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Year - B

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Ezek2: 2-5; 2 Cor12: 7-10; Mk6: 1-6)

REFLECT: The Power of God in and over us…

Dear friends, today we are in the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.We speak of superpowers today; country as a super power, technology as super power, human beings’ talents and potency as super power and the list goes on endlessly. In the midst of our recognized super powers, we fail to recognize the super power in us and over us, the eternal and unavoidable super power of life, that is God himself. So, for us, recognizingGod’s power, the true and genuine power in life is a healing, liberation, joy and promotion of life. But most of the times we forget that God is the true power, who animates and directs life, later regret and don’t get what God has ordained for us.However, today’s readings reveal to us the power of God in and over us, the power of God in us will change our ways of life and the power of God over us will make us realize that God is the only power behind every good beginning and end of human living. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points for reflection;

1.     The power of God in love:

In the letter to Hebrews we hear, “In the past God has spoken to…”(Heb 1: 1-3). Since the time of creation and the waywardness of the people of Israel, God has been sending prophets after prophets to rescue the people, till the culmination reached in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. It shows God’s love for his people Israel. Since Abraham, Noah, Moses till Prophet Ezekiel so many of them were sent to bring back the Israelites to God but they were rebellious and did not listen to God. Even if they had listened, they instantly changed their minds according to their likes and desires. But even after knowing the fact that people of Israel are rebellious and hard hearted, yet in today’s first reading God reveals to us thatHe sends Prophet Ezekiel to make their hardened heart soft to share how much God loves Israelites. We notice here a God who comes after us although we sin and enter into shame, a God who comes after us although we turned our face to him and don’t turn to him back. That’s what God says to Prophet Ezekiel, “I am sending you to the nation of rebels and are stubborn to remind them that even in the midst of them a prophet has risen.”

The power of God’s love for us although we go away from him is very obvious and strong. He sends his prophets and chosen ones to safeguard his people Israel, although they rebelled against God. Is this not a surprise and shocking for us to see God loving a rebellious nation Israel genuinely? Yes, God’s love is a surprise and it is shocking, how God could come after a rebellious nation, who has turned themselves against God by running after other gods. God understands the people of Israel and so he is ready to walk extra miles for their sake and take them to his bosom as a loving Father. Many a times, we are also shocked or surprised to see God’s love and grace being poured on us profusely, although we outrightly reject his true offer of love in our daily lives. God as a Father and Mother loves us all so closely, but it is we who forget him or his act of love and choose to disown him or go away from him.

That’s what Pope Francis very beautifully tells us “God surprises us. His ways surprise us, for they differ from our human expectations; they do not reflect the power and grandeur that we associate with him. Indeed, the Lord likes best what is small and lowly.” Yes, God loves us always the way we are but it is we who disregard his love and care in our lives. Today, we need to realize in what way we can repay God for his love manifested. The repayment to God’s love is not shown by rebellion but by returning to God with a repentant heart, without repeating our refusal to love or hurt his sentiments of love that God has for us. Let us realize that rebellion or rebellious attitude can only be paid by repenting and renewing our lives in God. Let us then pray for repentance, return to God for a renewal of life and live our lives joyfully in God our Father.

2.     The power of God in hard times:

Someone has very beautifully said, “No matter what your situation is or what your circumstances you are facing, what matters is that God can save you from gutter most to the uttermost. God is never late but on time.” Yes, in times of hardships and difficulties, weakness and sickness, we all blame that God was never there; why God gives me problems in myriads; we ask God,“where are you Lord when I am down and depressed, sad and sore moments.”We hardly realize at times that God was always with us but we were not with God; God was with us we did not walk with him and we did not do what was pleasing God. As words of consolation and comfort, the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Second Corinthians comes as a relief to all of us.

St. Paul’s words in today’s reading, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” is the result of his long and genuine experience of various tortures and torments that he had to go through for Christ’ sake. We all know St. Paul was an ardent apostle of Christ, who fought for the faith of Christ’s followers although he initially was the cause of downfall of Christianity, when he had not encountered Christ. But a complete transformation takes place, when he encounters Christ, experiences Christ and expresses Christ’s words and deeds to others. That’s the power of Christ working in St. Paul and that’s power of Christ has completely transformed and taken control of him.

Further St. Paul says, “For Christ’s sake I can encounter and endure any sorts of trials and persecution for when I am weak then I am strong.” Perhaps, it is a paradoxical statement St. Paul makes. How can one be strong when one is weak? St. Paul makes us realize that God always chooses the vulnerable to prove his point right, which in St. Paul’s case is true. St. Paul, we know was weak in the sight of God; he was in sin as he slaughtered Christians and led many to weaken faith in Christ, yet, God chose St. Paul through Christ to spread Goodnews to all. St. Paul firmly believes that Christ love for the weak and the vulnerable would make them strong. All the more we read in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, “Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Yes,where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Even in our daily lives, when we see the weak or vulnerable of the society, we feel for them or feel like helping them although there are many who dislike them or do not come forward. But the fact is that we always have a soft corner for the poor, the needy, the weak and the feeble. Similarly, St. Paul exhorts us that when I am weak then I am strong, implying the love of God over us and the trust that we need to place in God always. Today, when we are in hard times, we need to believe like St. Paul in Christ that God will make the weak strong, the sad - happy, the unloved - loved, those without friends with friends, those without favorwith God’s favor, because God says “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Indeed, Pope Francis exhorts us the assurance of God’s mighty hand and help saying, “Indeed, if the God of heaven is close, we are not alone on earth, and even in difficulty we do not lose faith. He further explains that God is a father who knows his children and loves them,even when you travel on steep and rugged paths, even when you fall and struggle to get up again and get back on track, the Lord is close.” Yes, God’s grace is sufficient in us but we fail to realize it in life. For our human minds, we feel the insufficiency of God’s gracelike the insufficiency of goods and commodities. Let us realize, goods and commodities are not to be compared with the grace of God, because God’s grace is an eternal grandeur or power invested in us and no one could stop experiencing it, unless God stops it. But we all know that the good God always gives us grace, because he loves us though Christ in the Holy Spirit. So let us feel the grace of God in us and enrich our lives, forgetting the weaknesses that we or others have, placing all our sufferings and short-comings into the divine hands of God.

