Homily- Thursday of the 19th
Week In Ordinary Time, Year B. Fr. Udoekpo, M
v Ezekiel 12:1-12
v Ps 78:56-57, 58-59,61-62
v Matt 18:21-19:1
A God Who Communicates, Peace and
Reconciliation to Us,
Humanity(ˊādām), since creation
has always lived in a world of “ups” and “downs,” conflict and peace and
sometimes sin, war ,misunderstanding and broken relationship,… not only with
God, but with ones’ neighbors. But, the goodnews is that God, on other hand,
the author, of life, who is merciful, kind and compassionate to all creation, humans and non-humans, has always had a way of restoring and
reconciling humanity with himself, through our fore fathers and mothers in faith;
through the Judges, the prophets and of course, Jesus his son.
One of those prophets is the one of today’s first reading,
Ezekiel (God’s strength), a prophet of exile introduced to us at the beginning
of this week, in fact, two days ago, humbly, as “mortal” and “son of man”, with
human weaknesses, sent by Israel’s God to preach order, faithfulness,
repentance and reconciliation to exiled Israel and their oppressors. Recall, yesterday,
in a prophecy to Ezekiel the angel of the Lord left a mark, a sign of thau,
for the protection of the faithful Israel (Ezek 9:1-7; 10:18-22), as
was the case in Exodus 12:7, during the Passover or of the early Christian
community who bore the sign of ichthus (Greek fish) = Jesus
Christ, son of God, savior of the world, on their door posts and tombs.
Today, the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 12:1-12), as was customary
to many of Israel’s prophet (e.g., Isaiah of Jerusalem walking around naked and
barefooted in Jerusalem for three years in Isa 20:2-5 as a sign and portent against
Ethiopia and Egypt so shall the Assyrians disgrace the Egyptians leading them away
without clothing and shoes, etc), is empowered to act out dramatically
(prophetic pantomime), the exilic experiences of Israel. By carrying his little
baggage and making a hole through a wall, Ezekiel put in to drama Israel heading
to exile or forced to leave the comfort of their homeland, as well as losing
their livelihood. We can imagine what it would have felt like being a refugee
or abandoned in war in zone, or to live under an occupation of foreign power
and invaders! Through this prophetic drama, as equally explained by the deuteronomistic
historians (Josh- 2 Kings 25), Israel experienced temporary exile as a result of
sin and disobedience and lack of reconciliation with God.
Of course, for
Ezekiel, like most Israel’s prophets all hope was not lost. Reconciliation, peace, restoration, freedom
and return to the land, would come with repentance of ones’ sins. In fact, this is equally embedded and implied in Ezekiel prophetic drama.
With this drama,
Ezekiel like the psalmist today (Ps 78:7) invites Israel, not to forget the
works of the Lord, his promises, and how he had led them through the desert, in
the past as recorded Exodus. Ezekiel’s dramatic prophecy is a warning to each
of us, against idolatry, and disobedience. It is an invitation to personal responsibility
(Ezek 18:1-5). It is also an invitation to repentance, obedience, dialogue,
peace, forgiveness and reconciliation with God and with our fellow neighbors (Ezek
18:21-24)
Similar invitation is reenacted by the Matthean Jesus in
today’s Gospel (Matt 18:21-19:1). To the question Peter asked, we are call to
forgive one another as many times as possible, in fact, ad infinitum, as
symbolized by the biblical number seven(seventy-seven times). Also like a king in
this gospel who forgive his servant debtor, we must forgive those who may have
offended us. We should not be like the mean and ironic- unforgiving servant of
this gospel story!
As difficult as this may sound, with God, who is ereke
payim, full of kindness, forgiving, peaceful and merciful in nature (Exod
34:6-7); and teaches us through his son, Jesus Christ, in the story of the
prodigal son; in the story of his encounter with Mary Magdalene; with the
Samaritan woman; with Matthew the tax collector and with the sinner, Zacchaeus,
everything is possible.
Reflection Questions:
1.
In what ways have we contributed to
peace, and reconciliation in our various warring families, parishes, dioceses, institutions
and communities?
2.
How often do we take personal responsibilities
with regards to our shortcomings?
3.
Do we
see God as the source of peace, reconciliation and joy?
4.
What are our obstacles to forgiveness
and how have we worked to overcome them?
