choke the life out of the good seed. These are the people who receive the word as an addition to their life. They do not allow the Gospel to replace their worldliness and wealth. They do not truly repent. They even see the Gospel as a way of enriching themselves the more. When they vie for any office in the Church, they see wealth and money and never service. Consequently the word of God is always choked in them. Thorns are the worries of this life. They entangle a person to the things of the world. When a person’s mind is focused on the worries of life, his mind is drawn away from God.

Thorns are the deceitfulness of wealth. Wealth in itself is not worldly; it is its deceitfulness that is. Wealth deceives in different ways: A) It tends to make a person self-confident and self-dependent, thereby not trusting and calling upon God. B) It tends to make a person overly extravagant, comfortable and indulgent. He believes in himself more than God. C) It tends to make a person overly security conscious, so as to protect what he has, and so consumes his mind. He thinks less of God. D) It tends to make a person misinterpret the blessings of God. The person now thinks that to have is to be blessed by God, and so those who do not have are not blessed. These persons need detachment: for we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it (1 Tim. 6:7).

4. The seeds that fell upon good soil (salvation)

The good soil allows the seed to germinate for it has the nutrients necessary for it. A person who allows the word to take permanent root represents the honest and good heart. He hears the word of God and understands it. His heart is tender towards God; so he listens, meditates, and thinks. He is both physically and mentally present in the Church. He is responsible and behaves intelligently living out the Gospel in the church and at home. He is fruitful. He leads others to Christ and to the knowledge of God. The bearing of fruit is that which distinguishes the true believer from the hypocrite.

The man who bears fruit does three things. He listens, he understands and he obeys. He is never too proud to listen. His mind is open and willing to learn. He understands the gospel and knows what it means for his life. He also translates the message into action, and thus produces good fruits of the good seed. He believes that the sufferings of this present life cannot be compared to the glory that is to be revealed (cf. Second Reading; Rom 8:18-23). Fruit bearing entails commitment. Some believers bear 30, some 60, some 100. Not all believers are equal. Some make more effort than others. Some observe the norms and even go an extra mile to see others observe them. Some give in all their energy, time, and possessions for the upkeep of the church, while others donate from their surplus and remains enough still for themselves.

In conclusion, apart from the different dispositions of the hearers of the gospel, the parable of the sower is also an encouragement to sowers; that is, to the preachers of the Gospel. Do not be discouraged when you preach and preach, and yet there is no conversion or change. If you have done your best, then do not be despaired. But be rest assured that at least a few will bear fruit through your message. Do not be discouraged by the multitude that drifts away. Do not look for quick results. The message can take some time before the seed germinates in the heart of men. It is true that we live in an age that looks for quick results, but in the sowing of seeds we must sow in patience and in hope with total trust in God. 

May the Lord continue to be with the Preachers and the Hearers of the Gospel message. Amen. I wish you a happy new week. God bless you.

COME AND SHARE IN HIS REVELATION

HOMILY FOR THE 14^TH SUNDAY OF THE ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR, A

 

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The heart, not the head, is the home of the Gospel. It is not intelligence and brilliance which shuts out; it is pride. It is not stupidity which admits; it is humility. A man may be as wise as anything we can imagine, but if he has no humility, innocence and a childlike heart, he shuts himself out from the kingdom of God. We are all witnesses to the manner many of the world’s so-called intellectuals repudiate religion and God. We witness how it appears that the more one gets knowledge the more he sees no sense in the very thing that makes the highest sense; how he sees the piety for God as a business of those who are poor. The greatest undoing of this era seems to me to be how the rich and the intelligentia of the society consider religion, or particularly Christianity as meant for the materially poor in such a manner that when they are exhorted to be near the Church so as to be near God, they quickly think that they are being invited for material donations. It is the heart that is the home of the gospel, not the head, not money, and not power. If only we all could understand that we are poor in our different ways, then we may learn to grow humbler as we grow in material possession which is that which the world regards as success.

The Gospel of today (Matt 11:25-30) strikes the dagger point of what I have been struggling to say in the above paragraph. Realizing that we are all poor, regardless of the fact that some see themselves as above the Gospel, Jesus invites us to share in his revelation. Actually the whole verses of the Gospel can be read from the viewpoint of revelation. The episode (vv.25-30 can be broken into three distinct but inseparable parts: 

a) VV.25-26: Thanksgiving for revelation

b) V.27: Content of the revelation

c) VV.28-30: Invitation to revelation

Part A

Jesus’ declaration was one of thanksgiving to God who has hidden the contents of revelation from the wise and learned, and has revealed them to little children. The questions are: who are the wise and learned? And who are the little children? 

