HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 33RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
THEME: Jesus sheds tears over the coming fate of Jerusalem.
Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
1 Maccabees 2:15-29
Psalm 49:1-2,5-6,14-15
Luke 19:41-44
LITURGICAL COLOUR
Green
INTRODUCTION
Good morning dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time, Year A.
FROM OUR FIRST READING
In today’s first reading, we heard how the king’s officials went around the whole region trying to impose the pagan worship and Greek customs and ways on all the people, and while some of the Jewish people followed the demands of the king and his officials, many of them resisted the king and refused to obey his commands, just as the priest Mattathias led the uprising and opposition against the king, killing the official who tried to impose pagan worship on the people. That event marked the origin and beginning of the Maccabean Revolt, in which the Jewish people and forces rose up against the Seleucids and eventually, after many years of struggles, hardships and trials, they managed to gain independence against their enemies and oppressors.
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FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus announced that God was powerfully reigning in and through his ministry, ‘the kingdom of God is at hand’. God’s life-giving power was at work through Jesus for the healing of the sick, for the forgiving of sinners, for the inclusion of the excluded and for the accepting of the rejected. Yet, today’s gospel reading reminds us that there were limits to this power of God working through Jesus. Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem because its people, especially its leaders, did not recognize the opportunity God was offering everyone in and through the person of Jesus. For all his power, Jesus was powerless before their refusal to recognize that his coming was a visit from God.
CONCLUSION
Dear brethrens, The power of Jesus was the power of love, the power of a divine love which is stronger than sin and death. All love, even divine love, must be freely received because it is in the nature of love to be a free gift. The tears of Jesus speak volumes about the capacity of human freedom to reject the gift of God’s unconditional love offered to us through his Son. The Lord’s tears could be shed for any of us because we can all fail to recognize the opportunity when God offers it. Yet, the good news, the gospel, is that our failure need never have the last word because God’s love revealed in Jesus is stronger than our failure and it endures in the face of it.
The Lord be with you.
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