HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 14TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II
THEME: WE CAN WORK TOGETHER
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
HOMILYFOR WEDNESDAY JULY 6 2022
‘Jesus sent these twelve on mission with (the) instruction…’
Today in the Gospel (Matthew 10:1-7), Jesus summoned His disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits. Then, He sent them out. Remarkable is the fact that the disciples were of different backgrounds and personalities. The most amazing thing was the union of a tax collector and a zealot in the apostolic college. The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism, which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from Israel by force of arms. They were militants. A zealot would willingly kill the tax collector. Tax collectors worked for Rome. But Jesus called them together.
When we are working with others, we need to be aware that everyone is different. We might need to work with people whose gifting is different from ours, or maybe their personality doesn’t fit too well with ours. Maybe the way they prefer to do things is not the way we like to do them.
Differences can cause tension. But they don’t have to. We can learn to understand other people, and then adapt how we relate to them so that we can work with them effectively. God has given us all different gifts. Just as the body has many different parts with many different functions, the people who make up God’s kingdom have differing gifts with different parts to play in His plan. The Bible says: ‘The body is not made up of one part but of many…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it’ (1 Corinthians 12:14;27). Some people are good at admin, while others are great at being up on the stage. Some people are musical, while others are great at teaching. Whatever our gifts are, we need to understand that other people have different gifts. We need to respect the fact that they might not be able to do what we can, and vice versa.
God didn’t just create us with differing gifts, He also gave us unique personalities. And sometimes we can find other personalities challenging to get along with. It’s important that we try to understand things from other people’s points of view, and know what they like and dislike. If we don’t take the time to try to understand others, we’ll struggle to be able to work with them. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our country Nigeria, bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen. Good morning
Fr. Karabari Paul