SALVATION IN A CROWDED WORLD (31ST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (C) 3RD NOV. 2013

Gospel pericope: Luke 19:1-10

Last Sunday, Jesus used the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to teach us that sincere humility and repentance are what is required of us to be saved. Today, he is telling us that he came to search and to save the lost. “The lost” here does not mean those who are damned or condemned to hell fire but those who have derailed and lost their way through sin and have the hope of coming back to God. In fact, Christ is in search of them as he came to Jericho today in search of Zaccheus. He shows in practical gestures in the story of Zaccheus that salvation is possible in our crowded world today.

The reading says that Zaccheus was a chief tax collector, “the oga at the top” in his profession in a commercial city of Jericho and so he was very rich. His profession made him to be seen by the Jews as an outcast, public sinner and public enemy. He was like many today who are fraudsters, who take bribes, who pocket the money meant for the development of their states, constituencies, ministries, (name them) and carry them to some foreign banks. Like many people who use public funds to find comfort, fulfillment and joy, to ride on private jets, to purchase N225m bullet proof BMW cars, to save for up to the sixth generation of their descendants after their death. But history has thought us that real happiness eludes such folks. Zaccheus was rich but not happy. But he saw something in Christ which money cannot buy.

However, he had two obstacles: the crowd and his small stature. As Zaccheus’ small stature and the giant crowd prevented him from seeing Christ on a plain ground so does sin dwarfs us and prevents us from seeing Christ coupled with the fact that the world is crowded with many forceful things like detrimental social trends and sexual anomalies. Our world is crowded with latest lifestyle and media technologies (imagine the crowd you follow on facebook, twither, instagram, BBM and other social network sites), harmful theories and ideas, and relativism which have created new channels of offending God. Hence, the need for extra effort to re-position ourselves to see Christ clearly beyond the crowd. The sycamore is a tree that stands meters above the crowd. Jesus is looking to see us on the tree. So, we must climb the sycamore of prayer, holiness, generosity, forgiveness and love to have a glimpse of Jesus in our crowded world and surely Jesus will see us.

Here is the paradox of Zaccheus. Before he met Jesus He was rich in materially but small in stature. After he met Jesus he was rich spiritually but poor materially. Jesus made Zaccheus 10ft taller spiritually. It tells us that every true encounter with Christ adds something to our spiritual stature. God neither looks at our appearance nor at our wealth. He looks into our hearts. So we should work hard to overcome the defects which block our access to God. Zaccheus’ stature has something to say about our lives. Stature is a relative word. Relatively, it represents the quantity or quality of values we possess. When we sin, we decrease in the stature of holiness and grace of God. When we compromise our identity and integrity, we diminish in the stature of honor and dignity.

The story has something to say about our occupation. Some people have to sell expired, fake and substandard goods to others. Some men on uniform extort innocent citizens on the road to add to their salaries. Others with their positions of authority deduct something illegally from the skimpy salaries and wages of their employees and subordinates with the threat of facing the hard way of being fired. The truth is that if your honest salary or wage cannot be enough for you, all other dirty income can never be! We have done all sorts of dirty things to make money. Perhaps in our work, by failing to live fully the implications of our faith we have lost hope for salvation. The good news today is: no matter how dirty you are and how small you feel, Christ is coming as a guest to the household of your heart and I can hear him say: “Today, salvation has come to this household”. But we must make some commitment and pledge to God. It was only after Zacchaeus said, “I’ll give half of my money away and if I have defrauded anyone, I’ll return it fourfold” that Jesus said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” Every true repentance is followed up by restitution (returning what you have stolen, defrauded or extorted).

My dear friends in Christ, as we reflect upon this story, may we ask God the grace to catch the glimpse of Christ in our crowded world. If we are buried in the crowd it will be difficult to define ourselves as Christians, and hence, our salvation will be jeopardized. One who follows the crowd will go no further than the crowd. So we should focus on Jesus and not on the crowd because they rarely lead us to God. And we should not allow our past to chain the present and the future we have. May God help us. Amen.

