DAILY HOMILIES #Jerusalem

Like the two disciples, many of us become disappointed with God because we assume God’s kingdom is all about finding prosperity here on earth. The crowd met Jesus the next day and demanded another miracle of loaves and Jesus told them: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” (John 6:27) At the end of the day, just because Jesus was not willing to give them ordinary bread to eat again, “many of his disciples (like these two disciples) drew back and no longer went about with him.” (John 6:66)

Although Jesus worked many miracles demonstrating his concern for our material well-being and physical health, He was more concerned about eternal life. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) Like the lame man who asked for alms, we would always be disappointed with the church until we realised that Jesus did not establish the church to replace the government.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus illustrates why God’s Words do not work for some persons. The seeds sown had the potential to grow, but they needed the soil’s cooperation. Jesus did not work many miracles in his hometown because many did not believe. Instead of changing the seed, we should change the soil, that is, we must believe more.

While Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was about the future, we also see Jesus, in our Gospel passage, discussing the future: the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the rise of many false prophets claiming they are the Christ. This teaches us one lesson: The only person who knows the future is the one who is already in the future – God. Humans can only guess based on calculations from the past.

Jesus explains that we will be like the angels in the resurrection – pure spirits who would not need to marry or have children. Jesus quoted from the Scriptures to support his point. He directed them to the passage where Moses encountered the burning bush. The Sadducees were familiar with that passage, but they never fully grasped its implications. He is God, not of the dead but of the Living.

In our Gospel passage, Jesus heals a man who, though physically blind, refused to settle for less. This man was not the only person in Israel with this impairment, but he received his healing because he stood out from the crowd. When Jesus initially ignored him, he refused to be silenced by the crowd; he refused to accept the status quo. He did not keep quiet even when the crowd made him appear small and unimportant. He called out to Jesus as loudly as he could until Jesus noticed him.

From Jesus’ response, we can see that sin by itself is just as deadly and dangerous as having a whole tower fall on top of a person, or having one’s blood mixed with sacrifices. While many felt this calamity was due to the sins of the victims, Jesus said they were not even worse sinners than others. This means that God does not punish us according to our sins, but then every sin we commit is a serious matter.

The truth that with God all things are possible shines out again in today’s First Reading. An Angel of God addressed Gideon as a “mighty man of valour.” Gideon did not believe it until he saw a sign. Gideon was the least in his family, and his clan was the weakest in Israel, yet God chose him to save Israel. Relying on our strength, we are powerless, but all things are possible with God.

No matter how good we are, we all need people like Barnabas who coach (encourage) us into the stars we are meant to be. While others were scared of Paul because they judged him as a bad person who had later become a Christian, Barnabas saw in Paul a good man with a bad past. Let us learn from Barnabas to be less judgmental of people while encouraging them to let their light shine. Even the worst sinners have some degree of light in them. Barnabas mentored Paul and later became his partner when the Holy Spirit set them apart on a mission to evangelise the world.

If neither you nor anyone listening to you understands what you are saying, you are not “speaking in tongues”, you are not manifesting the presence of the Holy Spirit, you are simply speaking gibberish. St. Paul would say: “If, therefore, the whole church assembles and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?... If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God.” (1 Corinthians 14:23-28).

The lamb Abraham said God would provide, the lamb sacrificed in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that Samuel offered, and the prophets spoke about is Jesus Christ.

These were the last words of Jesus before His Ascension - “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” (Mark 16:15). This is an all-important task. If we fail to preach the gospel, we have failed God