July 5th 2015 Sunday Homily: Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI, MSW
Ez 2: 2-5; 2Cor 12: 7-10; Mk 6: 1-6a
For
Readings
One day a sage was walking with one of his disciples. On their way they met a man. Without provocation, the man began to abuse the disciple with the filthiest words. The disciple held his peace for some time. But when the abuse continued, he retaliated with his own abuse. At that stage the sage left the disciple. When the disciple rejoined the sage, he complained. “What kind of sage are you? That man starts abusing me and you leave me alone to look after myself.” The sage said, “While the rude man was insulting you so cruelly and you kept silent there were ten angels guarding you and answering him; but as soon as you began returning his insults they left, and I also went away.”
Today’s readings teach us that those who accept the call of God and seek to follow Him may face indifference, hostility, hardship, persecution, insults and rejection. In the Gospel Jesus himself identifies with the prophet and tells how prophets and other messengers from God inevitably suffer rejection and insult. The readings teach us that Christianity is not a religion for those who seek recognition, or power, but humble loving service.
The Old Testament narrates the history of acceptance and rejection, fidelity and infidelity, sin and repentance, punishments and rewards of Israel. In these processes, rejection and persecution were the fate of most of the Old Testament prophets including Ezekiel. In the first reading, our Merciful Father sends the prophet Ezekiel with words of consolation and encouragement to do the prophetic role for His people, who were living against Yahweh’s will. In the second reading, Paul tells that he is content with weakness and sufferings because the power and strength of Christ, working through a weak instrument, will be all the more visible and convincing. By cooperating with the grace of God, Paul was able to rise above his own weakness and limitedness and be successfully in preaching the word of God with prophetic courage.
Today's gospel passage shows how Jesus faced the rejection and insult in his hometown of Nazareth. It was a foretaste of the later reaction of the scribes and Pharisees, the leaders of the people to Christ’s claim to be the promised Messiah. The story of Jesus' rejection in his own town is a story that we can identify with, because it is a story that has happened to most of us. We might have experienced the pain of rejection and insult caused by hurts, wounds, betrayal, divorce, abandonment, violated trust, trauma, neglect, etc.. Let us check also the other side of the coin. How often do we discount God’s agents through prejudice? How often do we fail to see God’s image in them because of our own hard-heartedness? We must realize that God's power is always available to transform even the most unlikely people.
The people in the Synagogue personally experienced the wisdom of Jesus and they were astonished. Then they tried to put him down. Jesus pointed out their prejudices and told the truth without hesitation. We must have the prophetic courage to express our convictions regarding God, faith, love, morals, justice and other aspects of life based on the Bible and teachings of the Church for the glory of God and for the salvation of all. By our baptism, God calls us to be prophets like Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. The task of a prophet is to speak God’s truth without fear or hesitation. We must never be afraid of this call.
We must never remain silent in the face of evil for fear of being thought "politically incorrect." But, our ways of opposing the evils and defending the truth should be different from the ways and means of evildoers. Their motivating strength is selfishness. Our guiding principle should be the gospel values and our role model should be Jesus, our Master. Gospel ways are non-abusive. He taught us to give respect and freedom without condoning or encouraging sinful behavior. Love does not tolerate destructive behavior but, nevertheless, it sometimes causes pain--just as a surgeon must sometimes hurt in order to heal. We can be kind, charitable, honest, and forgiving as we speak forth our own convictions based on the Bible, as Jesus did in the synagogue. As we see in the Bible, Jesus always welcomed and loved the sinners, but never encouraged sin or evil behavior. He criticized even evil thoughts. But He loved everyone.
We are the members of a great community of love, faith, charity, encouragement, appreciation, tolerance, sacrifices, and strengthening of the weaker ones. Let us love everyone, encourage all good things, which will help the well-being of others and lead them to salvation. Jesus is the part of our community. May the Spirit of God strengthen us to live our faith with courage, making others lives and ours joyful. Let us be always a rejoicing people in God. God bless you.
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