HOMILY OF WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR (A)
SS SIMON & JUDE, APP (FEAST)**
R1:- Ephesians 2:19-22
PS:- 19:1-2.3-4ab(R.1a)
Accl:- We praise you, O God; we acclaim you as the Lord; the glorious band of apostles sings your praise, O Lord!
Gosp:- Luke 6:12-19
In the city of man, we are different people, but in the city of God, we belong to one family. Jesus is not a colonialist or a political leader. He came to save the world from chaos, anarchy and doom.
In the gospel of Luke, he said, ” _The spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to bring liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”_ Luke 4:18-19
This manifesto of Jesus is contrary to that of the wicked political leaders or colonial masters whose roles are to enslave and milk their victims.
Jesus came to satisfy the poor masses, to set those in bondage free, to enlighten people on the right attitudes to life, to be the mouthpiece of the oppressed and to establish the kingdom of God on earth, where everyone is at home with everyone.
In our today’s gospel, he taught us how people of different orientations can comfortably live and work together. After careful reflection, he prayerfully selected his disciples; a group of common people of incredible admixture. These are people who in normal human terms cannot live together, but by God’s grace and divine call have been destined to be pillars of the church of Christ.
There we have Matthew the tax- collector, who would have been a soft target of the like of Simon the zealot, a chronic nationalist. They were both called to live in harmony for one singular purpose of establishing a kingdom of love on earth.
It is awful to bring people of different nationalities and orientations together for political gain. It will end up in crisis. Even as a divine enterprise, it requires in deep prayers.
We see how Jesus prayed through the night to select his apostles. At that, it was not easy, for their different characters were later played out though under the close watch Jesus himself and with his guidance. He did the selection because he knew he would always be with them even till the end of the world.
Jesus did not establish the church for personal amusement. He made his selection to set a pace. He brought people of different sentiments together so as to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
Hence, christian churches are all called to be at the service of love and unity so as not to frustrate the work of Christ here on earth.
A colonialist may give his colony independence but still continues the art of colonialism on another template. Jesus continuous presence in the church is meant to achieve the ultimate fulfilment of his initial purpose on earth.
May we see more to the love bind us together, that we may not be crushed by what divide us. Jesus came to save the world and not the church. May his love in his church be strong as to turn the world around for good, so that his kingdom on earth may truly be established through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
May Saints Simon and Jude pray for us, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
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