Homily for 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Here I am Lord, I come to do your will!
January 15:2017
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM
, Mission Sts. Sergius& Bacchus/ Order Franciscans
of Mercy
Reformed Catholic Church
Sacrifice or offering you wished not but ears open to obedience Here I am Lord, I have come to do your will. (from Psalm 40)
The question we need to ask ourselves is “Are we serving God and doing
his will?”
Psalm 40 which we heard today reminds us that we are called to be
servants of God while the gospel tells the story of how John the Baptist
reacted when he saw Christ approaching him. The Baptist said: “Behold the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said,
After me comes a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.” and
St. John tells us that he witnessed what occurred with this comment “And I
saw, and bore record that this is the Son of God.”
The psalm instructs us to
place our trust in God and not in the proud which might very well be considered
today to be those who seek after glory, power, fame and wealth.
It is my belief we are
being asked, if we so choose, to avoid serving those human gods of Greed,
power, domination, discrimination, materialism and self-effacement and serve
the son of god, Jesus Christ by living our lives being kind, generous,
compassionate and continually speaking out against injustice, hatred,
discrimination and bullying.
Are we a person who avoids
the poor person begging on the street by walking on the other side, or do we
reach down into our pocket and drop a quarter or dollar or a gift card to Burger King into his hand
without being judgmental of why they are on the streets begging?
We are being called to
serve God, the same God of Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Isaiah and Mohammed.
Throughout history, people
have acknowledged that there is a supreme being that governs this planet.
We find it in the
histories of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Aztecs, Mayans, Native
American Tribes, in fact every known group of people that ever lived on this earth
have sought and believed in a supreme power.
We have been blessed
through the writings of Holy Scripture to know that supreme power, Almighty God
the Father, through his beloved son Jesus the Christ...
The need to recognize a supreme
power or God is one of the natural emotions and needs all humans throughout
history have had.
When Almighty God made
himself known in Exodus 3:verse 14 with the words;“"I am who I am. Here is what you must say to
the Israelites. Tell them, 'I am has sent me to you.' " we were told who we should give honor, praise
and reverence to and whom we should always try to serve.
When Jesus Christ was
transfigured God clearly stated who Jesus was with these words; “"This
is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
(Matthew 17:4-6).
God, told us to listen to
what Jesus was teaching us.
When we read the teachings
of Christ, we find clear concise guidelines on how we are expected to live our
lives.
They are found in the
lessons of the Sermon on the Mount, and in the “GREAT COMMANDMENT”.
When Jesus was asked what
the most important commandments were He
answered; "Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The
second is like unto it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no
commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-30)
Christ’s teachings could
not be any clearer, but human beings continually try to make worshiping God
extremely difficult by injecting manmade rules and regulations which prevent
peoplefrom giving God the praise, honor and glory due him.
When we decide what God
means by twisting them around to fit our personal ideologies and
discriminations and using that convoluted translation to deny anyone the
opportunity to worship Almighty God, we cannot claim to be serving God or being
a follower of Jesus Christ, since Christ rejected no one who came to him, even
those that his Jewish faith forbade him from associating with.
Jesus sat and ate with
those that Jewish law forbade sharing a meal with. Jesus spoke with women as
equals.
If we believe that
Almighty God created all things, and we believe that Jesus was the Son of God
made man, then we cannot even think about acting like a god and making
judgments that are the exclusive property of Almighty God.
We can dislike the way
another person acts; we can reject their choices when their actions or choices
hurt others or themselves such as drug and alcohol addiction.
We may not appreciate
their actions when they invade our space and deny us our freedom or safety.
But when we decide to
discriminate against someone because of the color of their skin, nationality, sex,
race or their way of worshiping the one God, we have stepped way beyond our boundaries into
an area that is exclusively God‘s domain.
When we decide that power,
money, prestige, fame, greed or sexual gratification are more important to us
than living according to God’s will, we are not serving God.
We need to remember what
Scripture has instructed “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you
again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of God.” (Rom. 14:10) and “Do not judge lest
you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your
standard of measure, it will be measured to you.“ (Matthew 7:1-2) as well
as “Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a
brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but
if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it.” (James
4:11) .
The law of God is very
clear we are not the ones to judge a person because of how things appear “Do
not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Our Law
does not judge a man, unless it first hears from him and knows what he is
doing, does it?” ( John 7:24, 51
The way we need to judge
someone is by asking; “Do they feed the poor? Do they clothe the Naked? Do they
respect and care for the planet God gave into our care? Do they give shelter to
the homeless? Do they give honor, glory and praise to Almighty God by whatever
name they worship the Supreme Being?
If a person is living a
just and good life and respecting the rights and property of all God’s children
and creation then we do not have a right to reject them and discredit them for
any reason.
We do not have a right to
deny them the same rights and privileges that we enjoy.
The question poised at the
beginning of this reflection was, Do you serve the Lord ?
You do if you live as
Christ instructed and do not make judgments according to human standards but by
living God desire for us by having our actions reflect always the teachings of
Christ.
AMEN
