Homily for Twenty-Second Sunday of Year A- Fr. Udoekpo, M
What the Lord Expects of His Disciples (A)
v Jer 20:7-9
v Ps 63:2-9
v Rom 12:1-2
v Matt 16:21-27
Although
God deals with us in mysterious ways, today’s Bible readings point us in the direction
of his divine expectations of us. God wants us to deepen our relationship with him
by discerning his will and living a holy life that conforms to the gospel. He wants
us at all times and in every age and circumstance to recognize the prophetic role
of sufferings, mortification, and self-denial. He wants us to appreciate the costly
price of being a Christian and the value of the cross in the face of contemporary
challenges.
In the
second reading (Rom 12:1-2), Saint Paul reminds the Christian community in Rome
of God’s expectations: right and ethical conduct, spiritual worship of God in faith
and truth, conformity to God’s will, and rejection of worldliness, secularism, and
the “anything goes” attitude that has plagued every culture, including our own.
In
Jeremiah’s time, when the people of Judah were threatened by the Babylonians,
Jeremiah had the prophetic task of reminding his contemporary kings, leaders, and
people of God’s everlasting love for them, his covenant of faithfulness, and the
danger of apostasy, unfaithfulness, and worship of idols.
Jeremiah
paid a high price for his message: He was abused, thrown into prison, tortured,
terrified (Jer 20:3, 10), and even threatened with death, as reflected in his laments:
“O Lord, you have enticed me, and
I was enticed . . . I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks
me” (Jer 20:7). His prophetic sufferings did not deter him from confidently trusting
in God, who “delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers” (Jer
20:13).
Similarly,
since last Sunday, Peter has been wrestling with God’s will. He professed Christ
as the “Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16). He was entrusted with the keys of the
kingdom, and leadership roles (Matt 16:18ff). But in today’s Gospel (Matt 16:21-27),
Peter must realize the suffering, sacrifices, and price required by being the bearer
of the keys to God’s kingdom. He must realize the struggles that come with
being a disciple of Christ, and a leader in faith—denying ourselves and doing his
will rather than our own.
In our
modern culture, we strive for material things and face many challenges: money, power,
abuse of sex, the inordinate search for worldly honor and position, comfort, freedom,
dominance, self-interest, shortcuts, insufficient religious dialogue, rash wars,
and rash judgment and of course, corona virus. In such a culture, each of us must
be struggling with our own different forms of persecution and mockery, somehow
comparable to those that biblical figures and countless saints and heroes of
faith contextually faced: Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, Jesus, and Mary.
In our
own circumstances and contexts of mockery—when we’ve been duped, experienced illness
and pain, covid-19, loss of loved ones, faced rejection and persecution,
experienced loneliness and misunderstanding—whether in our marriages or our celibate
lifestyles, in our long days in the classroom, office, farm, factory, seminary,
or college, may we always be willing to take up our crosses daily and follow Jesus.
Reflection
Questions:
1. Have
you ever felt like Jeremiah, Saint Paul, or Peter and his friends of today’s Gospel?
2. What
prevents you from living out what the Lord expects of his disciples?
3. How
do you assist members of your faith communities who come to you with their experiences
of pain and suffering?
4. Have
you ever misled or been an obstacle to a member of your faith community who is growing
in faith? Have you ever treated the planet unfairly?