On the one hand, the wise and the learned were those religious leaders and the scribes who saw themselves as the lords and masters of the law, and thus are unteacheable. For them, no one understands the dictates of God more than them. For them, they are the interpreters of the mind of God. For them, they alone are the saints while others are the sinners. For them, they alone can acquit or condemn any sinner. They would think that if God could decide to reveal himself to the world, the revelation must come through them. They are blind to the fact that Jesus is the messiah or the mediator between God and man.  In Matthew 23:4, the scribes and the Pharisees are known to be the people who tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their fingers.

We can have such individuals in our society today. This group comprises the self-righteous people who see themselves as the elects of God as others are the reprobates. For these people, others are sinners. Their knowledge of God is the ultimate. Nothing can you say about God counts for them. They can secede and be founders of their own churches because they do not see the Church as an umbrella and the great teacher of the faith. They would ask you in their minds: who are you to tell us about God; you who are a sinner? Such persons come to such having the spirit of division and segregation. They would not want to associate with a brother or sister because they have seen him/her take a bottle of Gulder. They would easily condemn that member of theirs who comes late for meeting without knowing the reason for the lateness. They are quick to condemn because in their minds, they are perfect. They only believe in themselves. Their greatest undoing is pride, selfishness and arrogance.

On the other hand, the little children are the disciples of Jesus. They are those who follow the Lord in sincerity and truthfulness. They are the ones as read in Matt. 13:10-11, who have been revealed the secrets of the kingdom of God. Jesus told Peter upon his confession of the Messiahship of Christ in Ceaserea Philippi: it is not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. Jesus makes it vivid that his disciples were the very first choice of God in revelation. He calls them little children in John 13:33. They are those babes and infants who the Lord has given the strength to destroy the enemy and the avenger in Psalms 8:2. They are those children crying out hosanna to the son of David in Matthew 21:16.

We still have such little children today. The little children today are those who do not see themselves as the only people that exist. They believe that they are because others are. They are intelligent yet humble. They are pious yet accommodating. They are holy, yet are friends of sinners. They do not segregate and condemn without discerning properly the situation. They see light in others. For them, they know nothing about God, and are zealous to learn and know more. In their zeal, just like the apostles, they are told more secrets of the kingdom. Even when they are gifted and talented, they remain with the Church and use their talents for the good of the Church. They work for unity and not disunity. Their greatest strength is humility in service.

Part B

What is the content of the Revelation? The first content is that all authority belongs to Christ. The second is that Christ is the sole mediator and revealer of God to men. No one can go the Father except through the Christ. The people were blind to God’s will of saving mankind. About these wise and learned, the scripture is clear: they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts (Eph. 4:18). They were ignorant that Jesus is of God; that he has received all things from God; that he is the revealer and that he is the saviour. I and the Father are one (John 10:30).  In the claim of no one knows the Father, Jesus asserts that he alone is the unique access of the knowledge and love of the Father. The love of the Father is to lift our burdens and make us energetic again for our journey of faith.

Part C

This part concerns the invitation to revelation. Jesus invites us to come and share in his revelation. Jesus in the invitation come to me speaks as wisdom personified.

The first question is: who is to come? Those who are to come are the weary and the burdened, the person who is exhausted and despaired, extremely tired and weighed down, ready to stop and collapse. Some of the things that exhaust us are: work (we are overburdened with too much to do), worldliness and carnality (fleshly pleasure), sin and guilt and the power of both, money and material possession and the unsatisfying spirit of both, fame and its emptiness, power and its loneliness, the rules and regulations that we strive so rigidly to keep.

The second question is: why should the over-burdened come to Christ? It is very simple. Christ will give them rest. No person has gone so far for Christ to inject his rest into him – only if we learn to call upon Christ. If anyone thirsts, let him go to Jesus and drink (John 7:37).

The third question is: what are the conditions for receiving this rest? There is only one condition: a person must simply come to Christ. Christ is the answer. Burdens make us weak, sluggish and dirty. They make people to avoid us less because of the tendency in those who are burdened to call others for help. Only Jesus can lift every burden without feeling any pains. He alone is eager to lift the burdens immediately we call on him.

In all, God has the power to render superfluous all those experiences that make us weird or afraid. God makes an option for the poor. Every one of us is poor in different ways. Some are poor intellectually, others are poor materially, others psychologically, others spiritually, and yet others in particularly situations that incapacitate us. We have the Christian obligation of going to Jesus whenever we feel despaired. There should be no form of pride in us, because all of us are actually the poor and the little children who partake of God’s revelation. We must strive to make ourselves little by imbibing the virtue of humility which is a virtue that uplifts and elevates. Pride goes before a fall. And when you think and pride your knowledge you lose sight of fresh ones, and deterioration sets in. But when you are open to gain knowledge, you grow more. The more you see yourself successful on earth, the more you learn to be humble and listen. The proud man does not listen, but the wise man listens and adds to what he knows.

May this virtue of humility reign in our human society, in our Church and in our hearts. Amen. Do have a blessed week ahead. God bless you.