HOMILY/SERMON FOR 24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY/SERMON FOR 24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

BY: Fr Stephen ‘Dayo Osinkoya

Isaiah 50: 5-9, Ps. 116, James 2: 14-18, Mark 8:27-35

Beloved in Christ we are surrounded by snares of death, anguish of oppression, disappointments and sorrows of loss. But if we are simple, we can be rest assured of the Lord’s protection, even if we are brought low to the brim of death we can be assured he would save us (Cf. Ps. 116). What we have here in our Psalm of today if equally echoed in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah “For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded… Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?” (Cf. Isaiah 50:5-9). But let us not be too quick to forget that these statements of confidence in God’s protection and vindication is made by one who is humble, the one whom God opened his ear and was neither rebellious nor hesitant – “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.” (Isaiah 50:5)

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So what then constitute this required humility? The answer is ‘The way of the cross’- denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus.

In our liturgy today, in the gospel passage, we hear our Lord Jesus Christ demanding of his disciples their perception of his identity – “But who do you say that I am?” Thousands of years on, we are being asked the same question today. Who do you say Jesus is? We have read a lot about Jesus and we might have even heard others speak about him, from their own experience of Jesus, but what about you? From your encounter with Jesus at mass and in the Eucharist, who can you say Jesus is? Whatever our understanding of Jesus may be, if it is not in relation with the cross – suffering and self-sacrifice, then we do not yet know who Jesus truly is.

In the Gospel reading, Peter, like many of us thought that he knew who Jesus was, only to be shocked when Jesus predicted his own suffering, death and resurrection. Our call by Christ must involve the cross. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever will save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it.”

Why did Jesus say whoever wants to save his life would lose it…? Why did Jesus say so? It is because the means men and women would seek to preserve their life are; by denying their identity and rejecting their mission as a Christian. Denying our identity as Christian can only lead us to the path of destruction. Many of us are like Peter, we want to live our faith on our own terms, without the mystery of the cross; without being involved in the suffering of those in need or even patiently enduring our own suffering.

Certainly this is not easy, it means denying ourselves of our own comfort. But the readings remind us that the cross is the path to happiness. There is no short-cut. It means being prepared to risk living and dying for others. Peter in the Gospel passage was telling Jesus not to die for anyone. It can be viewed as Peter telling Jesus: “You can answer the Christ; the Messiah, but don’t carry out his mission”. It is like telling a medical doctor: “answer doc but don’t cure anyone!” It is a wonder that the Peter who just professed Jesus as the Christ could not stay on that profession he made as he started to advice the Messiah not to live by his identity. Jesus was right to say “get behind me Satan” because it is only the devil that can make such a devastating suggestion. And that is exactly what the devil does to us, suggesting to us that we can bear the name Christian, we can even go to church weekly, but we don’t have to do what is expected of a Christian!

To be a Christian is not just a name, it is a call into a life pattern; the life pattern of Christ. It is the life pattern of love and service to God and humanity. We are all Christians by identity but how many of us are ready to respond to the life of charity, forgiveness and total trust in God which was Characteristic of the life of Christ? The way and manner we activate our Christian faith will determine how people will perceive us; it will indicate who people take us to be: “that kind hearted man or woman” or “that heartless fool.” We should not allow any day to pass without living by our identity as a Christian.

The First Reading, chosen to compliment the Gospel Reading of today is part of one of the “Suffering Servant” songs that Prophet Isaiah composed about the one who was to come. In this reading, the prophet describes the servant of God who will lead Israel back to God. The servant will suffer, but God will uphold him and will take care of him. As followers of Jesus, we also have to face trials and suffering in our daily endeavours. We may not be asked to die for our faith, but we will surely be asked to live our faith with courage and full faithfulness. But “faith without good work is dead” – St. James says in the Second Reading of today. In his letter to the Christian believers he exhorts that our ‘faith’ has to be backed up by ‘works,’ practical behaviour. That is to say, our way of life should correspond fully to the faith we profess. Our faith in Jesus should compel us to reach out compassionately to other people, to give our time, talent and yes, perhaps even some of our treasured resources to the people around us, especially the needy; else, we are just pretending, or even lying. There is nothing good in being deeply religious, if one does not reach out to a world in need?

The danger for us as Christians is that, in the rat race of daily hustling and bustling, the race of life has become everyone for the ‘self’ and there are few winners and many losers. To be a Christian disciple is not primarily to ‘save my soul’ or ‘go to heaven,’ but to enter fully into the mainstream of human living and human concerns, to become part of it through loving and sharing and building up with ‘others.’ It is not a matter of everyone for oneself, but each for the other, one for all and all for one – and then there will be all gainers and no losers.

The reason many of us just want to live for the self is that we are unsure what it will cost us. Even when we know the cost, we just want to get to Easter, and bypass Good Friday, but this cannot be done. No cross no crown. Even in Pentecost there is a cost, and living our Christian vocation involves facing up to the fact that we have to die to our self, many times in the service of others. Being a Christian doesn’t mean allowing ourselves to be treated as a foot-mat by others, but “the Cross” is going to be present in our lives in various forms of hardship: sickness, pain, loneliness, failure, sometimes in forms of suffering that are small and relatively trivial, at other times in sources of misery that are overwhelming and leave us permanently marked.

It is in the face of this daily experiences that we are called to live out our faith in God; in the spirit of compassion and service towards others, in spite of suffering, injustice and be compassionate and forgiving still. If the experience of suffering makes us violent, hard-hearted and closed-in on ourselves, then we’ll be cutting ourselves off from God and from the healing, transforming power of his grace.

This week I urge us to ponder the Gospel today and see how it applies to our life. Are we doing everything we need to do to be a true follower of Jesus or are we are just hanging on, roaming around with no commitment. We are supposed to be Roman Catholics, but unfortunately, many of us are ‘Roaming Catholics.’ We need to do more than just roaming around and hanging on. To be able to show to the world who Jesus really is to us, we have to fulfill the conditions of discipleship which Jesus himself has put forward, that is, ‘to deny oneself, to carry one’s daily cross and to follow him.’

The way to Jesus, to happiness, and to eternal life is the way of the cross. Think about it.

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