Homily
for December 11, 2017.
And the
scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this that speaks
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” When Jesus perceived their
questionings, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is
easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? Luke
5:21-23
A person
who cannot be happy at the fortunes of another has a serious problem. A person
who is always out to criticize and find faults in everything and in everyone
has a serious problem. A person who finds it difficult to praise God but
complains all the time has a serious problem. What is this serious problem? It
is the sickness of the brood of vipers!
In today’s
Gospel passage, Jesus was in a house teaching the word of God and suddenly he
felt the power of God within him to heal. Behold at that same time, four men
assisted their paralytic friend to get to Jesus through the roof of the
building. Jesus not only healed this man, he gave him a complete dosage of
healing by forgiving his sins as well.
By the way
we must note that for Jesus to have forgiven the sins of this man before proceeding
to cure his paralysis shows that sin itself is a form of sickness. Sin is not
something to be toiled with, it is not something to be tossed aside, it is an
obstacle, a mountain and hill that must be levelled for us to receive the full
measure of the blessings Jesus wants us to have.
Seeing
that Jesus forgave this man his sins and cured him instantly means that Jesus is
God and the fulfilment of all their expectation of the Messiah. His ability to
do this meant that Isaiah’s prophecy had just come true. As our first reading
today states: “The eyes of the blind shall be open, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing
for joy.”
Ordinarily
you should assume that when something good happens to you, people should be
happy for you. Isn’t it? That is why we celebrate as Africans; birthdays,
marriages, new car, new house, new job, healing, recovery and so on. We are
never too tired and never too poor to throw parties.
But then,
the bitter truth is that there will always be Scribes and Pharisees around us -
persons sick of the brood of vipers’ disease us who do not believe we deserve to
be happy. One symptom of this disease is the speed with which its victims
detect errors and flaws here and there. Another symptom is that people sick of
this disease are never happy! In fact they grow old quickly because of too much
face squeezing.
Watch out
when you begin to become too critical lest you miss Christ this Christmas.
Everyone was happy because they saw God in human form, the brood of vipers were
sad because they saw a young man speaking blasphemy! What an irony!
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, may I be an instrument of joy this advent. Amen.
Happy new
week. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
(Monday of the 2nd Week of Advent. Bible Study: Isaiah 35:1-10 and Luke
5:17-26.)
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