Bible
Study: Proverbs 9:1-6. / Ephesians 5:15-20. / John 6:51-58.
Our readings
today makes use of two contrary terms in delivering a message: WISDOM and
FOOLISHNESS.
What does
it mean to be wise according to the standard of God? What does it mean to be
foolish? In understanding the difference between the both, it is very important
to note that much of what the world counts as wisdom is actually foolishness in
the eyes of God.
We live in
a foolish world, we have technological gadgets and sophisticated devices that
help to promote foolishness, we have a lot of foolish aspirations and we enjoy
the company of fools, we love watching foolish movies, reading foolish
magazines (because they sell more) and we take fools for our idols.
Does this sound
like an insult? Perhaps it does. But the facts are clear! Wisdom according to
the standard of the world is pure foolishness in the eyes of God. A world that
highly esteems sinfulness, a world that has turned on its head by rejecting God
and rejecting the Bible in her legislations, a world that treats people with
dignity only based on how much money they have, thereby making money some sort
of god, a world that worships beauty and external appearance more than the
soul, that world is really foolish.
In our
second reading today St. Paul admonishes us: “Watch carefully how you live, not
as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the
days are evil.” If as at the time of St. Paul, he could say the days are evil,
what can we say about our own time today; with the level of moral degradation
and spiritual apathy? What do we say about our world where sin has become a
commercial commodity?
Watch
carefully how you lie, not as foolish persons but as wise! The question we now
ask ourselves this morning is: “Am I living a wise life?” Or “Am I among the
crowd of foolish people?” or better still, “Is there any difference in my life
from that of others?”
What are
the things that count for foolishness?
1. IGNORANCE
OF SCRIPTURE.
I once
heard a secondary school child talk about the latest song a popular musician
just released so I said to him, “Wow, you must be a very intelligent person oh.
But I wanted to ask oh, how many books are in the Bible?” The young man looked
at me for solid five minutes and couldn’t even figure out a guess! He couldn’t name
single book in the Bible yet he was being trained in a Christian school. I just
began to wonder, “What then could be the lot of those who are not even in
Christian schools?”
“Therefore”,
St. Paul says, “Do not continue in ignorance but try to understand the will of
God.” We all tend to have big dreams and aspirations but do we ever try to find
out what is God’s will for us? We desire to be wealthy and have lots of cars
and houses and be recognised by society but are these what counts as wisdom in
the sight of God?
How often
do we take out time to read the Bible? Isn’t it foolishness on our part that we
never try to read the Bible for ourselves but are simply content with what
others tell us about what the Bible contains?
Did Satan
not quote the Bible to tempt Jesus? How did Jesus respond, did he fall into the
temptation simply on the basis of what Satan quoted? Didn’t he also quote from
that same Bible to counteract Satan? How many Christians today are being
deceived and led astray by people simply on the basis of Bible quotation?
2. LIVING
ONLY FOR THE FLESH.
Another
point in St. Paul’s admonition to us goes thus: “And do not get drunk on wine, in
which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.” By referring to wine,
St. Paul is not simply referring to alcohol, he addresses a much deeper problem
in our world today which is the care only for our physical bodies at the
expense of our souls which accounts for great foolishness in our world today.
According
to a priest friend in his homily for this Sunday, “Taking a walk down the high
streets of our towns and cities today, one wonders, how our contemporary
culture has become so much concerned with the care of the human body. It is so
amazing how industries of body care and cosmetics are fast growing... I see
other terms on sign-boards: teeth-whitening, tanning, anti-ageing treatment…
and so on.” To add to this, we now hear of artificial human hair, artificial
body enlargement, even people now go as far as changing their gender from male
to female or female to male and so on. People are no longer content with how
God made them, they want to look beautiful and attractive by all means
forgetting they also have a soul to care for.
Isn’t it
foolishness for a young girl for instance to be so consumed about being attractive
only to end up attracting a crowd of people to herself who are simply
interested in her body? Haven’t our society reduced the dignity of women to the
level of mere objects for adverts and sources of entertainment to the extent
that you can almost not find any music video without some form of nude girls
dancing?
This is
the foolishness of our society. We have made idols of musicians and artists who
promote the gospel of immorality and sadly even those of us who should direct
our minds towards the care of our souls are more interested in financial
prosperity and material possession than anything else.
You would
observe that despite the increase in the number of churches in our society
today, there has been no improvement in the general spirituality of our society
neither has been any reduction in crimes, immorality or corruption. It has
reached a point where men of God and leaders of Churches are now being looked
at with suspiciousness by the very society they ought to transform. The number
of fakes and people entering into ministry with wrong motives far outweighs the
number of genuine ministers.
3. REFUSAL
TO FEED FROM WISDOM’S TABLE.
In our
first reading today, wisdom calls on us: “Let
whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come,
eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that
you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” Prov. 9:3-6.
What is
this food that wisdom is offering? It is the true body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in
him. Just as the living Father sent me and
I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have
life because of me.” John 6:53-57.
When last
did you receive Holy Communion and did so in the state of grace? What is
keeping you away from Holy Communion? Do you receive Jesus with absolute faith
in his presence and with devotion?
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, help me to feed worthily from the table you set for me daily which is
your body and blood and not be carried away by the world. Amen
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy
Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment