Can the Christ come from Galilee?

So, that was how I got to the Church and while the mass was going on, it dawned on me that the readings I used in preparing my homily yesterday are readings for Saturday April 1^st, whereas I posted it as homily for Friday March 31^st. Please pardon me, perhaps I was basking in birthday euphoria, I didn’t look at my Bible Diary properly to notice I was reflecting on Saturday’s readings. Anyway, since it is now too late to post the correct homily for Friday, hope you don’t mind me repeating the same thing I posted yesterday. Thanks for your understanding.

(Homily for April 1, 2017).

If for instance you go to the market and find two products; one boldly written “Made in Nigeria” and another written “Made in Germany,” which of them will you buy knowing that both are of the same price and will serve the same purpose?

Does where a person come from matter? Think about this, is it the colour of one’s skin or the country where one’s parents are from that matter? Or isn’t it the content of one’s character?

There was an argument among the people who heard Jesus. For some, no one had the wisdom and intelligence to speak like this except he is the Christ. But for others, since Jesus was from Galilee, he could not possibly be the Christ.

In fact, one of the accusations of the Jews against Jesus was that he came from the wrong town. For them, Jesus deserved to die because he is fake; Galilee lacks the capacity to produce prophets. Their attitude is quite similar to that of Nathanael who asked: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46.

The problem of the Jews and that of Nathanael is the problem that we often have; it is a problem of labelling! When a thing is given a label or a tag, it becomes difficult to think of it in any other way. Labelling is dangerous.

When a country or town has a negative label, anyone from that place automatically receives such a label. To say that Jesus could not be the Christ all because he came from Galilee is like saying I must be a corrupt person since I come from Nigeria. In philosophy, this kind of reasoning is called a fallacy.

Even in our day, many suffer innocently simply because of the label attached to the place they come from. Nigeria is backward today because when there is something to be done, the most qualified are left out while people are put in positions simply because they come from a particular State or geo-political region.

The painful thing is that even we Christians carry out unjust acts against others not because they are bad but because of the labels we attach unconsciously to them.

In our first reading, Jeremiah laments his own ordeals but he ends by saying he is leaving vengeance to God. He wants God to fight on his behalf. This is the best attitude we must have in the face of persecution and injustice from others. Let God fight for you. Who can battle with the Lord?

Do not limit yourself because of the place you come from. Let your light shine! God gives his talents not according to geopolitical zones or countries. Never go about assuming you are cursed because no one in your family or your village has succeeded. You can be the first!

Where you come from does not matter. It is the quality of who you are that matter. Develop yourself. Be the best you can ever be. Your village may have been labelled. Challenge that label, you be light to change that label; you be the prophet that came from Galilee.

In the end, Jesus proved them all wrong. He showed them that He is God and the fact that he came from Galilee does not matter.

I will rise and shine. I will be who God wants me to be. One day people will ask: “Where is he from?” And they will be shocked to hear I am a Nigerian or that I am from one small unknown village.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, may the place I come from not be a hindrance in my life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Jeremiah 11:18-20 and John 7:40-52).

Fr. Abu.

Can the Christ come from Galilee?

Homily for March 31, 2017.

If for instance you go to the market and find two products; one boldly written “Made in Nigeria” and another written “Made in Germany,” which of them will you buy knowing that both are of the same price and will serve the same purpose?

Does where a person come from matter? Think about this, is it the colour of one’s skin or the country where one’s parents are from that matter? Or isn’t it the content of one’s character?

There was an argument among the people who heard Jesus. For some, no one had the wisdom and intelligence to speak like this except he is the Christ. But for others, since Jesus was from Galilee, he could not possibly be the Christ.

In fact, one of the accusations of the Jews against Jesus was that he came from the wrong town. For them, Jesus deserved to die because he is fake; Galilee lacks the capacity to produce prophets. Their attitude is quite similar to that of Nathanael who asked: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46.

The problem of the Jews and that of Nathanael is the problem that we often have; it is a problem of labelling! When a thing is given a label or a tag, it becomes difficult to think of it in any other way. Labelling is dangerous.

