HOMILY FOR SUNDAY 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.
Theme: Choose God or Nothing
By: Fr Anthony C Ohaekwusi
When you are asked to choose between two goods, say spending time with friends or going to a football game, choosing between your parents or between two of your children it isn’t an easy choice. But when it’s between good and evil, then that is much easier than choosing between two goods, which forces us to go for the more convenient option. Three young graduates on their way to a job interview saw a driver whose car was stuck in the mud. The man begged them to push his car out of the mud. One said he didn’t want to stain his clean clothes, another said he was in a hurry and didn’t want to be late for a meeting, and the third said he couldn’t do it alone. The other two later agreed on the condition that he pay them for their time and effort. When they pushed the car out, the man gave them payment and offered them a lift. When they got there, they realized that the man was the new manager they were about to meet. He then asked them: “Knowing what you know now, would you have chosen differently?”
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Life confronts us with options, sometimes between two goods. Should choosing one detract from the value of the other? When the Pharisees asked Jesus a question about paying tax to Caesar, they thought they would put him in a difficult position by portraying him as brutally honest and fearless. Knowing of the widespread dissatisfaction with paying taxes, they tried to entrap Jesus with a moral question: “Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus’ answer revealed that it is malicious when we try to pit two good things against each other, or try to make a good thing look bad because of the people involved. When we use moral dilemmas to undermine the value of the good, we are no different from the Pharisees, who maliciously lost their moral compass to justify what is convenient. Goodness is an objective value that remains the same no matter where it is found. We can choose two goods: going to work and going to Mass, giving to Caeser and giving to God. There is no good excuse to avoid what is good. If God can use Cyrus, who does not know Him, for good, He can use you for better. Caesar belongs to God too.
Remain lifted and do have a great Sunday
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