Homily Twenty-Eight
Sunday Year A: Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Isa 25: 6-10a; · Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5-6;
· Phil 4:12-14, 19-20
· Matt 22:1-14
My Shepherd
is the Lord,
Today we
gather to celebrate and renew our trust, our power of positive thinking and our
readiness in the Divine King and Shepherd, whose protecting, caring and feeding
imageries run through the readings of today. As the Lord protects, cares
and feeds us, he invites us to imitate him by doing likewise to our neighbors.
In the first
reading, the Good Shepherd addresses words of hope to the frightened community
of Israel through the mouth of his Prophet, Isaiah. Even though the
enemies will momentarily overrun and humiliate Israel, and perhaps destroy the
temple, the Lord will surely be at the mercy of the remnant, who put their
covenantal trust in Him. The "will" here points to the future
hope. God’s time is the best. At his appointed time, the Lord will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples. The veils of sadness and hopelessness. The
veils of frustrations and rivalries. He will wipe away the tears of
sorrow, humiliation and illnesses from the faces of those who put their trust
in Him. He will rebuild the mountain once destroyed, restore and provide food
for those once starved. He will invite to a banquet those once ignored.
It is this
hope, this trust, this call for endurance that Paul re-emphasis to
the Church Philippians in the Second Reading. Paul knows how to manage in
all circumstances, in his missionary travels, in his trials, in his rejections,
in his poverty and needs. In bad times and in good times. He knows the secret
of being well fed as well as how to endure hunger. For him, “he can do all things
in Christ who strengthen him.”
It is this
spirit of trust and garment of readiness that the Good Shepherd expects
in those invited to the wedding feast, the banquet of today’s Gospel's
parable (Matt 22:1-14). In this parable some of the invitees ignored the
king. Some refuse to come, while some invented all kinds of excuses to justify
their absence. Even some who were not interested in responding killed the
servant messengers- of the king; while among those who responded, one had no
wedding garments. Perhaps, he took the banquet for granted. Of course,
with the directives of the king, the shepherd, he was bound hands and feet
and thrown into the darkness for wailing and gridding of teeth.
Be it
in this Gospel parable, provider of the banquets or in the shepherd metaphors
of these other readings, God treats us as a traditional near eastern good
shepherds would treat their sheep. They provide food, and water for them.
Sometimes they have to search for their foods. They protect them from wolves.
Put a fence around them. These flocks trust their shepherds and listen to them,
though instinctually.
Today
we are faced with all types of challenges such as poverty, Ebola and HIV
threats, war and terrorism, especially from Boko Haram and ISIS. We have also
issues of climate change, economic disparities, political and racial tensions
in sections of our societies.
Thank
God we are blessed not only with instinct, but with higher reason and faith. We
have every reason to make necessary good choices in our lives. Even though
the road or path to good choices may be rough, with the lessons and
experiences of the biblical exodus, the covenant relationship, the land, and
the process of settlement, God is constantly watching over us. He is constantly
cooking for us. All he wants from us is that spirit of a positive and
imitative response. He wants us to be ready with the right garments
of love, faith and trust in his eternal banquet of Love, and in his
everlasting feasts of Peace, Mercy and Care. He wants us to be convinced
that we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:12-14), and
that the Lord is our Shepherd there is nothing we shall want (Ps, 23, Jer 23,
Eze 34; John 10).
