DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Jeremiah 20, 10-13; Romans 5, 12-15; Matthew 10, 26-33: ; 12th Sunday of the Year A, 2017)
Fear is one factor that has continued to militate against our call to authentic witnessing to the gospel. Undertaking the task of committed witnessing would demand that we make ourselves susceptible to cajole, insults, persecution and threats of outright extermination. How many of us are prepared to stake out their necks to protect the rights of others? How many of us would be ready to risk their job, status, positions in the society, or valued relationship in protest against injustice or to expose unjust structures? There is no doubt that there is hardship in being a disciple nowadays where money is usually the standard of measuring success. It is a world of competition where there is only one winner and everyone else is a failure. It is a world that values possessions more than commitment, shrewdness more than integrity. A world where races and cultures, welfare of people and natural environment are secondary to the desires of those in power. This is a world that, desperately, needs to hear the call of conversion, but the world is either deaf to it or on hearing it, may persecute the one who delivers the message. This is the world subject to the death that entered into it through the sin of Adam. Those who respond positively to God’s call, as disciples, may have to face the hostility of the world, because their values and commitments threaten the world’s assured values. They may encounter this hostility in friends and neighbours. They may even have to face the hostility from family members. They can even experience terror in every side. This can happen in both major and minor situations. One can be maligned or one can feel marginalized. To commit oneself to the reign of God is to challenge the reign of the world, and this can make one very unpopular. Difficult as these may sound it is precisely on such grounds that we can boast of being true witnesses to the gospel of Christ and his true disciples.
Jeremiah had his own toll of suffering among his people. The first reading shows the pathetic lament of this prophet of God with regard to his fate at the hands of the people to whom he was called to deliver the message or mind of God. He had to suffer untold difficulties, persecution, imprisonment, outright rejection and hatred, even from his own very friends. In the face of all these, Jeremiah was able to realize the place of God in his life and to utter wonderful words of hope and trust in Him: But the Lord is at my side, a mighty hero….
Christ is well aware of the difficulties associated with the proclamation of the gospel. He knows that the disciples would be torn apart by uncertainties and the prospect of being brutalized by the enemies of the gospel. Hence he encourages them: Do not be afraid! This expression used three times in today’s gospel reading is indeed reassuring. Without promising the disciples a crossless Christianity, Jesus assures them that God knows them through and through and will surely protect them if they remain faithful and really fear God who is able to destroy both the body and the soul, rather than man who can only destroy the body. In the midst of suffering, the attitude of the disciple of Jesus, and all of us who are baptized and witnessing as disciples, is to find strength in the promise of God, for as we believe, God is faithful to these promises. We have not been created and then thrown into the world to fend for ourselves. God cares for us more than the sparrows. God knows everything there is to know about us: our fears and aversions, our thoughts and dreams. Why is it too hard for us to believe we are cared for and loved by God?
We saw above the difficulties in witnessing to the good Lord in the good world which God created, on account of sin that entered into the world and death that followed suit. Paul assures us today, in the second reading, that the gracious gift God offers us is far greater than the transgressions brought on us by sin. This greatest gift is Jesus Christ himself. This gift exceeds anything for which we might have hoped. He is the comfort that will carry us through our disappointments. He is the strength that will enable us to endure the misunderstandings and hardship that come with discipleship. We are called to acknowledge him before the world. Today, the need to witness to Christ is even more urgent in our society than ever. We are called to challenge the immoral structures, gross injustices, outright discrimination, exploitation of the weak, bribery and corruption, tribalism, morality e.t.c.. that have continued to hold our society hostage. It is always more convenient to remain in the confines of one’s house and pretend not to see the ignoble trend of events in our society today, or allow others to be the first to voice it out rather than to come out immediately and fight for justice and fairness. But, Jesus invites us to actively witness to him in the face of such menace, so that he may declare himself for us in the presence of his Father. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye
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