GET RID OF IT!

GET RID OF IT

Fr. Marcel Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church

Memphis, TN, USA

September 27, 2009

Many of us have favorite Bible passage. Those who read the Bible have favorite quotes from the Bible. The favorite quotes are the quotes in the Bible that either touch us more deeply or make a lot of sense to us. Some of us have more than one Bible passage that we consider favorite and special. Ask some of us to say our favorite Bible quotation and it is likely none of us will mention the verses we just heard from today’s Gospel:

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43,45,47).

Now what are we to do with these words from Jesus? What is Jesus actually saying to us in those words? Surely, the Lord is not talking of literal amputation of our hands. He is obviously not asking us to pluck out our eyes, or amputate our foot. Jesus was speaking metaphorically. At that time in Palestine, it was common to speak in this exaggerated way just to make a point. In literature it is called hyperbole. Everyone in this Church can agree that Jesus is not asking us to literary get rid of any or all the parts of the body mentioned in the passage we just read. Now knowing what Jesus is not asking us to do leave us with the question: What then is the Lord saying in that passage? What does he expect from us?

A story was told of a woman who bought a very expensive dress and when she went home her husband said to her, “When you were trying it on why didn’t you say, ‘Get behind me Satan?’” She said, “I did say ‘Get behind me Satan,’ and when I looked at it from behind in the mirror it was just as nice!”

Human life is a life of battle. Within us there is a battle going on. There is a battle going on in the lives of each of us; it is a battle for the lives of each of us. It is a battle between good and evil. At the end of that battle, we will either hear Jesus say “You are mine” or hear Satan say “you are mine.” We thank God for the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. Through his death on the cross, he has won the battle for us. On the cross Jesus says “It is finished.” He finished and ended the dominion of Satan over us; he finished the over-bearing influence of Satan over us; he finished and terminated Satan’s accusation, pride and control of our lives. With his own life, the Lord offers us salvation. Jesus’ death on the cross is a profound way of saying “You are mine.” Now it is up to us to accept his grace and live as those redeemed by Him. If someone gives you a cheque of $1 million, the money is not yours until you have either transferred the money into your own bank account or has cash it. The salvation that Jesus offers us is free but it is not cheap. It must cost you something. But what it costs us are the things that guarantee peace and happiness.

The words of Jesus in today’s gospel (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) should not be taken literary. The Lord is not asking us to mutilate our body. Jesus is simply asking us to avoid anything that leads us into temptation and sin. We call that “occasion of sin”. When Jesus says cut off your hand or foot or pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin he is asking us to avoid whatever it is that leads us on to commit sin. Whatever it is that in the long run makes us commit sin, Jesus says avoid it.

For some of us, consumption of alcohol is a trigger that leads to sin. I think we should say the same thing about TV, the internet, some magazines etc. Some TV channels are occasion of sin for us; some internet websites are not only occasions of sin, they are cancerous. They eat up the spiritual organs in us leaving us empty, dry and spiritually dead. Consider the manner with which the virus carried by porn sites eats and crashes our computers, it is the same way those porn sites eats and destroys our defenses making us more vulnerable and more gullible to indulge in some reckless sexual behaviors. Talking about TV, Mother Teresa of Calcutta said “we have a tabernacle to Jesus in the Church and we have a tabernacle to Satan in the home.” Some of the TV channels are tabernacle of Satan. These are what Jesus asks us today to avoid, to get rid of. Going to strippers’ club or Girls gone wild parties is dangerously dangerous and bad for any Christian who is serious with his or her spiritual and moral life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says to us today “Get rid of those things that will deny you heaven. Disengage and dissociate yourself from that relationship that is leading you away from God. Walk out on her or him if his or her relationship with you will lead you to hell. Better go to heaven friendless; better go to heaven without a boyfriend or a girlfriend than with a boyfriend or a girlfriend end up in Gehanna.

Today we hardly talk about hell. We erroneously believe that every one will go to heaven. We convince ourselves that hell is not real. Some argue that a loving Father cannot let his own child suffer in eternal hell. My response is “a loving and obedient son or daughter will not walk away from his or her Father.” Some argue that the teaching of hellfire was injected by the Church to make us comply and that ultimately there is no hell. But even in human society, there are laws, rules, policies that should and must be followed. One cannot graduate from Elementary school, High school, College or University if one did not meet up with all the requirements. Every human institution has laid down policies that must be followed. How come we think that God doesn’t have any? Is God lawless? Is God lax? Who is the origin of human beings’ ability to discover the need of laws, rules, and policies?

Dear friends, God is not lawless. God is not lax. God’s philosophy is not the philosophy of anything goes. If you want to spend eternity with God, you must live like one who wants to go there. Get rid of those things that lead you into sin. Spend sometime in prayers asking God to help you. There is a battle going on in the lives of each of us. It is a battle for the lives of each of us, a battle between good and evil. Through his cross Jesus has won the battle for us but it is up to us now to accept this victory and his grace and live as those redeemed by Jesus. Let us try to avoid occasions of sin and live in the grace of Jesus so that we may hear him say to us at the end, “You are mine.”

God bless you!