Homily – Monday of
the 22nd Week of Ord. Time, Yr. B. Fr. Udoekpo, Michael
v
1 Cor 2:1-5
v
Ps 119:97,98,99,100,101,102
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Luke 4:16-30
Prophetic and
Spiritual Mission to the Poor and Immature In Spiritual Wisdom
In yesterday’s readings of the 22nd Sunday in
Ordinary Time of the Year, we heard of what the Lord expects of us, as his disciples
(Jer 20:7-9 ,Ps 63:2-9,Rom 12:1-2;Matt 16:21-27), such as, the need to take up our crosses and
follow him. In today’s readings, the mission
of the prophets, namely reaching out to the poor, the weak, or correcting and strengthening
the hope of those who are poor in spiritual wisdom is paramount.
This mission is heard, and nuanced and defined differently
and earlier in the Jubilee Poem of Jesus in, Isaiah 61, but recited in today’s
Gospel (Luke 4:16-30), by the Lukan Jesus , the Savior of the world, in the beginning of his ministry, in
Nazareth, proclaiming, “ the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed
me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to the proclaim liberty to
captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and
to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18ff// Matt 13:53-58; Mark
6:1-6).
You will notice that even though the Jesus of Luke begins
his ministry this way in Nazareth, zeroing in on the poor, the needy, the
oppressed, the marginalized, teaching love and charity to all, he would be
taken for granted by his very own people. The more reason, though, Jesus cited Isaiah 61 as the center piece of his mission, he knew and affirmed that “no
prophet is accepted in his own native place,” as was the case with most of
Israel’s prophet, including Jeremiah whom we read yesterday. He was rejected, and
punished by his own people. As we saw in yesterday’s reading, Jeremiah 20:7-9,
Jeremiah thought God had abandoned him or dubbed him into this prophetic
mission. But, that wasn’t the case.
So, as for Saint Paul
in the first reading (1 Cor 2:1-5), although, he had his own challenges of
rejection and pains, he was never tired of reminding the Corinthian’s of the
importance of unity and search for what matters, namely, spiritual wisdom; in
fact, Christ the true wisdom.
Paul was prophetically emphatic to the Corinthian Church,
even though they did not accept all that this Apostle of the Gentile preached.
But, he made it known to them, he does indeed speak with sublimity, fear and
trembling, the “the mystery of God,”
among the mature or spiritual people, but, he could not do so effectively among
the Corinthians because they were still infants with empty philosophical wisdom
of backbiting, boasting, division and attachments to spiritual mentors or
social titles and nobility.
As we saw in the mission of Jesus, defined in Luke 4 and
Isaiah 61, Paul affirming-ly teaches us, in the second reading how to
communicate the Gospel with humility, fear of the Lord and with a demonstration
of the spirit and power of God in us, so that, the faith of the community, our
faith may not rely on human wisdom and persuasiveness, but on the power of God.
In light of today’s reading, we pray for God’s Spirit and
guidance upon each of us to live our prophetic and baptismal promises as Christian,
especially in this challenging moment when we are met with difficulties or rejections,
in our home towns and native places as Jesus did in Nazareth( Luke 4:24) and
Paul in Corinth ( 1 Cor 2:1-5).
Reflection Questions
1.
What are the
challenges that we meet in the course of living our prophetic and Christian missions?
2.
Do we always pray
for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our decision making?
3.
Do always see Jesus,
and the God’s Wisdom and lead our neighbors to believe same?
4.
How often do we opt
for the poor and the needy or for those in prison and captivities?
