SERMON/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME CYCLE II 8TH FEBRUARY 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR THURSDAY 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, CYCLE II 8TH FEBRUARY 2024

1Kings 11:4-13; Ps.106; Mark 7:24-30

Avoid Occasions of Sin

Since this week, until today, the first reading has been presenting us with the glories of the reign of King Solomon. His fame went abroad so much so that the queen of Sheba came to see for herself what she had being hearing. When she saw that Solomon was actually great, and not that she heard exaggerated stories about him, she offered him precious gifts.

Today, the story changed. We are presented with the downfall of Solomon. The downfall was so severe that it was described to be worse than the mistakes of David his father. Thus, the consequence of his downfall was the division of the kingdom; something that never happened despite all the sins of David.

The offense of Solomon was that he consented with his wives in the worship of their gods. Worsestill, he erected altar for them in the land of Israel. This was a sign of total desecration of the land. How can Solomon who so much relied on God at the beginning, now try to ridicule Him by turning the hearts of the people against God!

However, when we look carefully, we realize that the problem started when he married foreign women with pagan mindset. At first, his marriage was not a problem until now. Today’s first reading noted that when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. They could not have done so when Solomon was still in his right senses. They waited until he was almost helpless. All that Solomon did against the Lord was at this period when he was being manipulated by his pagan wives.

Yet the Lord held Solomon responsible for his actions because in marrying foreign wives, Solomon put his faith at risk. This is something that many of us still do today. We put our faith at risk when we surround ourselves with occasions of sins but console ourselves with the thought that we are strong enough not to fall. No matter how much we may try to exonerate ourselves when we finally fall, we will be blamed for earlier surrounding ourselves with occasions of sin.

The best way to live a holy life is to negate/prevent sin. You cannot successfully sign a peace treaty with devil. You will not always be strong to resist that particular sin when it stirs at you in the face; the best thing to do is to try as best as possible to leave the vicinity or re-evaluate the kind of company you keep. See, no matter how much you warn or beat a goat, it won't stop eating the yam around it. It's either you take the yam away from the goat or take the goat away from the yam. Starve yourself of a conducive environment for sinning and you will find it easier to overcome temptations.