Homily Twenty-Second Sunday of Year A: Fr. Michael Ufok
Udoekpo
·
Jer 20:7-9;· Ps 63:2-9;
· Rom 12:1-2
· Matthew 16:21-27
Trusting and following God in
times of frustrations, pains, sorrows
“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, rejections and uncertainties". Psalm 63 is
a prayer of trust and a hymn of intimacy with God, no matter what!
Truly, there are moments in our lives that
God seems to be too far away. It is such moments that today’s Psalmist refers
to, metaphorically in the song: “for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water,” (v.2). In our moments of
seeming rejection, loneliness, pains, sorrows, hurricanes, natural disasters,
sufferings, we are encouraged to look into the sanctuary of history for lessons
and wisdom. We are called to appreciate what God has done for us in the
past. And realize that God is ever present with us today and in the future
(vv.3-6).
Experiences of temporary frustrations,
agonies, uncertainties, pains and sorrows are nothing new. Jeremiah, Paul and
our Lord Jesus Christ, and his disciples, led by Peter of today’s Gospel, had
their shares.
In
the case of Jeremiah, of all Israel’s prophets, he suffered most. He is a
type of Christ of today’s Gospel, heading to suffer in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was many times publicly rejected. He
was once placed in stocks (Jer 20:1-2). He was put on trial, not by the poor,
nor by those on the margin, but by priests who demanded his death (26:10-11). Can
you imagine priests demanding the death of a prophet of God?
Jeremiah was banished from the Temple
(Jer 36:5), because of his fearless and alternative ways of 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 like Saint Paul of
the Second reading. (Jer 37:12-16). He experienced house arrest (Jer
37:20-21) and was abandoned in a muddy cistern (Jer 37:1-6). In all
these, remember, Jeremiah was human, like any of us. His pains, frustrations and
sorrows led Jeremiah to complain and to pray in lamentations.
The first reading of today is one of such
complaints and lamentations. How often do we not lament, and sometimes focusing
only on our ourselves and personal needs. Jeremiah lamented: “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, or felt deceived? Have you ever been mocked? These are the parched
lands, and the lifeless earths, without water of Jeremiah put into music by today’s
Psalmist. But the good news is that Jeremiah like the Psalmist channeled their
complaints, miseries and worries directly to God whom they trusted in prayer as
the father of love and mercy. Recall the Misericordia et misera of Pope Francis, on November 20, 2016. In all our miseries the Lord clothes us with his divine mercy!
Similarly, it was not all that easy for
Saint Paul in all his travels and preaching of the Good News of Christ. Even
though the mercy and love of God was with him, during his miseries and pains,
like Jeremiah, Paul was beaten, tried, rejected and imprisoned here and there.
But Paul’s attitude in all these is evident in his Letter to the Romans, the 2nd
reading, (12:1-2). Paul 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.”
Sacrifices, and self-abandonment are
demanded of us in all that we do, as believers. It is such sacrifices that
Christ reminded his disciples of, in today’s Gospel, Matthew 16:21-27, who
thought it was unthinkable that Christ would go to Jerusalem to suffer as he
had foretold.
Recall after Peter’s Confession of the
divinity of Christ in Caesarea Philippi, in last Sunday’s reading, Jesus
praised and blessed Peter. He gave the keys of the Church to Peter, but went on
to explain that it was necessary, it was the will of God, and that he goes up
to Jerusalem in order to suffer, be killed and on the third day be raised. The
disciples did not understand this type of language that it was actually through
suffering or the cross of Christ that we find salvation. Peter and his friends were at different level
with different thinking, as we often do! He almost became an obstacle “satanic” to
Christ. For Christ, “Whoever wishes to come after him, must deny
himself/herself, take up his or her cross and follow him.”
This invitation to take up the cross, explains
the parched land and the lifeless earth, the waterless planet of the psalmist. It
explains and sooths the duping and the frustration of Jeremiah. It explains the
call to “spiritual worship,” of Paul. It explains the fact that our
relationship with God must go beyond self-seeking and material level. Our relationship with God must go beyond seeking earthly values to seeking heavenly values. It
challenges us to that facts that with prayers, deeper trusting, constant
longing and thirsting for God, that our pains, illness, tribulations,
frustrations, rifts and misunderstandings, can be handled.
As we brave our daily crosses,
personal trials, and agonies of seeming lifelessness and dryness, like
Jeremiah, Christ and Paul, our lives must not exclude our concern for others.
The more intimate we are with God, trusting him, following him, the closer we
are called to be charitable to God’s extended families, our neighbors and our
planet, as well.
Reflection Questions:
1.
In your various states of live, vocation
have you ever felt like Jeremiah, St. Paul, or Peter and his friends of today’s
Gospel? And what do you do!
2.
How do you assist members of your faith
communities who come to you with their experiences of pains, crosses,
sufferings, hurricanes, disappointments, and frustrations of one form or the other?
3.
Have you ever misled or be an obstacle to a
member of your faith community who is growing in faith! Or treat the planet
unfairly!