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30TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (C): HUMILITY BEFORE GOD

Last Sunday, the Lord drew our attention on the need to pray constantly without getting tired. Today, he wants to teach us the “dos” and “don’ts” in approaching God. Not every prayer is acceptable in God’s eyes and not all who come to his presence win his favour. The first reading from the book of Sirach tells us the nature of God. “The Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality” (35:15). The reading goes further to tell us that “The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds and it will not rest until it reaches its goal; it will not desist until the Most High responds”. 

 

Through the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector Jesus shows how God detests the prayer of the proud and exalts the humble. Both were in the presence of God. Both believed in God, both prayed. However both didn’t go home the same way. The Pharisee prayed thus before God. “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.'”. The Pharisees were proud elites of the Jewish community. Because of their strict observance of the moral law and discipline, they regard others as sinners and unworthy. Actually, they make serious effort and even go extra mile in keeping the requirements of the law. The law prescribed only one compulsory fasting, i.e. on the Day of Atonement but this man fasted twice a week probably in the market place to attract a good audience. In Numbers 18:21 and Deut 14:22, the Levites were to receive a tithe of a man’s produce. But this man tithed the tenth of all his income. So when he said he was not like the tax collector he was not joking about it. 

On the other side, the tax collector, “standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'”. This man did not mince words calling himself a sinner. He meant it. Tax collectors, because they worked for pagan Romans, mixed with gentiles and handled unclean money, were regarded as having low moral standards, public sinners and public enemies. More so, they extort and oppress people in carrying out their job. But deep in their hearts was a longing for righteousness and the mercy of God. This longing pushed this poor tax collector to seek the mercy of God in self abasement and with a humble contrite heart which God did not spurn. 

What’s wrong with the Pharisee? No doubt, he was a virtuous man but his virtue was destroyed by pride and self exaltation. He forgot that in spite of his rigorous efforts he was a sinner. He was pointing one accusing finger at others while the rest of the four were pointing at him like most of us who are “angels” while their neighbours are “demons”. A story was told of a king who was celebrating his birthday. As part of the activities marking his birthday, he was to grant amnesty to one prisoner. As he was walking around the cells, he was asking the inmates what brought them to the prison. They were all telling the tales of their how innocent they were. However, one of the convicted criminals said that he was not innocent, that he was guilty of the crime he was convicted of. The king ordered the warders to release “the only guilty criminal” before he corrupts the “the other innocent prisoners”. 

Today, because our attitudes are not far from the Pharisee’s, God is calling on us to emulate this tax collector in his presence. Self righteousness and hypocrisy has corroded the hearts of many Christians. False sense of worth and ego have stolen the souls of most of our brethren in the church. Spirituality is replaced with religiosity. The paradox of the “most religious country” in the world is that our pews are filled up but our hearts are empty. No one accepts to be a sinner anymore. We always point at others. 

Let us point out why we go to church as raised in this parable. We go to church to pray and not to pose. No one who is proud can pray. No one who looks down on others can pray. The best form of prayer is the recognition of the holiness of God and our own sinfulness. The cognizance of our weakness is the strength of our holiness. Most importantly we go to church to attain salvation. Paul was a Pharisee. But his proud pharisaic life could not save him. Today, he tells us in the second reading that he is awaiting the crown of glory after running the good race after the example of Christ the ideal example of humility who humbled himself even to accepting death on a cross. When Christ comes with his crown of glory to judge, judgment will favour the humble who will be exalted. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)

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STEADY HANDS TURN THE TIDE (29TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR)

Pericopes: Exodus 17: 8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

The Amalekites were obstacle to the people of God on their way to the Promised Land. In the first reading the bible says that at Rephidim, Amalek came and waged war against Israel. Amalek symbolizes all physical and spiritual forces that wage war against the people of God. Moses had a reprisal attack against the Amalekites and the awesome manifestation of the power of God was experienced in the camp of the Israelites. Worthy of note is the tenacity and steadfastness of Moses. As long Moses’ hands were up, the Israelites became victorious against the Philistines. But when his hands were down the Amalekites had the better of the fight. Moses’ posture is a symbol of steadfastness. It points to the fact that whenever our hands are raised in prayer, victory, glory and power shall be ours. But whenever we are tired of praying, our enemy the enemy takes the advantage. Hence, the need for consistency and persistence in prayer.