When a country or town has a negative label, anyone from that place automatically receives such a label. To say that Jesus could not be the Christ all because he came from Galilee is like saying I must be a corrupt person since I come from Nigeria. In philosophy, this kind of reasoning is called a fallacy.

Even in our day, many suffer innocently simply because of the label attached to the place they come from. Nigeria is backward today because when there is something to be done, the most qualified are left out while people are put in positions simply because they come from a particular State or geo-political region.

The painful thing is that even we Christians carry out unjust acts against others not because they are bad but because of the labels we attach unconsciously to them.

In our first reading, Jeremiah laments his own ordeals of vengeance to God. He wants God to fight on his behalf. This is the best attitude we must have in the face of persecution and injustice from others. Let God fight for you. Who can battle with the Lord?

Do not limit yourself because of the place you come from. Let your light shine! God gives his talents not according to geopolitical zones or countries. Never go about assuming you are cursed because no one in your family or your village has succeeded. You can be the first!

Where you come from does not matter. It is the quality of who you are that matter. Develop yourself. Be the best you can ever be. Your village may have been labelled. Challenge that label, you be light to change that label; you be the prophet that came from Galilee.

In the end, Jesus proved them all wrong. He showed them that He is God and the fact that he came from Galilee does not matter.

I will rise and shine. I will be who God wants me to be. One day people will ask: “Where is he from?” And they will be shocked to hear I am a Nigerian or that I am from one small unknown village.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, may the place I come from not be a hindrance in my life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Jeremiah 11:18-20 and John 7:40-52).

Fr. Abu.

Seek God’s Approval not Human Approval.

Homily for March 30, 2017.

Today’s Gospel passage continues from yesterday’s passage. Jesus knowing well that the Jews had marked him out for death is responding to the Jews explaining to them why they should recognize him as God’s son and in fact, the one whom Moses wrote about.

There is a line in Jesus’ defence that I find quite captivating. Jesus said: “As for human approval, this means nothing to me… How can you believe since you look to one another for approval and are not concerned with the approval that comes from the one God?”

The real problem of the Pharisees was that they reduced their worship of God to mere human traditions and regulations; everything had now become eye-service – doing things just for people to see rather than what God really wants. Worship based on human approval is another definition of hypocrisy.

This calls for an examination of conscience. Do I simply do things because of what others say or think about me? Do I really put God first and try to please him even it means losing favour with the people around me? Am I ashamed of professing my faith or of standing for the truth just because of human beings?

For seeking human approval, the Jews could not believe that Jesus is God. When I also go about seeking human approval rather than God’s approval, I end up like Aaron who bowed to the people’s pressure and went ahead to build for them a molten calf saying that was their god.

As our first reading recalls, when God saw that the people had apostatized under Aaron’s leadership he became so angry that he almost destroyed the entire nation. This is what becomes of us when we bow to human pressure instead of putting God first.

Thank God Moses intervened for the people by begging God to change his mind. In Jesus Christ, we see another Moses in that Jesus by his blood intercedes on our behalf before God as St. Paul says in 1^st Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Dear friends, let us seek first and always to please God rather than people. You may not be popular, don’t worry; people may not like you, no problem; even your neighbours or your family members may hate you, no shaking.

That it is the reigning fashion or that everybody says it is okay does not mean it is okay. Ignore what people are thinking or saying about you, so long as you are doing what God wants, you are on the right track.

Hence St. Peter would say: “But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:20-21.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, may I seek your approval only. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Thursday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Isiah 32:7-14 and John 5:31-47).

Fr. Abu.

How to cheat Death.

Homily for March 29, 2017.

As Lent progresses, we are gradually going to be seeing more and more of readings that contain a lot of Jewish hostility to Jesus. The Jews have now convicted Jesus with a two count charge; for breaking the Sabbath and for claiming to be God.

What is so striking is that, at this stage, Jesus does not seem to show any atom of fear; he does not leave the country to hide somewhere hidden; he even addresses his accusers face to face as if to say: “If you want to kill me, fine, but death is nothing to me!”

What is responsible for Jesus’ attitude? He had the keys to life so much so that he knew death was nothing; in other words, Jesus cheated death and not just that, he taught every Christian how to cheat death.

