DAILY HOMILIES

In Nigeria today, the one factor responsible for large crowds flocking around men of God and churches springing up everywhere is the overwhelming failure of our leadership. The honest truth is that over seventy per cent of those who come into our churches are not looking for Jesus like these crowd in our Gospel passage. Today’s Christians are looking for those basic things that any responsible government should provide.

Dear friends, let brotherly love continue. Do not be a Herod to someone just because he or she is telling you the truth. Do not be like the kinsfolk of Jesus who were almost throwing him down the cliff because He told them the truth.

Jesus sent them out two by two. As far as winning souls is concerned, no one ever succeeds alone.

Like Jesus’ kinsfolk, we need to ask ourselves today: “Why do I look down on what is my own? What is stopping me from seeing beyond the Carpenter’s son? Why is it that I cannot see the hand of God even in midst of this painful situation I am facing right now?

As myrrh pointed to the Cross so did the sword piercing through Mary’s soul pointed at the Cross. Jesus had not even begun to talk yet but it was certain that He would die, though, for a good cause.

Jesus cured a demoniac but in the process, the villagers lost their entire herd of swine. The size of their economic loss was so huge that they failed to notice that a man had been set free from demon-possession.

esus did not teach like the scribes, rather He taught as one who had authority; Jesus taught as God because He knew who He is. When we don’t know who we are, we behave like slaves and allow others to push us around. More still, when in the name of sexual pleasure or in the quest for material riches, we sell ourselves to the devil we become so entangled in sin that our heart becomes hardened and we feel hopeless. If today you hear God speaking to your heart, do not remain in darkness.

Faith makes us relax even when others are panicking. Mind you, being relaxed is not the same thing as spiritual laxity. That Jesus was asleep during a storm did not mean he was asleep all through the day. He was such a prayerful person that he would wake very early in the morning to pray and at times pray all through the night.

Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a man scattering seeds on the ground and then goes to sleep. How the seeds spouts, the farmer does not know. When things are tough, we are not able to see the brighter side. Little by little, that which you thought was your worst nightmare eventually becomes your most treasured moment.

Before you act, think! Think not only about the immediate result but think also of years to come. Live your life in such a way that when all your secret deeds and hidden facts come to light, you will be so proud of yourself.

My heart really goes out to those seeds that fell on rocky ground. These are really good Christians who are so excited about the things of God but lack roots in them. They cannot withstand trial because they are sweet-sweet-milk-and-sugar Christians.

Being timid is trying to hide the gifts and talents that God has deposited in you. It is a form of spiritual coldness or slothfulness. It is keeping quiet when you should raise your voice for God out of fear of what people would do to you.