Sunday, July 9, 2023 - Homily

 

Sunday, July 9, 2023 - His yoke is easy

To read the texts click on the texts: Zech. 9:9-10; Rom 8:9, 11-13; Mt 11:25-30

One day a man saw a small boy carrying a still smaller boy on his back. The smaller boy was lame. As they passed by, the man commented to the small boy, “That’s a heavy burden for you to carry/” The small boy answered, “He’s no burden, Mister. He’s my little brother.” The yoke of Jesus is not a burden, it is kind (easy) and light.

To understand fully the Gospel text of today, two points must be kept in mind. The first is that it is placed by Matthew after three “negative” passages which begin at 11:2. These are the response of Jesus to the disciples of John the Baptist to their question whether Jesus was the Messiah, the exasperation with the crowd who do not recognize John nor Jesus, and the denunciation of the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Indeed, this entire section of Matthew’s Gospel seems to deal with people’s disappointment over the ”failure” of Jesus to measure up to their expectations in terms of what a “Messiah” would look like or act like.

The second point is that this text is clearly a Matthean composition and is made of three elements. The first two of these are found in Luke but in different contexts and the third is exclusive to Matthew, In Matthew the audience is clearly the crowds and so the words of Jesus here are meant for all. So the passage seeks to state that despite so much of doubt and negativity, that despite so much of blindness and closed attitudes, this is not the last word. Despite the fact that Jesus’ message has been questioned by John the Baptist, rejected by many and especially the wise and understanding and not heeded by the cities, yet his invitation and message will find acceptance by others who are open and receptive. Often ‘the wise’ tend to become proud and self-sufficient in their ‘wisdom’ and refuse to receive what is new and unexpected. This is because they have already made up their minds about what kind of Messiah is to come, The person of Jesus and the nature of the fulfillment he brings cannot be understood, if he is restricted to preconceived categories and human conceptual frameworks, On the other hand, the childlike are most often open, dependent, and receptive. They are willing to let God work in their lives. They have not decided in advance how God must act and are willing to let God be God. Therefore they are able to believe and so to rejoice.

This note of joy brought by faith already sounds in the words of Zechariah, in the first reading. ‘Rejoice, daughter of Zion! Shout with gladness’, Zechariah cries out, ‘Rejoice, because the messiah-king is coming – doing away with the ‘horses’ and other things of war.’ He will ride on a donkey, but strong and triumphant, as he brings a peace that embraces the whole world. Despite the overwhelming significance of his person, the relationship he shares with the Father and the fact that the total mission was given him by the Father, Jesus comes meekly and humbly as a servant, like the messiah-king about whom Zechariah prophesied.

 

Jesus invites all to come to him, to enter into a relationship with him, and to follow him in discipleship. It is his yoke to which he calls; it is he who gives rest. The fact that Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light must not be misunderstood to mean that the discipleship and righteousness to which Jesus are easy and undemanding. Discipleship demands nothing less than life-commitment and a total denial of self. This is what Paul means when he tells the Romans that they must not live unspiritual lives, but show that they belong to Christ and are his disciples by choosing the spiritual over the unspiritual.

Because Jesus brings the new era of grace and salvation through his intimate relationship with his Father, he is both qualified and able to reveal him as unconditional love and mercy. While “yoke” signifies obedience, it could also, if misunderstood, become a burden that is too heavy to carry. In Jesus’ understanding, the experience of serving God is not a burden and does not cause fatigue.

On the contrary, since the yoke is easy and the burden is light, it leads only to joy. Thus, his yoke is not just a yoke from him but also a yoke with him. To take the yoke of Christ is to associate and identify ourselves with him: our destiny with his destiny, our vision with his vision and our mission with his mission. It is to know that we are not pulling the yoke alone and by our own power but together with Christ and by the strength that comes from him. It is to know that with him and in him the yoke is easy and the burden light.

Saturday, July 8, 2023 - Homily

 

Saturday, July 8, 2023 - How often have you made rules and regulations ends in themselves? What will you do about it today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gen 27:1-5,15-29; Mt 9:14-17

The question about fasting is raised here by the disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus’ first response is that the wedding guests do not fast during the wedding. In other words the time of Jesus is considered as a time of celebration, it is the time of the presence of the Kingdom of God. The second and third responses are about the new cloth and old garment and about new wine in old wine skins. The point here seems to be that both have their place in appropriate settings and must not be mixed up. Fasting does have a place in spirituality, but must not be made an end it itself.

