YEAR B: HOMILY OF TUESDAY 9TH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
HOMILY THEME: HERODIANS AND PHARISEES IN OUR MIDST!
BY: Fr. Benedict AGBO
2 Peter 3:11-15,17-18; Psalm 89(90):2-4, 10, 14, 16; Mark 12:13-17
Herodians and Pharisees were guilty of behavioural excesses and artificialities – vices that denied God his due respect and gave human beings (especially the leaders and the rich) undue praise and adulation. Flattery, sychophancy and hypocrisy were their trademarks. In today’s gospel, Jesus sees a deadly combination of flattery and treachery in their hearts: ‘Seeing through their hypocrisy, he said to them….”Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”. Yes loyalty to authorities and loyalty to God can coexist together without conflict. You can tell a king the truth without being disloyal to him.
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Today, we have so many Herodians and Pharisees in our midst all over our secular and ecclesiastical governmental positions. They tend to over honour the Emperor, President, Governors, Bishops, etc at the expense of telling them the sincere truth. It is such people for instance that are singing to our old corrupt President ON YOUR MANDATE WE STAND even when they know it’s a stolen mandate and they are watching the country nosedive under his feet. Same at the State level. They continue to sing the governor’s praises as he impoverishes and demolishes people’s property and sources of livelihood in the name of disruptive innovation.
We must encourage everybody to eschew hypocrisy and live holy and saintly lives while we wait for the day of the Lord so that he will find you at peace. We must remain loyal to our leaders but remain more loyal to God by telling them the raw truth without insulting them or disobeying them. Let Pharisees and Herodians in our midst kindly hear the word of God and repent! May God bless you today!
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