Acknowledge Jesus, Do Not Deny Him.

Homily for Saturday 20^th October 2018

_“ And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.” *Luke 12:8-9*_

Yesterday, Jesus talked about secrets saying that we should never deceive ourselves thinking that anything would remain hidden forever. Those things we assume are not known by others will someday be exposed and if we would not like the outcome, we must ensure that we avoid anything that is bad from the onset.

Today, Jesus goes a little further in this matter. He said we should live our lives in such a manner that we constantly acknowledge God. That is to say, we should be practical Christians, not mere Church goers. Someone once said: “Christians are more concerned about their discomfort than about their disobedience.” To acknowledge Jesus is to live in a manner that people can even mistake you for Jesus.

There are many ways we deny Jesus. We deny Him every time we give in to sin. We deny Jesus each time we fail to let our light shine, each time we partake of the darkness around us rather than being the example. We deny Jesus when we announce our Christian faith boldly yet truth and holiness cannot be mentioned about us. We deny Jesus when we fail to talk about him to others. We deny Jesus when we fail to use our position in life advance our religious beliefs.

We deny Jesus when we are too scared of standing out of the crowd for fear of being persecuted for righteousness. Jesus assures us today that when the time of persecution comes, we should not even worry about how to defend ourselves because the Holy Spirit will speak through our lips. We must never be afraid of acknowledging Jesus before the world because He is more than capable of defending us.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus also warns us against the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. To blaspheme is to speak without respect, or in a manner that does not show that the Holy Spirit is God. It is a form of desecrating or profaning the Holy Spirit by words or actions. Be careful never to mock the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, save me from ever denying you or blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the 28^th week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Ephesians 1:15-23, Psalm 8:2-7 and Luke 12:8-12).