3.     The power of God in your Identity

Today, we all seek for self-identity.Identity as a human being, identity in profession, family, region, religion, state and society etc. Yes, it is good that we seek and have an identity in the society. It proves one’s self-worth, self-recognition and as well makes known to others who he or she is. But in our search for self-identity, we have forgotten our basic identity as Christians. The most precious gift for us Christians is the identity of being called as children of God. There is nothing compared to Christian identity as children of God, because we when we identify ourselves as a child of God, we move in the right direction of God and drive home towards God. Perhaps, there are tendencies in people to brand us or people may give us different identity but God can change our identities to a different thing altogether, provided our priority is right and our priority is God.That’s what we see in today’s gospel reading from St. Mark.

The gospel reading of the day presents to us the same scenario, Jesus as a carpenter’s son, his father is Joseph and his mother is Mary. People wondered how couldJesus, the son of a carpenter and their parents whom we know so well could become so wise and knowledgeable in scripture. Where he might have obtained the powers to work miracles and healings for people? They were confounded and confused but failed to realize and recognize Jesus’identity as Son of God.That’s why Jesus says, “a prophet is not accepted in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own household.” Perhaps, the outright rejection of Jesus is nothing new, because we already see in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus was labelled as a person out of his mind and a person possessed by Beelzebul (Mk 3: 21-22). This outright rejection of Jesus only reminds that they were not ready to accept Jesus and believe in his works. The rejection of Jesus at his home town could be to downplay his role as a Son of God. But Jesus, just moves away from the crowd as he observed that they did not believe in him and his work or his identity as the Son of God.

Indeed, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” is one thing but people don’t accept the real thing andreality is another thing. Jesus was not intending an identity for popularity or familiarity rather he wanted to show the real face of God and the real identity of himself as the Son of God, but people were not ready for and they were not prepared for it too. The crowd only identified Jesus with Joseph as a carpenter’s son and a Son of Mary but not as a Son of God. Something similar could happen in our lives too. Sometimes we are not given identity in the society; sometimes our identity is not recognized or ignored or devalued but let’s realize just because others thought Jesus was a carpenter, we cannot say that Jesus was not Son of God. Jesus is God’s son always and his identity remains always, similarly our identity as children of God will remain always although others fail to see or recognize our human and social identity or Christic identity in the world. Today, what we need to remember is that we may have human or social identity as persons or as human beings, but let us realize the Christic identity that we are born in Christ, called to grow and live in union with Christ. I am sure, the realization of Christic identity in us will enable us to become Christ-like in our attitudes and approaches to love and your live in peace, joy, forgiveness, justice and freedom.

Pope Francis very beautifully shares his wisdom while reflecting on today’s Gospel passage saying, “We may ask ourselves: why do Jesus’ fellow townsmen go from astonishment to disbelief? They make a comparison between Jesus’ humble origins and his current abilities: he is a carpenter; he did not study and yet he preaches better than the scribes and he performs miracles. And instead of opening up to the reality, they take offence. According to the people of Nazareth, God is too great to humble himself to speak through such a simple man! It is the scandal of the Incarnation: the unsettling event of a God made flesh who thinks with the mind of a man, works and acts with the hands of a man, loves with a human heart, a God who struggles, eats and sleeps like one of us.” Yes, God has reduced his divine identity to human identity to become one with us and to love amongst us, but people failed to realize the identity of Jesus as Son of God. Something similar happens in our lives too, when we take the identity of God for granted or the identity of Christ in us for granted too. The godly identity and the Christic identity as child of God and Christ’s followers must be realized, so that we don’t disbelieve in God’s work rather we believe in God’s work.

At the end of the gospel reading of the day,Jesus very plainly says that he was disheartened for their unbelief or disbelief. It is not that people doubted rather they unbelieved or disbelieved in Jesus and his words and deeds. We all know that when we are in doubt, we are confused and we just need clarification. Once, we clarify, the doubt is cleared. But a disbelief or unbelief indicates that we are stubborn to believe what we hold and we don’t want to accept someone’s ideas or ideals easily. Therefore, doubt and disbelief are different. Doubt needs clarification whereas disbelief needs acceptance of the person, their personal ideas and ideals. So let us believe in God and experience healing and warmth in life. Let us not give a chance for God to dishearten for our unbelief. Our every unbelief or disbelief in God is an act of betrayal to God. Let us not betray God’s love and trust, God’s power and grace over us. So, let us realize that it is the power of God that shows how much he loves us and he wants us to love others the same. It is the power of God gives us freedom and consolation in hard times and hardships of life.It is the power of God in us  that gives us identity as children of God. So let us realize the power of God inand over us and live life happily in God’s blessings.

RESPOND:

Do we understand that the power of God is made manifest in the love we obtain from God through various means?

Do we recognize the power of God in hard times or tough tides of life that God is always there for us and with us?

Do we realize the power or God in our identity as children of God?

Let us realize the power of God is in and over us in His love, in our rescue from hard times of life and in our identity as children of God. Amen. 

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968