Homily
(2) 22nd Sunday of Year A: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings:
Jer 20:7-9; Ps 63:2-9; Rom 12:1-2 and Matthew 16:21-27
“My soul is thirsting
for you, O Lord my God,” (Ps 63:2b). This exquisite Psalm 63 captures the theme
and the spirit of today’s Bible Readings and worship; namely “Confidence and
Trust in God, even in times of pains and sorrows". Psalm 63 is a prayer of trust and a
hymn of intimacy with God.
Truly, there are
moments in our lives that God seems to be too far away. It is such moments that Psalmist refers to, through in metaphor, when he says, “earth, or land, parched, lifeless and without water,” (v.2). In those
moments, we are called to look into the sanctuary of history. We are called to appreciate what God has done for us in the past. And realize that
God is ever present with us (vv.3-6).
Experiences of
temporary frustrations, agonies, pains and sorrows are not new. Jeremiah, Paul and
our Lord Jesus Christ, had their shares. Jeremiah, of
all Israel’s prophets, is the one who suffered most and who was often
publicly rejected. He was once placed in stocks (Jer 20:1-2). He was put on
trial by priests who demanded his death (26:10-11). Priests demanding the death of a prophet of God. Jeremiah was banished from the
Temple (Jer 36:5), because of fearless preaching (Jer 7; 26). Jeremiah together
with his friend Baruch were often made to go into hiding (Jer 36:19). Jeremiah
was arrested, beaten and imprisoned (Jer 37:12-16). He experienced house
arrest (Jer 37:20-21) and life in a muddy cistern (Jer 37:1-6). Of course, Jeremiah was human. His pains, frustrations and sorrows often led Jeremiah to complain.
The first reading of
today is one of such complaints: “You
duped me O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you
triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; every one mocks at me.” Have you ever been laughed at? Have you ever been mocked? These are the parched lands, and the lifeless earths, without water of Jeremiah and the Psalmist.. But the
good news is that Jeremiah like the Psalmist channeled their complaint and worries
directly to God their trusting God, in prayer.
It was not all that
easy for Saint Paul in all his travels and preaching of the Good News of Christ.
Like Jeremiah, he was beaten, tried, rejected and imprisoned here and there.
But Paul’ attitude to all these is evident in his Letter to the Romans
(12:1-2). He says, “Brothers and sisters, I urge you, by the mercies of God, to
offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, your
spiritual worship.”
It is such sacrifices
that Christ reminded is disciples of, in today’s Gospel, Matthew 16:21-27.
After Peter’s Confession of the divinity of Christ in Caesarea Philippi. Jesus
praised and blessed Peter. He gave the keys of the Church to Peter, but went on
to explain that he has to go up in order to suffer in Jerusalem, be killed and
on the third day be raised. The disciples did not understand this type of talk.
They are at a different level. But Christ insists, “Whoever wishes to come
after him, must deny himself/herself, take up his or her cross and follow him.”
This call to self-denial explains the
parched land and the lifeless earth, the waterless planet of the psalmist. This
explains the duping and the frustration of Jeremiah. It explains the call to “spiritual
worship,” of Paul. Ultimately, it
explains the fact that our relationship with God must go beyond the material
level; from earthly kingdom to the heavenly kingdom. It is with prayers, deeper trusting, constant longing
and thirsting for God, that our pains, illness, tribulations, frustrations, rifts
and misunderstandings, can be handled.
