Homily 14th
Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Zech 9:9-10· Ps 145:1-1,8-9,10-14
· Rom 8:9,11-13
· Matt 11:25-30
A God who walks on the Side of the
Poor
Today we celebrate a God
who is always on the side of the poor. A God who cherishes humility. A God who defends
and fights for the oppressed in every generation. A God who preserves Jerusalem
and his temple. And a God who loves His Church. Including all of us gathered
here today. A Church full of saints and sinners, men and women, children and
the elderly. A Church who listens and sometimes a Church who does not listen
enough.
But how do we know this is true? We know that
this is true when we look around and see the blessings God has blessed us with,
in spite of who we are. The oxygen we breathe; the roof over our heads, our
children, grandchildren, our vocations, families and jobs. This is also true in
the stories we hear and share. The lives of the saints. With God everything is possible
(CCC385).This is true when we also go by the scripture readings of today.
In today’s Gospel Mathew
11, we see a humble Jesus who came from God his father to be with us, to
identify with us, to heal us when we are sick, to feed us when we are hungry,
to encourage us when we are discouraged, to protect us when we are threatened by
the enemies and to teach us through his disciples the 12, who he had gathered
and commissioned in Matthew 10 to go out and preach the good news, heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse leapers, cast out demons, teach love, peace and
reconciliation(Matt 10:5-15).
But Jesus’ ministry was
resisted not by the poor, but mostly by the rich, by scribes, Pharisees and by
the arrogant cities. This why the humble Jesus while in the midst of his
confused disciples is so happy to take time not only to give thanks to God for
always, since the beginning of time, standing with the poor and fighting for the
needy, as a divine warrior, but to communicate hope to his disciples and to each of us:
Knowing that we have our
own challenges, Jesus does this in more pastoral way, and with a very simple cultural
language. He invites us, saying: “Come to me all you who labor are burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and
humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
In ancient days yokes were
placed on animals to carry heavy loads. And some of them were really heavy.
Today we have our spiritual, psychological and material loads in terms of
poverty, insecurity, health issues, and corruption in some political capitals,
arrogance in our leaders, that only Jesus who is meek and humble can help us carry these yokes and burdens.
In the ancient days
Israel’s yokes included constant military threats by their powerful surrounding
neighbors like Assyria, Egypt, Babylon and Persia. Their yoke and burden also
included the loss of the temple, their loves and the horrible experiences in
exiles as refugees. It is to this ancient Israelites yokes and burdens that the
1st reading Zechariah 9 also addresses. Israel’s king will come.
Their messiah is on the way. A savior is here, meek and humble. Israel’s
enemies will be defeated by this messiah. Peace shall be proclaimed and the sovereignty of God
will extent from coast to coast.
This promise was fulfilled not only in the
liberty and freedom of the children of God and their return to rebuild the
Jerusalem temple once destroyed (Zech 9:9-10), but in the ministries of our Lord Jesus Christ. With God everything is possible.
With God no hope is lost. Do not say that you cannot make it. Don’t think that
that illness could not be cured, physically and spiritually. Don’t think that,
there is no hope of life or resurrection after death.
What the Lord requires of
us today, most, is a humble spirit of disposition that all that the Lord has
promised us would be fulfilled. This is the Spirit that Paul talks about in the
2nd reading, the Letter to the Romans. He discourages the spirit of
the flesh, doubt, infighting, hatred, violent, jealousy, and selfishness, lack
of self-control, gossiping, idolatry and sinfulness. He rather recommends the
spirit of Christ for us. It is a spirit of humility. It is a spirit love. It is
a spirit of faith and trust in the Lord. It is a spirit of hope and selfless services. A spirit of
mercy and forgiveness. A spirit that enables us to respect and treat our
neighbors with dignity. And a spirit that constantly reminds us that no matter what,
that our God is constantly watching over us. He is fighting for us day in day
out.
