Newness in Christ, the One Who Judges Us (1 Cor 4:4); Homily- Friday of the 22nd Week of Ord. Time Yr. B.

 

Homily- Friday of the 22^nd Week of Ord. Time Yr. B. Fr. Udoekpo, Michael

v  1 Cor 4:1-5

v  Ps 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40

v  Luke 5:33-39

 Newness in Christ, the One Who Judges Us (1 Cor 4:4)

 Today we celebrate our newness in Christ, our Lord and Savior of the world. He is the one who judges us who are called, as Saint Paul would put it “to be servants (huperētas Christou) of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (oikonomous mystēriōn Theou).

Saint Paul, while writing in the 50s AD, from Ephesus( I Cor 16:8) made this argument in today’s first reading  1 Corinthian 4:1-5 insistent on dissuading the Corinthians to abandon their old ways of life, namely, division, disunity, quarreling, back- biting, corruption and all kinds of boasting, externalism,  and immoral behaviors. They were also involved in rash and harsh judgments of their neighbors, including Saint Paul himself whom they somehow resisted and criticized.  For Paul, members of the Corinthian community should imbibe new ways of life by not making judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, “for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifests the motives our hearts.”

 Put differently by the Psalmist, today, “the salvation of the just comes from the Lord” (Ps 37:39a), not from human wisdom and tribunal. How often do we not rely on externalism and human wisdom in judging our neighbors, without proper discernment and prayers?

Doing this reminds us of the pharisaic and old ways life that Jesus challenges throughout his ministry. In today’s gospel Luke 5:33-39 Jesus, the bridegroom challenges and resists the Pharisees attitude towards fasting( Matt 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22), often based on empty externalism, ritual and sacrifices without, in depth sense of righteousness(tsadeqqah), mercy, justice (misphat), hesed (kindness), and steadfast love, especially to the poor and those on the margin ( cf. Hos 6:6; Amos 5:14-24).

In other words, for us, as well as for the church in Corinth, as recommended by Paul, in the first reading, Christ is our bridegroom, our new role model, and judge for which the bride, the church, must newly opened, and looked unto (cf. Eph 5).  For according to Christ in that Lukan parable, “no one tears a piece from new cloak to patch and old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new, and the piece from it will not match the old cloak, ..Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wine-skins. And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘the old is good.’’

This parable and today's Scriptures  as a whole challenge us to rethink our old ways of life of doing things that are not in conforming to the spirit of Christ and of the Church. Or does not reflect a servant and steward of Christ.

 As found  in the Corinthian Church, our old ways of disunity, segregation, racism, tribalism ethnocentrism, violence, tribal wars, terrorism, consumerism, materialism, indifference to the poor and common good and corruption, empty arrogance, must give way to unity, inclusiveness, peace, modesty, compassion, mercy,  humility, kindness, justice, acts of charity and being our brothers’ and sister’s keepers as Pope Francis daily emphasizes.

 Reflection Questions

1.      Could we think of our old ways of life that needs improvement and newness in Christ, the Church’s Bridegroom?

2.      What are the causes of disunity among us? Could you think of remedies?

3.      How often do we judge our neighbors based on hear-say or externalism without proper and interior discernment of facts?