HOMILY FOR TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A. 30.08.2020.

Jeremiah

Readings: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2 and Matthew 16:21-27. 

SEDUCED BY CHRIST: SUBMISSIVE TO HIS WILL

 

Some persons were carried away by their emotions at the start of their journey to marital life. They were engrossed by their emotion that nothing else matters to them, except their partners. With time and event revealing things to them, they become so bitter in marriage because not what they were expecting they are experiencing. This is what the liturgy of today communicates to us, how the prophet Jeremiah was seduced by God into a relationship with Him, and he submitted himself to the will of God. Christ in the Gospel calls us to reflect on the cost of responding to this seductive nature of God as we respond to His will and St. Paul in the second reading exposes to us the necessary sacrifice we make when we fall in love.

 

In the first reading, we hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah saying, “O Lord you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed.” In other translation, the Jerusalem Bible, it says, “You have seduced me Lord, and I have allowed myself to be seduced…” (Jer. 20:7). Could this be an expression of love or lament? Jeremiah seems to be saying that he has understood his relationship with God as related to a marriage bond but now claimed he has been deceived and enticed by God just as some persons will claim that their spouse enticed them with certain things into marriage. At this point, I believe the married ones will remember some of their earlier experiences.

 

Without doubt, at the beginning, Jeremiah never wanted this relationship with God, even when he was called, he resisted the call of God by giving some excuses saying “…I do not know how to speak, for I am only a little boy, but the Lord commissioned him to speak whatever He commands…” (Jer. 1:4-10). Importantly, Jeremiah submitted himself to the will of God, despite the fact that it did not please him, and that is why most often, we see Jeremiah as an outspoken prophet, outwardly, he was firm, unyielding prophet of the Lord, conveying faithfully the divine will to his people. But when alone with God, he expresses his doubts, his pains and fears on whether to give up or not. He had to bear a painful price to remain faithful messenger of God. Among his pains, we hear him say, “I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.” This experience of Jeremiah prefigures that of Christ, who will later endure similar humiliation. Is an experience that expresses the cost of being a messenger of God; Put differently, the cost of discipleship, which Christ expressed in the gospel.

 

Pick up your cross

In today’s gospel, a continuation of last Sunday where Christ demands to hear from his disciples on “Who do people say that the Son of man is and their individual knowledge of Him.” Even with the response of Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, yet he had no full knowledge of what he had said. He did not understand the mission of Christ the messiah. Like the Jewish people, he had a notion of a messiah that will come in royalty, glory and majesty. Just like the transfiguration, he was eager to participate in this these aspects of the messiah but not the suffering part. Christ had to correct the notion of the Apostles of his mission that, like Jeremiah, “The Messiah has to suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Peter wanted the crown but not the cross that is why he said, “God forbid, Lord!” However, Christ wanted him and his followers to know the cost of being his disciples, so that none will say he or she was deceived into Christianity.

 

Many Christians today do not want to hear about sufferings, pains or sorrows. All they want is the “gospel of prosperity.” Today, Christ wants us to understand the meaning of suffering, and he wants us to understand the meaning of the cross that is why he said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” There is no glory or crown without a cross. So we should not run away from cross like Peter did repeatedly, even on Christ way to Calvary, but embrace it as Christ urges with the new meaning He has given to it as a means to salvation. The moment we accept our crosses, we accept to be true Christians.

 

In view of the above that St. Paul appeal to us in the second reading to learn from Christ as we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, not to conform to the world but to respond to the call of God with total submission to His will without resistance nor reservation. Then will the beautiful hymn “All to Jesus I surrender…” makes more meaning to us.

 

In a nutshell, the moment we begin to change our perception of the crosses we carry as Christians, the deeper will be our understanding of righteousness and of the glory of the Lord. When Jeremiah and Peter thought of avoiding suffering, pains and persecution, Christ on the other hand encourages us NOT to run away from it, but rather unite all these with him in prayers and we shall have the crown of glory. We are encouraged to let God seduce us and establish a perfect relationship with Him. It is our prayer that our souls will thirst for the Lord our God through Christ our Lord. Amen! Peace be with you!

 

Happy Sunday!

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