HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I.
THEME: THE SPIRIT OF CONFUSION VS THE TOWER OF BABEL!
BY: Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr)
* Gen 11: 1 – 9, Mk 8: 34 – 9: 1.
One of the greatest challenges we have in Christianity today is that we have so many people who profess Christ and yet do not live for Christ. I call it double tonguing or speaking in different tongues – today, they are for Christ, tomorrow, they are for the devil. Belief in God is not enough because even the devil believes that God exists and knows the power of God. The problem is for Christians to be able to pray with one tongue and one voice. St Paul warned the Corinthian Church, ipso facto, that whenever they are praying together and others cannot say ‘Amen’ because they do not understand them then they have failed. He told them to aim at the spiritual gifts that build up the community, 1 Cor 14: 12.
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Today’s 1st reading is actually the liturgical reading of the Pentecost vigil mass showcasing the event of the building of the tower of Babel as one of the ancient mistakes of our ancestors. It was one of the earliest biblical accounts of where people made effort to unite in their evil plans and God thwarted their efforts by sending them the spirit of confusion. Whenever people want to make a name; Whenever people want to pursue their own self aggrandisement even in the process of prayer, God sends them a spirit of confusion.
Which way do we chose – the way of Babel or the way of Christ? Modern man has become Godlike in his achievements with power to create and to destroy; power to intervene in the structure of the DNA (cloning), power to affect our human sexuality (trangender madness), and power to keep /sustain life on a life supporting machine. But we need to add divine wisdom to human knowledge otherwise we end up destroying ourselves like our ancestors did. To exclude God from our human calculations and to rely solely on human power is to build the tower of Babel.
Jesus asks us in today’s gospel to renounce every inclination to becoming an affront against God. ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit one’s soul?’ Any man that will follow Christ must first of all deny himself and take up his cross and follow him. Whoever will have his life will first lose it. Assertion of self is denial of God. As the Church began on Pentecost when people inspite of their different tongues could understand one another, our problem also begins as a Church when we speak in different tongues but can no longer understand ourselves and say ‘Amen’ together. May God bless you today!
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