Homily of Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2002
Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90:3-6, 12-17; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33
The second reading is St. Paul’s letter to his friend, Philemon, who was a wealthy Christian leader. In the letter, he appealed to Philemon to reconcile with his former slave, Onesimus, who escaped. It is remarkable that St. Paul encouraged Philemon to welcome Onesimus and have him back “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother … beloved in the Lord.” St. Paul’s action demonstrates 2 Corinthians 5:19 where St. Paul teaches us that we are not agents of discord. We are, rather, instruments and channels of reconciliation since God entrusts to us the ministry of reconciliation. “Blessed are the peace makers, they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Blessed are we when we no longer see anyone through the lens of color, ethnicity, religion, class, status, gender; but see each other as equal before God, our Maker. St. Paul states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor there is male and female, for you are all one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28).
Today’s first reading reminds us of the first reading of the 18th Sunday, “Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The vainness, helplessness, restlessness, emptiness, unfulfilled-ness of human being without God is, again, the focus of our reflection today.
The first reading says, “For the deliberations of mortal are timid, and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find difficult…” (Wisdom 9:15-16).
A man was hell-bent to building the biggest mansion in his village. He took a huge loan, and succeeded in building his dream mansion. However, he could not do any other thing for himself and his family as he paid back the loan. Even when he became sick, he had no money for a good medical treatment. Unfortunately, he died shortly after paying back the loan.
After his death, his two sons began to fight over the ownership of the mansion. They went to court and the court sealed off the mansion pending judgement. After ten years of court back and forth, the ruling was that the mansion be sold and the two sons to share the proceeds. Unfortunately, by then, the entire property which had been overtaken by trees and bushes was sold off at a scrap value. What happened to the man and his sons usually happen to those who pursue vanity.
Centuries ago, a Catholic Theologian, Blaise Pascal wrote, “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there, the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words, by God himself.”
In this quotation, Blaise Pascal confirms that in human being is an empty print, an empty trace, a void, a vacuum, a hole, an infinite abyss which finite human knowledge and human cravings alone are incapable of filling. God alone can fill it.
In the Gospel Jesus addresses us, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. … Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26, 33). Jesus does not literally mean that we hate anyone in order to be his disciple. He does not mean that we should not have any earthly possessions. Jesus means that no one or no possession can take the place of God in our life. He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Stressing on Jesus’ instruction St. Cyprian of Carthage writes, “Prefer nothing to Christ, because he preferred nothing to us, and on our account preferred evil things to good, poverty to riches, servitude to rule, death to immortality.”
There is God’s space or God’s vacuum in everyone and in every place. From creation till today, the Evil One has tempted and misdirected human beings to fill the God’s space with possessions (worldly and ungodly things). Also, not only that there are attempts to fill God’s space with possessions, many people and places hate and renounce God but prefer possessions. That is the root of evil in each human being, and in the world. Where God is rejected, or hated, or renounced; when the pursuit of possessions be it power, money, pleasure, wealth, job and so on, replace God, there’s bound to be disorder. It is impossible for human beings, made by God, to be orderly without God who made them. Isaiah prophesies, “Woe to anyone who contends with their Maker” (Isaiah 45:9).
In the Gospel Jesus says, “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? … Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide with a thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?” (Luke 14:28-33). Jesus reminds us the old proverb, “Look before you leap.” Since many years and until this day, for whatever reason, there is a huge uncompleted abandoned building in Gwagwalada, Abuja, Nigeria which has made the building and its vicinity to be, now, known as “Uncompleted.” By God’s grace, may such not be anyone’s story. Amen.
Fr. Martin Eke, MSP
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