SERMON/HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK OF LENT 22ND MARCH 2024

SERMON/HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK OF LENT 22ND MARCH 2024

Jer. 20:10-13; Ps.18; John 10:31-42

Consistency itself is Evangelization

The Jews wanted to stone Jesus for the acclaimed reason that Jesus equaled himself with God. When Jesus justified this claim from their own scriptures, many more persons came to believe in Jesus there. This must have heightened the anger of the Jews; the more they try to blacklist Jesus, the more popular and accepted he became amongst the people. In the events of the holy week down through the post-resurrection accounts, the Jews continued to try harder, but to no avail: even the eventual death of Jesus did not achieve the aim of putting a stop to Jesus’ mission.

Beloved, in the final analysis, good will always triumph over evil. Thus, those on the side of the good are never defeated. Ordinarily, one would expect that whatever is good will be generally accepted; but experience has shown that it is not always so. At some point in life, your offence will be the good that you have done or that you continue to do. At some point in life, it would seem as if the only way to get out of trouble is to stop doing or being good. Beloved, be careful of pleasing people by compromising on what is good. Whoever is to be pleased when you stop doing or being good, is not to be pleased at all. Whatever commendation you get by compromising on virtue, is bound to fail soonest.

From the gospel reading, we also learn that a time comes when we give account of what we do and say. Irresponsibility is doing or saying something that you cannot defend; or giving blind justification that clearly negates reason. To be responsible in the practice of our faith, is itself a form of evangelization. The people who came to believe in Jesus in today’s gospel, must have struggled within themselves whether it was Jesus or the Jews that was/were right. With the open confrontation between Jesus and the Jews, the people were able to see, listen and judge for themselves who is right. You can imagine that if Jesus was not able defend his mission before the Jews, he would have belittled the confidence of his followers and actually lost those who came believing that day.

Beloved, consciously or unconsciously, people watch us to see how consistent we can be in frequenting Church activities, in doing good, in living authentic Christian lives. Our consistency preaches to them that the good life is possible, amidst the various discouragements and challenges. But our sycophancy will rather preach the gospel to them in a distorted form. You may seem to be struggling alone; but know this, when the time of victory comes, you will be surprised that many persons knew your story. Be consistent is doing and being good.