How did Jesus cheat death? By making a mockery of it! By taking away its power and dread completely. By rising again on the third day thereby showing us that death no longer has the final say.

To cheat death does not mean that one will live for hundred or two hundred years. No. Cheating death does not mean avoiding it at all costs or running away when death is mentioned, it means living in a manner that death itself become a means of transport to a far superior life.

This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” John 5, 28 to 29. 

If only we can put in as much effort in avoiding hell as we do in trying to avoid death, our life would be much richer and eventually we would escape eternal damnation. The truth is that what makes death scary is our sinfulness.

Let us heed the words of Isaiah in our first reading today: “Come forth, those who are in darkness.” Let us leave sin and darkness behind so that we too can cheat death as Jesus did.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, deepen my longing for eternal life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Wednesday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Isiah 49:8-15 and John 5:17-30).

Fr. Abu.

Without Faith, it is impossible to please God.

(Homily for March 27, 2017).

Our first reading today paints a picture of paradise, a place where there would be no pain, no sorrow, nothing lacking, nothing missing. As Isaiah says “no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”

Even though we are not there yet, Jesus’ coming as man has elevated our world to such an extent wherein we can begin to see tiny glimpses of paradise. Yes, each time we receive answers to our prayers; healings, breakthroughs, we experience a little bit of paradise.

That our prayers are answered at all shows that it is not the will of God for us to live here in perpetual sadness and sorrow. Jesus felt pity for the official whose son was ill hence he decided to heal the boy but first he tested the official’s faith by saying:

“Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” To the glory of God, the official passed the test by accepting to go back home without Jesus coming along with him believing that what Jesus had said would have effect on his son despite the distance.

A priest once told a story of a woman who came to see him for prayers and after hearing all the woman said, the priest prayed one “Hail Mary” and one “Glory Be.” The he said to her: “Woman, go your way, it is well with you.”

But she was like: “Is that all? Just like that? You mean despite all my problems, you are only going to say one “Hail Mary” and one “Glory be?” I am sure this is how the Official must have felt when Jesus asked him to go home without even uttering a single word of prayer.

Dear friends, it is our faith that matters. It is not by the multiplicity of prayers nor the acrobatic display of dramatic moves that makes prayers answered. More still, we do not need to shout at God before he hears us. All that matters is that we actually believe in God like this official.  

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, increase my faith. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Isaiah 65:17-21 and John 4:43-54).

Fr. Abu.

Sin No More Lest Something Worse Befalls You.

Homily for March 28, 2017.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23. The story of the healing of the man who was beside the pool of Bethzatha for thirty eight years in many ways reflects the story of our very lives.

This man so got used to his condition that he never even imagined or expected that things would be different someday. Jesus met him and asked him a question: “Do you want to be healed?” Instead of simply saying yes, he started complaining about how he never gets anybody to help him get to the pool when it is troubled.

Little did this man realize that it was not the pool itself that brought healing but God and standing right before him is God in the person of Jesus. Like this man, many of us often get attached to material structures forgetting that it is God himself who brings healing.

Again, we get so used to complaining that all we can see is negativity. Even when we are conscious of Jesus’ presence, we still assume things are only going to get worse and so we do not listen to the question Jesus is asking: “Do you want to be healed?” Failure to listen to Jesus amounts to a life of complaining.

Eventually this man was healed and when he later saw Jesus, Jesus told him: “Sin no more, that nothing worse may befall you.” In this way, Jesus made the man realize that sin has certain consequences in our lives.

The more we avoid sin, the better for us. It may be a struggle but one thing is sure, no one struggles forever. As little children, we struggled to learn how to walk, we fell many times but refused to give up; today we can even sprint like Olympic champions. In primary school, we struggled to learn A, B, C; today we are writing books.

Let us never give up in our struggles to overcome sin because every battle we sin, every temptation we avoid makes us stronger against sin. Yes, we Can! Scripture says: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” James 4:7-8.

