Homily – for Friday of the 25th Week in Ord.
Time, Yr. B. Fr. Udoekpo, Michael
v Eccl 3:1-11
v Ps 144:1b and 2abc, 3-4
v Luke 9:18-22
“Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!”(Ps 144:1).
The Rock metaphor, or language, that this psalm uses in
most cultures represents strength, a warrior, power, shield, protector, source
of light, materials for buildings, bridges, roads and factories! This is clear
in the rest of the Psalm, where David continues to describe God, as “my mercy,
and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust.”
Like Psalm 8, and Genesis I 26-28 on God as source of all
creation, humans and non-humans, Psalm 144 again rhetorically ask:
“Lord, what is man
(i.e. ‘adam/human beings, humankind; male and female, white and black,
young and old), that you notice him; the son of man, that you take thought of
him? Man is like a breath; his days, like a passing shadow.”
This message of “transience of human life” (Ps 39:5, 7;
109:23, Eccl 1-2), as a “breath,” “vapor,” “hebel,” (vanity of
vanities), is also what we have been hearing from the preacher, Qoheleth, these
few days, including today’s first reading, Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. In a beautiful, and simple- to- grasp- rhythmic
series of antithetical pairs that
represent complete and variety of times and seasons encountered by human
beings ( ‘adam), this wise preachers reminds his people and all of us
today, that God is the determinant of time and timing. He is the source of
everything and the eternal sovereign of all creation, and the one “who acts,”
that sometimes, we tend to forget, or fell to recognize and acknowledge,
especially in the person Christ- the Messiah, the anointed (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke
4:18-19).
This is why, Christ, the Messiah in today’s Gospel, Luke
9:18-22, asks his disciples this fundamental Christological question, “Who do
the crowds/multitude say that I am?”(v.18). Though, some thought he was John the
Baptists, Elijah and others, one of the ancient prophets, it was Peter who
got it right, “the Messiah of God” (Christos tou theou)., God’s anointed
one( whose mission exemplary is spelt out in Luke 4:18-19 and in the rest of
the Gospels), a title that was typical of Davidic kingship, humanly, speaking.
We are invite to be like Peter, recognizing that Christ
is the anointed, one, the warrior, the rock, the source of all that we are and
have. We are invited to be like David, in the sense, that, he clearly in that
Psalm 144 recognizes, that his kingship was rather a participation in the
Divine Kingship of Christ, trusting in him as our mercy, fortress, stronghold,
deliverer, savior and our Rock? Again,
let us pray together, “Blessed be the Lord Our Rock “(Ps 144:1).
Reflection Questions
1.
Who Is Christ for us?
2.
Do we see human life as transience, and can only find peace in eternal God?
3.
Do we entrust our leaders and ourselves to God always?
