Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

21^st Sunday of the Year, B – August 26, 2018.

Readings: Joshua 24:1-2a.15-17.18b; Ps 34:1-2.15-16.17-18.19-20.21-22(R.8a);  

Ephesians 5:21:32; Gospel – John 6:60-69.

Theme: Choice for the Eucharist as a Memorial and Community Meal!

“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

- Kofi Annan.

Introduction

It was the Existentialist Albert Camus who said, “Life is a sum of all your choices.” On the 21^st Sunday of the Year - B, the age old adage that “our choiceseither make or mar us” comes to the fore. It is interestingto note thatMartin Luther King Jr. began his autobiography by stating: “Of course I was religious. I grew up in the church. My father is a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my great-grandfather was a preacher, my only brother is a preacher, my daddy’s brother is a preacher. So I didn’t have much choice.” Like King who made a choice to serve God with his whole heart, mind, soul and strength, we have choices to make in life. 

Background & Summary of the Readings

Our first reading (Joshua 24:1-2a.15-17.18b) discloses Joshua’s charge to the people of Israel: “Choose this day whom you will serve.” The most interesting part of the text is his unalloyed response to the people:  “…as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The events leading to that declaration puts it as one of high points in the history of the journey faith of the Israelites. To put the homily in context, we ought to understand that the scenario was at the end of the story of Joshua and Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. It was after the period of invasion and warfare when God Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies and Joshua was advanced in years (Joshua 23:1). All the tribes had gathered in Shechem where Joshua had renewed the covenant with the people (Joshua 8:30-35).

Aware that he was going to die soon (Joshua 23:14), Joshua had already given all the leaders of the people his parting words with the warning that if they did not follow the law of Moses, they would perish quickly in the good land that was given to them (Josh. 23:16). Using the first-person narrative, he went memory lane to give them a powerful five-point narrative of God’s presence amongst his people thus:  “I brought you out” (v. 5); “I destroyed them before you” (v. 8); “I rescued you” (v. 10); “I sent the hornet ahead of you” (v. 12) and “I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant” (v. 13).

He highlighted the mighty acts God had accomplished from the time of Abraham through the conquest of the landemphasizing the whole history of what God didfor them. He charged them to revere, fear and serve the Lord. They had the option to serve the gods their ancestors worshiped before the call of Abraham or Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Going forward, God’s acts were to be the basis of their perception (who God is to them) and identity (who they were to him as a people). 

In the second reading (Ephesians 5:21:32),St. Paul makes the point that we are covenanted to Christ as living parts of his body like the love which exists between husband and wife. In today’s gospel, (John 6:60-69) Jesus teaches us the importance of “making a choice for God.” When he gave what seemed like a difficult teaching about the Eucharist, some people left him but he did not change his teaching. In fact, he respects the choice of the apostles by asking if they too would leave but Peter responded: “Lord, to whom shall we go to? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Although he had brought them this far;although he was their Lord and Master and although he had the words of eternal life, he told them rather frankly: “This thing is not by force. You can go if you want!”

Making Choices: The Two Wolves & Retiring Carpenter Narratives

There is this story by an unknown author about an old Cherokee who on a cool evening told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

In a similar development, the story is told of an elderly carpenter who was ready to retire. He told his employer about his plans to leave the company’s quarters.The employer begged him for a last contract to construct a house for someone. He reluctantly agreed but chose to do a shabby job. His employer surprised him by giving him the house. The carpenter was shocked and said to himself, if I had known I was building my own house, I would have made the best choices to make it one in town. See what I have done to myself! 

Pastoral Application & Practical Lessons

I have outlined five areas in which instead of making the choice for God in the Eucharist, Christians make alternative choices or pay allegiance to some mundane things which they consider as gods:

1. Power:It is easier for people to make a deliberate choice for power than to make a choice for God. The saying goes: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Some Christians are ready to kill to get to the echelon of power but they can’t lift a finger to be connected to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Notice how the disciples were eager to be in the right and left hands of Jesus yet today we are told that some of his followers left because they considered the teaching about the Eucharist intolerable language.A wicked king who wielded so much power in one of the ancient kingdoms was dying. So, he told his army to use all the military might at their disposal to protect him from death. They surrounded his sick bed with all the sophisticated weapons from the armory. He ordered that upon sighting death, they should shoot him in pieces.Whenever, he coughed, he would say, he is here and they would crook their guns. The long and short of the story is that just when he told them to be alert because he was going to take a nap, the inevitable happened – He joined his ancestors. The question is, what became of his power and arsenal?

2. Knowledge: You can imagine the energy we often expend in acquiring knowledge. For instance, it takes 9 to 10 years to study for the priesthood; 7 to 8 to be a medical doctor and about 30 - 35 years of studies from primary to secondary through tertiary and post-graduate studies plus publishing in learned journals, attending conferences and supervisingMasters and PhD projects to become a Professor. The quest for knowledge has made some people arrogant so much so that their big degrees and grammar makes them intellectual giants but moral dwarfs. This is because they cannot understand why Jesus hides himself in the Holy Communion; they can’t comprehend why we kneel before the Blessed Sacrament; they don’t see the need to embrace the kingdom of God as little children (Mark 10:15). We are not surprised at Jesus’ words namely that the father hides the mysteries of the kingdom from the learned and the wise and reveals them to mere children (Matthew 11:25).