Finally, in his vision, Ezekiel in our first reading today gives a visual representation of the graces that flow from the house of God. Just like water flowing and giving life to all across its path, we receive life, health and fruitfulness each time we are in God’s house.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, let your living water fill my heart and spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 4^th Week of Lent. Bible Study: Ezekiel 47:1-9&12. and John 5,1-3 & 5 -16).

Fr. Abu.

Walk as a Child of the Light even in Secret.

Homily for March 26, 2017.

Last Sunday, St. John presented to us the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman wherein he clearly contrasted ordinary water which she had come to draw from Jacob’s well with the living water that Jesus alone could offer.

As Jesus said, the water in the well would make one thirsty again but the living water he had come to bring is a spring welling up to eternal life and one who drinks it will never be thirsty again.

Eventually the woman drank this water and left her water jar there, she who used to be afraid of people became an evangelizer to her entire village.

If last Sunday was about water, this Sunday is about Light and darkness. St. John again presents to us today the story of the healing of a man who was born blind.

Physically, this man was living in darkness because he could not see anything but as the story progresses, we get to see that apart from him, there are also other people who were also living in darkness because of their sinfulness and the refusal to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God; that is the Pharisees.

St. Paul tells us in our second reading today: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret.” Dear friends, the question for us today is: “do the things you do in secret mark you out as a child of light or a child of darkness?”

Once upon a time, I saw a short video clip on Youtube. A lady was taking her bath and a young man started spying on her from his balcony upstairs. The young man was sure that nobody was looking at him and the lady had no idea that this young man was watching.

The young man must have considered himself lucky to be spying on her at that time and he kept looking until he lost control of himself and fell from the balcony breaking his head and bones. The video ended with the note: Your secret sins will always expose you in public.

This is the same message St. Paul was passing on to us today. It is what we do in secret that identifies us either as children of light or of darkness. And if we say we belong to the light, then our hearts must be filled with light.

We cannot partake of darkness in secret and hope to deceive others by pretending to be children of light in public. When Saul disappointed God and became rejected as King of Isreal, God told Samuel to go and anoint a new king for Isreal from the house of Jesse. This is where our first reading today comes from.

Jesse presented his sons before Samuel. Like the Pharisees, they were all good looking in appearance, tall and handsome, well dressed and well kept. But God said: “Do not look at appearance because the Lord does not see as men see; man looks at outward appearance but God looks at the heart.”

Eventually, the smallest of Jesse’s sons, David was chosen. In terms of outward appearance, David was just like the blind man in our Gospel reading, he was not tall and did not look like a person who could be king but inwardly David had the heart of a king.

Dear friends, let us stop deceiving ourselves and others by pretending before them to be holy when in fact, we do all kinds of evil in secret. God is not impressed by our outward performances, he judges our true worth by those things we do when others are not watching us.

Back to our Gospel passage, we see a contradiction when the so-called blind man started preaching to the Pharisees about Jesus. Even though this man was physically blind, his heart was filled with light and he could see clearly spiritually. He knew that no one could have been able to heal him unless that person is God.

The Pharisees were so blind that they couldn’t see the hand of God in the healing of a man who was born blind from birth and they tried to convince this man that Jesus was just a common sinner like any other person. But the man said: “We know that God does not listen to sinners.”

In other words, an ordinary sinner couldn’t have been able to heal him since this has never happened ever since the world began. That is, “if this man (Jesus) were not from God, he could do nothing.”

This man had not even been preached to by Jesus yet he was already convinced that Jesus is God. For this, the really blind Pharisees expelled him from the synagogue. That was when the man met Jesus and further confessed his faith: “Lord, I believe” and he worshipped Jesus.

Last week, we read about how Jesus refused to eat the food the disciples had brought because he said his food was to do the father’s will which is bringing sinner to conversion.

Today, Jesus again repeated his mission statement: “For this I came; that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind” obviously referring to the blind Pharisees.

Faith in God is light. Failure to believe in God is the worst kind of blindness. And when we say we have faith, our faith must express itself in works of light especially when we are in secret because God does not look at outward appearance but the heart.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, open my eyes that I may come out of my darkness. Amen.

Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (4^th Sunday of Lent. Year A. Bible Study: 1^st Samuel 16:6-13, Ephesians 5:8-14 and John 9:1-38).

