Homily
Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Season Year B: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
- Ezekiel 2:2-5;
- Ps 123:1-4;
- 2 Cor 12:7-10
- Mark 6:1-6
Prophets and
Thorns on Their Flesh!
The Bible readings of today speak
of the challenges that face a true prophet. Saint Paul calls this his “thorn on
the Flesh” (skoloph tē sarki), which was given to him, as prophet, and apostle
to the Gentiles. First of all a
true prophet does not send himself. He is sent by God. He does not speak on his
behalf but on behalf of the one who sent. He or she is brave, courageous,
truthful, and remains the conscience of his or her society, people and next
door neighbor. Secondly, a prophet is human, and could even be weak in eloquence
and stature. He is mortal, prone to disabilities. Besides human
weaknesses, and disabilities, he could be rejected by those he or she is sent
to evangelize. Thirdly, there may be many other forms of hardships and
sufferings, opposition, resistance, mockery a prophet must have to endure in
the course of fulfilling his or her ministry. This is where Ezekiel, Christ and
Paul belong. By our water of baptism this is who we are called to be- a
prophets to our families and next door neighbors realizing that, there is power
in weakness, there is need to appreciate the paradox of the cross!
In the case of Ezekiel’s ministry
of today’s first reading, he was called while in exile in Babylon and sent as a
human prophet, with his own human weaknesses, ”thorns on the flesh,” to preach
to the rebellious Israelites. His prophetic humanity is made clear
repeatedly in the entire book of Ezekiel where he is constantly addressed by
God, as ‘the son of man” or “mortal,” about 93 times. This simply means that
Ezekiel was human. That Ezekiel knew that he was human, mortal, son of
man, imperfect helped him relied totally on the grace of God in his
prophecy of hope and change of heart to the exiled community of Israel in
Babylon. It is important we also ways
recognize that we are human, we are broken, and we are weak always in need of
God’s mercy and his divine grace! That we are ill, or hurt our feet, eyes,
legs, arms etc., should not separate us from the love of God, from the mission
we are called to mission.
We notice in the Gospel reading (Mark
6:1-6), Jesus also called himself a prophet. Of course, he was called and sent
by God his father (John’s Gospel), but often rejected here and there. Having
been insulted and rejected in his home town of Nazareth, in today’s Gospel,
Jesus said to himself, “a prophet is not without honor except in his native
place among his own kin and his own house.” By calling himself a prophet Jesus
recognizes his father sent him to do his will: to baptize the unbaptized,
forgive sinners, teach courageously in the synagogue and healed the sick
without charge. By calling himself a prophet, in the likes of Jeremiah, Ezekiel
and other Israel’s prophet, Jesus recognizes that human honor was immaterial to
the mission that his father had sent him. He recognizes that he didn’t need to come from
the most important city of his time to serve, to do the will of his father. In
spite of his hardships that span through the garden of Gethsemane and via
delorosa and even to the cross (which we relived when we pray and walk the stations of the
cross in our religious communities/Holy Land), the spirit of the Lord was upon
him (Luke 4:18), as he walked his way heroically to the Calvary!
Saint Paul in his mission to the Church
in Corinth understood these challenges. In the 2nd reading Paul
says, “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, to keep me from been too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this that it might leave me, but he said to
me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Throughout his missionary journeys, Paul whom we know must have been a very
proud person in his upbringing. Ironically he had his own “thorn on the
flesh…illnesses, weakness. Like Ezekiel, and Christ he also endured those
“thorns on the flesh, including insults, crises and opposition from false-preachers in Corinth, hardships, rejections, persecutions,
constraints and dishonor, for the sake of the Gospel, which he knew was the
source of salvation for Jews and Gentiles (Rom 1:16-17).
How many of us today in our various
places of ministries first of all would be humble to recognize that we are
human, weak and vulnerable? How many realizes that they are mere
messengers, mortals, sons and daughters of men, like the prophets Ezekiel, or
instruments in God’s hands? How do react
when we feel wrongly challenged or opposed by false prophets? Does
dishonors, insults, illnesses, hurting our legs or arms, or eyes, or
persecutions and hardships and other challenges stopped us from doing the
good that must be done (love our neighbors, be charitable and forgiving), or from
preaching the gospel that needs be preached? Hasn’t St. Paul also elsewhere reminds us that
nothing should separate us from the love of God( Rom 8:35-39).
Friends taking Ezekiel, Saint Paul and
Christ as our missionary and prophetic models may we recognize that there is
that hidden divine strength in every seeming human weaknesses and dishonor we
may face in the course of doing good, evangelizing, or in the course of
being faithfully and truly prophetic to our neighbors, whom we share our bread
with, whose midst we live our spiritual and corporal works of mercy and
exercise those Gospel Beatitudes, that Pope Francis daily reminds us of. As
Christians and believers, may we continue to carry the death and dying of
Christ in our mortal bodies so that we can reveal the life, the love, the
compassion and the tender mercy of Christ to others!
Reflection Questions:
- In what way can we relate to the ministry of Paul, Ezekiel and Christ in the light of today’s bible readings?
- What would you consider your “thorn on the flesh” in your Christian and religious practices?
- How do we help ourselves and members of our faith/ religious communities--- called to be prophets and prophetess to realize that there is power in weakness?