A professor went for oil exploration in a riverine area. He met this local canoe boy by the river- bank.After sharing pleasantries, a discussion ensued between the two. Do you do know anything about metrology or metaphysics? The Prof asked the boy. The local said no. The University don said, what an illiterate you are. How about, cosmology or aesthetics? The village boy who was becoming embarrassed said no. “Half of your life is gone” said the Prof. Just then the explorer asked the boy to take him across the river in his boat. When the Professor got in, the waves became strong and they began to sink.The boy who was now excited asked the Prof. Do you know swimology? The man who was afraid shouted no, please help me…the boy told him, half of your life is gone. He asked a second question: How about crocodialogy? The Prof who was now crying said, no and the boy said, the whole of your life is gone!   

3. Wealth: The quest for material possession has sent many people to an early grave. It is increasingly becoming easier for people to pursue material wealth than to have time for God. Because of the craze for acquiring property, people go the extra mile to make ends meet. Why did Cain kill his brother (Genesis 4:8)? A woman who was fond of abusing her husband that he would die poor and that she was ashamed of him because he was not rich, pushed her husband to look for ways of satisfying her needs. Soon, he started keeping late nights and would come through the window, call her name and give her a back of provisions. It continued for weeks and months. She became happy and started telling her friends how caring her husband has suddenly become. One day, she heard her name as usual and stretched her hand through the window and received a bag. Guess what? It was her husband’s head in the bag. He was stealing from others to satisfy her needs but met his waterloo on that fateful day as those he was stealing from had been trialed him and decided to cut his life short in the manner they did.  

4. Alcohol: Thereare people who are so addicted to alcohol. For instance, they don’t smile except there is a chill bottle of beer. Unfortunately, alcohol has become their god. They can’t spend money on their family but are Father Christmas in the beer parlour. There is this man that was said to have entered his vehicle after quaffing some bottles and began shouting,“who stole my steering?” Just then, a little boy appeared and said, “Oga, na back sit you siddon oh.” 

5. Lost: Be itinfatuation or inordinate desire for sexual gratification, there are Christians who are chained by lost – they engage in lustful desire leading to seeking vain sexual gratification in form of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestialityor even rape. One choirmaster somewhere became obsessed about a choir member and named her “Violin.” One day, she visited him. He felt it was an opportunity. He was about to when she said to him: “You have two options, to either permanently make “this Violin” your own or close the eyes of God because as is it, although you have locked the door, God is watching us!

What then are the practical lessons from our stories and readings?

(a)    The question that readily comes to mind is, from the wolf story, which wolf are you feeding in your life – the good one or the evil one?

(b)   Does it occur to you that you are the carpenter in the story above?“Each day, you hammer a nail, place a board, erect a wall,” you are making a deliberate choice which will make you build today the “house” you live in tomorrow or better still, either make or mar you. Therefore, build wisely because like someone has said: “Life is a do-it-yourself project.”

(c)    In relation to the first reading, how we narrate our own past and present in terms of seeing God working in them, is essential in helping us understand that Jesus’ death is the basis for our worship. Little wonder, whenever we meet to celebrate the Eucharist, we recall Lord’s words: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

(d)   Also, it is crucial to make the choice of believing that he really died and was raised from the dead; otherwise, like others, do we believe that his body was stolen (Matthew 28:12-15) and so Sunday worship has no significance?

(e)    As the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, can we corporately narrate our history as a people who are privileged to belong to a Church which was instituted by Christ himself and has stood the test of time for over 2017 years of which Jesus said: “The gates of the underworld can never hold out against it?”(Matthew 16:18).

(f)    Can you narrate the story of your life recalling the mighty acts of God in your life like how he saved you from witches and wizards; fire and motor accident; hunger and unemployment; failure and shame and sickness and death? How about the family and friends he gave you plus the protection and provision he constantly offers you?

(g)   Joshua’s declaration to serve the Lord stands as an example and a charge to us to ask ourselves as parents, youth and children whether we are ready to serve the Lord or the gods of our time- power, wealth, knowledge, alcohol and lustful desires? Like the elders of Israel, do parents see themselves as repertoires of the faith? How come most parents come for morning Masses and their children fail to turn up and sometimes end up leaving the Church?

(h)   Just as the words of Jesus caused a split among his followers and some ceased to follow him, our choice for God like deliberately backing out of a toxic relationship or choosing to follow Christ wholeheartedly can make us lose friends.

(i)     As Catholics, we are charged to make the choice for the Eucharist as a memorial and community meal while bearing in mind our role of preserving whatMarc Prensky(2013) calls Legacy Content i.e, the deposit of faith which has been handed over to the Church like the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments as distinct from Future Content which has to do with the use of digital technologies to enhance the faith. 

Homiletic Points to Remember

1. It was Albert Camus who said, “Life is a sum of all your choices.”

2. Our choices either make us or mar us.

3. Instead of making the choice for God in the Eucharist, Christians make alternative choices or pay allegiance to some mundane things which they consider as gods.

4. “Each day, you hammer a nail, place a board, erect a wall,” you are making a deliberate choice [about your life].

5. Our choice for God like deliberately backing out of a toxic relationship or choosing to follow Christ wholeheartedly can make us lose friends. 

Conclusion

What is clear in our liturgy today is, we need the gifts of “spirit and life” otherwise we would turn away like those disciples who left Jesus. Although Jesus was “in front of them, they could not recognise who he really was” because of thedullness of their hearts.The popular quote from Kofi Annan, one of Africa’s greatest heroes who went to be the ancestors recently makes sense here: “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

Therefore, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to really and truly make a choice for God. Nothing feeds our spirit like the Holy Eucharist. Rather than indulge in mundane interests such as quest for vain knowledge, power, wealth, lust and alcoholic substances, we are charged to make the table of the Eucharist the preferred medicine for our spiritual malaise. Whenever friends and family tempt us to make devilish choices in life, may we have the courage to say like St. Peter: “To whom shall we go to, you have the words of eternal life.” May God help us through the glorious intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM).Amen.