Fr. Abu.

And the Word became Flesh.

(Homily for March 25, 2017).

Today is March 25. It is exactly 9 months before Christmas. On this day, Mary gave her consent, her fiat, her “I do” to God’s Divine Proposal.

On this day, that great miracle happened; through the powerful overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, the baby Jesus, the word of God became flesh right inside her womb.

The feast of the Annunciation is also the feast of the conception of Jesus. While we pay attention to Mary’s acceptance of God’s proposal, we also ponder on how God himself agreed to take on human flesh; the Creator taking the form of his creature.

Today’s feast is a reminder that God does not force his way in our lives. He works in us only with our consent. As one Saint said, God created us without our consent but He will not save us without our consent. We always have a choice either to say “Yes” or “No” to God’s plans for our lives.

It is not easy to say ‘Yes’ all the time to God. It takes a great deal of will power to inconvenience ourselves, drop our plans, forgo our own pleasures and desires and say “Yes” just like Mary. Our “Yes” is our offering, it is a sacrifice to God.

The book of Hebrews says: “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, burnt offerings and sin offerings you take no pleasure but Behold, I have come to do your will.” Accepting to God’s will instead of ours makes God happy.

Like a young man desiring to marry a woman, God came to Mary through Angel Gabriel to propose to her: “You shall conceive in your womb and bear a Son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.”

How happy God must have been when Mary said “Let it be done!” Her “Yes” became the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s promises to the people of Israel which the prophets all spoke about.

As Isaiah prophesied, when a virgin conceives, then you shall know that your Redeemer has come. Mary is that Virgin Isaiah spoke of as a sign to the people of Israel that God has finally sent them the Saviour they have been expecting.

Today’s feast is also a clear reminder to us that life in the womb does not begin after the baby is born but at the very minute of conception. Mary’s stomach was still very flat but when she went to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth’s womb in salutation to Jesus whose presence he already felt inside Mary’s womb.

Dear Friends, as we celebrate today, let us respect life. Under no circumstance is it ever right to terminate the unborn because the foetus is not just a potential human being but a complete human being with great potentials.

Above all, let us always learn from Mary to say ‘Yes’ to God so that his plans for our lives will be manifested. Each time we commit a sin, we are saying ‘No’ to God and further pulling ourselves away from the life God planned out for us. We are all bundles of potentials, but none of these would be realized if we don’t learn to say ‘Yes’ to God.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, use me like Mary to bring your word to life. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. Bible Study: Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10, Hebrews 10:4-10 and Luke 1:26-38).

Fr. Abu.

The First Command.

Homily for March 24, 2017.

In today’s Gospel passage, a Scribe asked Jesus: “Which commandment is first of all?” By this he meant, which commandment is the most important among all the other commandments?

In response, Jesus said, you shall the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Whenever we are confused in life and we are trying to make a decision, or we want God to speak to us, we must first ask: “Will what I am about to do reflect love for God and my neighbour?”

If only we all lived according to this first command, our world will be a better place to be and humanity as a whole will have less problems. But it is not a matter of what others are doing, it is a matter of what I as an enlightened Christian is doing. Am I loving God as I should? Or am I loving my neighbour to the best of my ability?

The prophet Hosea speaks to us today in our first reading: “Return to the Lord your God” that is to say, leave your idols, stop worshiping other gods and come back to God.

Today money, position, prestige, pleasure etc. have become gods struggling for our worship. Each time we put the things of this world before God, each time we consent to sin because of these things we are serving idols.

As the Scribe added later on, to love our neighbour as ourselves is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And for this, Jesus commended him. It is not easy to treat people exactly the way you love to be treated; at times, we feel that people deserve to be ignored, insulted or made to experience pain because of their actions.

But then, each time we treat people well despite whatever we feel about them, we are actually making a sacrifice to God; a sacrifice more pleasing than that which Abel offered; a sacrifice even better than all those we read about in the Old Testament.

Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, help me to love you and my neighbour as myself. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the 3^rd Week of Lent. Bible Study: Hosea 14:1-9 and Mark 2:28-34).

Fr. Abu.