Jesus in the gospel tells us in a parable the need to pray consistently and persistently and not weary. Here we have two characters: the widow who is mouthy and worrisome and the judge who is unjust and wicked. We can picture the agony of the widow who was denied justice. She is probably asking for the right of inheritance of her late husband’s properties. Many cultures practice some loathsome traditions that leave widows helpless and hopeless after the death of their husband. Such was obtainable in Palestine of Jesus’ time. Widows in such cultures normally don’t talk about their problem or sue for justice because they cannot afford the cost. However, this woman went beyond this cultural stigma to approach an unjust and wicked judge for justice. Her persistence in asking for justice over and over again was maybe caused by the fact that she has lost all means of livelihood. The widow is the symbol of all who were poor and defenseless.

 The judge is described as unjust and wicked. There were such men in the time of Jesus who were corrupt and depraved. Such judges were notorious and unless plaintiffs had money and influence to bribe their way in they had no hope of ever getting justice. We believe there are such men in positions of judicial authority today. They have the position, but they do not have the godly character, compassion and sense of justice that should qualify a man to be a judge.

Jesus contrasts the unjust judge with God the ideal judge who is all merciful. Jesus does not say that God is like the unjust judge. The unjust judge settled the woman out of fear of being tortured to death by this poor widow. But our constant prayer is not a bother to God. He answers us out of love. So Jesus exhorts us to pay attention to the character of God. God is always listening night and day.

 

But it appears sometimes that answers to our prayers are often delayed and justice does not come as quickly as we may have expected. I once read a post on a facebook page in which the poster was dissatisfied with how God has ignored his prayers for quite a long time now. According to the Mr. the poster, after some months of prayer, fasting and early morning mass attendance, plus chronicles of crusades and night vigils he participated, he was unsuccessful in the University Matriculation Exam which he has tried to pass for three consecutive years. He asked aloud, “God where are you?”  When he heard no corresponding reply he concluded that God does not exist. My dear friends, God does not wicked us when there is a delay in response to our prayer. He is only saying to us “wait, I am working out the best for you”. Our own part is to pray unceasingly and unseasonal. In fact the ultimate prayer is “Thy will be done oh Lord!”  

From the story of Moses and the parable of the importunate widow, we draw the lesson that in the face of injustice and difficulties we must continually pray and don’t lose heart. We must develop such spiritual stamina as to withstand all spiritual and physical enemies of this life. When our hands are steady in prayer, we break the jinx of sin, sickness and sorrow, injustice and prejudice. With constant and persistent prayer disappointments turn to appointments, people rise from grass to grace, from cross to crown, from tears of sorrow to tears of joy, from pit to palace, from damnation to salvation. “Prayer is the most powerful weapon against trial, the most effective medicine against sickness and the most valuable gift to someone you love”.

One bad attitude we must avoid is to see prayer like “fire extinguisher.” This equipment hangs on the wall in your house and office or lays in the boot of your car. You normally pay little attention to it until there is an emergency. Then you run for it, you want it! Some run to prayer the same way. When there is no urgent situation in life, they don’t use it. They run to God only when there is crisis and they want God to respond immediately with military dispatch.

Finally, with regard to our prayer life, we must shun impatience. People can be so impatient and get tired easily. That answers why the migration from one church to another today by some men and women of little faith. Some people think that if God does not answer their prayer in a particular church he will answer it in another. That is very wrong. Many, I believe may test all churches and religions in the world before the second coming of Christ. God help us! To such Christians I re-echo the words of St. Paul to Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2Tim 3:14-15). As we learn to steady our hands in prayer, may we also learn to steady our feet in faith. MAY GOD ANSWER US IN TIMES OF TRIAL AND BLESS THE WORK OF OUR HANDS. AMEN.

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