Homily for Tuesday 26th February 2019
_“Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.” *(Sirach 2:4-5)*_
It is easy to be a Christian when things are moving fine for you but the truth is that being a Christian does not exempt you from pain, trouble and adversity. Being a Christian is not an automatic ticket to bliss, success and luxury. God did not promise us that the storms will not come, rather, He assures us of victory over the storms when they come.
The book of Ecclesiastes today tells us that so long as we choose to serve God, that is, as long we desire to attain perfection in life, as long as we hope to remain authentic in our worship of God, we must be prepared for temptation. In other words, we must be prepared for suffering or as some translations say, we must be prepared for an ordeal. Serving God; walking in the narrow path of salvation is not easy; it is exactly what Jesus described as “denying yourself, taking up your cross and following behind Jesus.” (Confer Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34 and Luke 9:23).
What kind of suffering are we to expect in following Jesus? It is the suffering of accepting things we don’t want, it is the suffering of forgoing our will and allowing the will of others to prevail, it is the suffering of remaining calm in a time of calamity; it is the suffering of accepting humiliation; it is the suffering of having to wait for the Lord and hope when everything appears dark and bleak.
The book of Ecclesiastes compares the suffering we have to face with the process of removing impurities from gold whereby the piece of gold has to endure the burning heat of fire until its purest form comes out. This means that whatever suffering we have to put up with, in the course of attempting to serve God diligently, we must learn to accept it in good faith trusting that something good will always come out of it.
Our first reading begins on a rather frightening note but ends on very hopeful terms: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful; he forgives sins and saves in time of affliction.” As the saying goes, he who laughs last always laughs best. Tough times will surely come but God is not foolish; God will never allow those who are faithful to Him to suffer for nothing.
In our Gospel passage, Jesus announces his gruesome fate to his disciples and as Mark puts it, “they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.” Hearing that Jesus would be kill made them depressed. In other to elevate their spirits, they turned their attention to arguing among themselves who was the greatest. Jesus had to use a child to illustrate to them what it truly meant to be great.
To be great is to be as humble as a child, to be great is to choose to serve rather than be served. This takes us back to what our first reading says. As gold is tested by fire, acceptable men are tested in the furnace of humiliation. Note that there is a world of difference between being humble and suffering humiliation; while humility can be faked, the truly humble person is easily known when he or she suffers humiliation. Most people will claim to be humble but would react violently and burst out with unacceptable aggressive behaviours when they are humiliated.
The question is: “When insulted, when falsely accused of a crime, or when publicly disgraced, mocked or laughed at, how do I react?” Whether we like it or not, we must suffer humiliation at some point in our lives. It is not for us to question God for allowing such suffering, it is for us to use such embarrassing moments to our advantage. No matter how bad things are now, accept it. Trust in God. Something good will soon come out of it.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, teach me to humble myself and never to give up when faced with suffering as a result of my Christian Faith. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, Psalm 37 and Mark 9:30-37).
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