It is possible that even our good actions might take a hold of us and so become ends in themselves. There is only one end: God and all else that we do even if it is good can never be an end. We must use them as means to reach God. This means that if something helps me, I use it, if it hinders me I give it up.

Friday, July 7, 2023 - Homily

 

Friday, July 7, 2023 - Is your “usual” way of looking a “negative or pessimistic” way? Will you look at persons, things and events positively today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gen 23:1-4,19; 24:1-8,62-67; Mt 9:9-13

The text of today contains the call of Matthew, and Jesus’ fellowship with tax collectors and sinners. It is only in the Gospel of Matthew that the tax collector is called Matthew. In Mark and Luke he is called Levi. However, in the lists of the Twelve in both Mark and Luke, the disciple is named Matthew and Levi does not appear. It is unlikely that Matthew and Levi refer to the same person. It was rare for Jews to have two different Jewish names. The reason for the author choosing the name Matthew remains unknown. However, in the text what strikes one is that whereas most people who passed by the tax office would see a corrupt official, Jesus was able to see a potential disciple. It was Jesus’ way of looking that led to the transformation and the response of Matthew to the call. In his response to the objection of the Pharisees, Jesus responds with a common proverb about the sick needing a doctor, and also quotes from Hoses 6,6, which here is interpreted to mean that the mercy of God in Jesus is extended to all humanity and takes precedence over everything else. All else must be understood in this light.

There are times when we judge people too easily and many of these times our judgement of them is negative. This is also how we often look at the whole of creation and because we put labels on things, people and all else in creation, we may miss out on the uniqueness that each possesses.

Thursday, July 6, 2023 - Homily

 

Thursday, July 6, 2023 - Do you believe that God has forgiven you all your sins? Will you now extend the same forgiveness to at least one person whom you find it difficult to forgive?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gen 22:1-19; Mt 9:1-8

The miracle of the healing of the paralytic who was let down from the roof which forms our text for today is found also in Mark (2, 1-12) and Luke (5,17-26). Matthew has omitted some details from Mark and thus shortened his narrative. Through these omissions, Matthew allows the reader to focus exclusively on Jesus and his words. It is unusual that Jesus does not respond to the paralytic’s immediate need but first forgives him his sins. The healing of the man is done later and only as demonstration of the fact that Jesus has power and authority to forgive sin, because the scribes consider Jesus’ pronouncement of forgiveness of sins as blasphemy. Since Jesus heals by the power of God, he can forgive sins by the same power. In Matthew, the crowd does not praise God for the miracle like they do in Mark and Luke, but for the authority to forgive sins attributed not only to Jesus but to human beings (“such authority to human beings” – Mt 9,8).

Most doctors today are convinced that there is an intimate connection between negative feelings and especially unforgiveness and physical ailments and advice a positive attitude and forgiving and letting go, for quicker healing. If we persist in our unforgiveness, we will continue to have a variety of ailments and sometimes no amount of external medicine will help at all. Forgive it is good for health.

Wednesday, July 6, 2023 - Homily

 

Wednesday, July 5, 2023 - Which demons are possessing you and so not allowing you to be free? Do you believe that Jesus can exorcise them from your life today?

To read the texts click on the texts: Gen 21:5,8-20; Mt 8:28-34

The text begins by stating that Jesus arrived on the other side, which because of the presence of pigs mentioned in 8,30 is clearly Gentile territory, since Jews considered pigs as unclean. While in the story in Mark 5,1-20 there is one demoniac, in Matthew’s story there are two (8,28). The version in Matthew is considerably shorter than the one in Mark, since Matthew omits many details that Mark gives. One possible reason for this is that Matthew wants to focus attention in his story solely on Jesus. The demons recognise Jesus and also recognise that they belong to two different worlds. In Mark, the demons enter into conversation with Jesus, but in Matthew they do not, but only beg Jesus to send them into the herd of swine., and Jesus exorcises them with just one word, “Go”. Matthew does not tell us what happens to the demoniacs after the demons leave them. However, when the people of that town are told what happened to the demoniacs, they beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.

More than physical demons that may possess us, we may be possessed by psychological demons. These can be feelings of fear, anger, revenge, jealousy, envy and a pessimistic attitude. If we continue in these feelings we are not living fully the life that God wants us to live. We need to decide that with the help of Jesus we are going to get rid of them today.