Homily on the Solemnity of Christ the King

"My Kingdom Is Not Of This World"

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Christ the King

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Today is Christ the King Sunday. Today, we celebrate Christ Jesus as our King. Today, we celebrate Jesus, the Shepherd of our souls. We celebrate Jesus, the King of our life. Today, we come to the end of this liturgical year. As usual, we look to the future, the ultimate future when Jesus will return in glory for the final judgement. In today's Gospel reading Pilate asks Jesus if he is a King. And Jesus , as John portrays him, did not answer the question in a straight forward way. He is like the royalty who pretends to be someone else. Although Jesus did not claim to be a King when he was questioned by Pilate, but he did admit that he has a kingdom, but his Kingdom is not of this earth. Pilate was very frustrated with Jesus because he can’t get a direct answer from him, but what he got from Jesus is the truth. In fact, Jesus says the reason he was born into the world was to testify to the truth. Finally Pilate says outrightly: You are a King, then! 

It seems that Jesus wants each of us, on our own, to come to the realization of his Kingship as Pilate did.. And if Jesus is King, and his kingdom is not of this world, then we have to release and loosen our firm and tight grip of this world. We have to keep our eyes away from this world. We have to take lightly the things of this world – all the material things that so interest us, and keep our eyes on the heavenly kingdom. If Jesus is our King and his Kingdom is not of this world, then we have to strive daily to store up our treasures and assets in his Kingdom where they would be safe. Is this not the reason why in Matthew 6:20, Jesus says, "Store up your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

Our life on earth is also God's gift, but God's greatest Gift to us is Jesus. Today, God's Greatest Gift to us tells us that though he is a King, but his Kingship is not of this world. To qualify for this Kingdom, we must follow him daily. He is "the Way, the Truth and Life." He is the way to God and the way to the Kingdom; He is the Truth; and he came to bear testimony to the Truth. And he is our Life. The destiny of a child in the womb is the earth; but the earth is not the final destiny. Our final destiny is the Kingdom where Jesus reigns as King. While on this world, we are all students. We are studying and getting ready for exams and graduation. Our hope is to become graduates of heaven. While on earth we are in a market place. We are in a shopping mall, picking up several items and loading our carts to the brim. After shopping, we will approach the cashier, pay for what we bought and then head home. If we shop goodness, we will reap and celebrate goodness.  

Advent season begins next week. Beginning next week we begin to await the arrival of our King. He will come to us not like an authoritarian king, but as a humble babe. Those who receive him as their King, will be rewarded with his Kingdom. As we celebrate the end, we are also aware that Jesus is the beginning, and that beginning comes again for us next week, drawing us back into a cycle of birth and resurrection and returning in glory. Today we are celebrating the Kingship of Jesus, but the Gospel reading is not about the glory of kingship; it is rather about the crucifixion of Jesus. We are reminded of what the Lord has to endure in order to bring the Kingdom for us. Before we begin the next Advent season, let's think of what we can do to bring about the Kingdom of Jesus in our world. How can we bring peace to this world? How can we stop violence? How can we save lives? How can we bring the truth to the world? It starts with each of us. Remember, each of us is a little pencil in the hands of God; therefore, let us allow him to use each of us in the writing of the story of love. God 's plan for this world can only be realized through each of us. God has a dream! His dream is to see every single child of his be saved. And God's dream can be a reality through you and me. Consider this week what we can do to be God’s instrument of enlarging his Kingdom.

God bless you!

Give until it hurts!

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church Church

Baton Rouge, LA

November 11, 2012

Today, the Church presents us the beautiful stories of two widows. One gave the only food she had to a prophet, Elijah. The other widow gave the only money she had so that sacrifice could be offered in the Temple and the bills of the Temple paid. We are presented with two remarkable stories of two women who gave everything they had for others. The widow of Zarephath gave the last food she had to Prophet Elijah, and because of her kindness, she never lacked food for the next one year even though there was famine in the land. The widow at the treasury gave her last coins and her offering was considered the greatest by Jesus Christ.

A lot of people who don’t even know much about the Bible would know what you are talking about if you mention the widow’s mite. Christians and non-Christians, Churchgoers and non-churchgoers know about the story of a poor widow in today’s Gospel reading from Mark 12: 41-44. It is a story of great sacrifice.

Jesus had gone to sit quietly opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. The treasury is the collection boxes where people throw in money for special purposes like the buying of corn or wine or oil for the sacrifices. They were contributions for the daily sacrifices and expenses of the Temple. Many people threw in quite considerable contributions. The Gospel says “Many rich people put in large sums.” Then a widow appeared. She is not just any widow; she is a poor wretched widow. She put in two mites- two small coins like two cents. But her offering caught the attention of Jesus. Jesus was watching as people put in their money. The rich, out of their surplus wealth made huge donations. But the poor widow, from her poverty, has given all she had, her whole livelihood. Jesus was so thrilled that he called his disciples and said “…this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury.”

The story of the widow at the treasury reminds us again what we already know about Christian discipleship- that God does not need money. He needs us. He wants us. This poor widow did not give God money; she gave herself entirely to God; she gave everything to God. She gave her entire self, her present and her future. She gave the only thing that stands between her and total dependence on the providence of God- two cents. Real giving has a certain recklessness in it. The widow could have kept one coin even though it would not have made much difference, but she gave everything she had. She did not reserve anything. Her action has a profound symbolic meaning. Think about it, this poor widow surrendered and tendered everything she had. What about us? The tragedy here is that there is some part of ourselves that we are yet to surrender and tender to Jesus; there is some part of our time, talent, and treasure that we are yet to surrender to Jesus; there is some part of our activities, some part of our lives which we haven’t yet given totally and entirely to Jesus Christ. There is something we are holding back. We are afraid to give them up because of the fear of the unknown. We don’t have a childlike faith that assures us that if we give them up, if we surrender to Jesus our entire live, our activities, our three Tees- time, talent and treasure that God will take care of us. We are not yet ready to make the final sacrifice and surrender. We are still giving excuses, not yet ready. But these two windows gave everything.

From these two widows, another lesson to learn is that real giving must be sacrificial. What matters here is not the amount of the gift, or the size of the gift. What matters is the sacrifice. Real giving must hurt. Profound generosity continues to give until it hurts. For many of us, the question is not whether we give; the question is whether our giving to God’s work is sacrificial at all. Some of us can afford to spend huge amount in restaurants; some of us can afford to spend our money in some unnecessary pleasures and entertainments. We can spend real money in jewelries, in clothes, in shoes, etc. but not in things that pertains to religion, not in offertory basket.

The stories of these two remarkable widows will only make more sense if we believe that what we do with our money shows what we have in our heart. If you want to find out what you really love, read your credit card bill. No wonder Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke 12: 34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The use of money, stewardship and material things was so important to Jesus that he called his disciples together to tell them about the widow’s gift. The main issue for Jesus was not how much she gave or what she gave. And recognizing the little donation of the widow does not mean that Jesus approves of the conditions that rendered the widow poor. It does not mean that Jesus approves poverty and deprivation. The Lord is saying that what we do with our money either grows our faith or deadens it. What we do with our money can deepen our spirituality or shatter it.

Now when we talk about gifts, some of us may claim that they don’t have enough of material gifts or personal gifts to give to Jesus Christ, but, if we put all that we have and are at our disposal, the Lord can do great things with them and with us. Every child of God has something to give. Every one of us here has something to give. The two widows gave everything they have. What about us?

“You are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

November 4, 2012

Scribes in the time of Jesus were men specially trained in writing. Most of their duties involve writing legal documents, recording deeds, copying scriptures, and teaching people. Scribes specialized in the interpretation of the Jewish Law (Torah), and were sometimes regarded as “lawyers.” They were as influential as the Pharisees or the Sadducees. The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles portray them as opponents of Jesus who sought to kill him and opponents of the early Christians. But there were some scribes who were neutral; some were even praised by Jesus. One of such scribes is in the Gospel we read today: Mark 12:28b-34) 

The name of this scribe is not mentioned in the gospel. Though he was a highly learned and educated man- he knew the Law; he wrote about the law; he interpreted and taught the law to others- yet, in the abundance and the immensity of his knowledge of the Law, he did not know the first, the primary and the most important law. To his credit, he was a humble man. So, in humility, he came to the Source of knowledge, the Lord of life himself. He was not one of those scribes who belittled and disregarded Jesus. He was not one of those scribes who considered themselves more knowledgeable, more superior and and intellectually more vast and depth than Jesus. When he came to Jesus, he was not afraid or ashamed to ask his question. He let it out: “Which is the first of all the commandments?”

Responding to his question, Jesus said: “...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength..” And “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Speaking further, Jesus beautifully concludes with: “There is no other commandment greater than these.” Put differently, “There are several other commandments out there that we are required to keep, but none of those commandments is greater than the love of God and the love of neighbor.” 

Surprisingly, the scribe agreed with Jesus! I think this is the only recorded story where a scribe actually agreed with what Jesus said. Like I said before, scribes were opponents of the Lord; they never loved him; they were always looking for ways to trap him and kill him. But this particular scribe agreed with the teaching of Jesus when he said: “And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself” is worth more than burnt offerings and sacrifices.” The man’s answer was intelligently beautiful that Jesus praised him with the following words: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Sisters and brothers, you are not far from the kingdom of God if you genuinely love God and neighbor. You are not far from the kingdom of God if you honestly love God and God’s people. You are not far from the kingdom of God if you sincerely love God and the other. You are not far from the kingdom of God if your heart is pure. You are not far from the kingdom of God if you are forgiving and tolerant. You are not far from the kingdom of God if you are merciful. You are not far from the kingdom of God if you are accommodating and hospitable. You are not far from the kingdom of God if the foundation of your life is love- perfect love, sincere love, pure love, unrestricted love, love for God and love for everyone. But if you are none of these, begin today to walk closer to the kingdom by bowing and surrendering to love. This love cannot only be vertical, it must also be horizontal. In his encyclical titled “Deus Caritas Est” (“God is love”), Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “The love of God and love of neighbor have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus, and in Jesus we find God.” The least of the brethren is not just the poor and the most vulnerable, it is also that individual you find difficult to love and to accept.