RESPOND TO GOD’S CALL WITH A SENSE OF URGENCY
(Is 9: 1-4, Ps 27, 1 Cor 1:10-13,17, Mat 4: 12-23)
People of God, the call of God demands an immediate response and that is the main theme for today’s readingsespecially the gospel. The fact that we do not have to delay to His calling. Last Sunday’s theme pointed out to us that we have all been called in a unique way. This unique callingdemands an immediate response without any delay. Time is not on our side to delay hence the need to remove all obstacles which prevent us from responding to this call with urgency, such as division as pointed out in the second reading.
The first reading is being fulfilled in the first part of the gospel (Mat 4: 12-17). The people of Galilee and for that matter Zebulun and Naphtali, were held in contempt by other Jews. In fact, this was considered a land of pagans, a people who were nobody before God in the eyes of the Jews. But this is where Jesus began His public ministry. It was at the Sea of Galilee that He called His first disciples. He began his preaching from this place and not from the popular city,Jerusalem. According to the prophet, the people initially had no honour but God was going to make them great before all the nations. God will make them a light to the nations. As He preached His word to them, they received it with a sense of urgency and welcomed the Lord into their midst, more than the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. The story of this people was changed through the coming of Jesus into their midst. They were nothing before men, but Christ has raised their status among men. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Is 9:2). The moment they received the Lord in their midst and treated His message with a sense of urgency, was the turning point in their lives. The message of Christ brought a total transformation in the lives of this people. Our story will change if only we make our hearts docile to the Word of God.
After preaching the message of repentance to the people of Israel which is the beginning of His Galilean Ministry, He called His first disciples in the persons of Simon and Andrew, James and John. They responded immediately and followed Him to spread His message in Galilee and beyond. They did not give excuses like the way some asked Jesus to allow them to go and bury their father or say goodbye to their family (Luke 9: 57-62). They could have also given excuses, because they were doing their own work which was fetching them a lot of money I guess. But they ignored all these benefits and followed Jesus without any delay. Following Christ demands a lot of sacrifice which only God’s grace can do that for us.
My dear people of God, a number of us keep on postponing the response to God’s call. Some of us are enjoying the worldly life, hence the difficulty in living out an authentic Christian living. In the first place, He calls us to change our way of life and come and follow Him. It is by abandoning our old ways before we can follow the Lord with our whole being. It is because we are refusing to let go our old self that is why the issue of double standard and hypocrisy has become the order of the day. A number of us wants to be disciples of Jesus but still we want to be part of things of the world. The two cannot be together. It is either you are for Christ or not. We cannot serve two masters, either you love one and hate the other or you hate both according to scriptures. And mostly we become more faithful to the things of the world than things of God.
We are all called in different ways to serve God and humanity. Some are called to be priests, brothers, sisters, teachers, nurses, farmers, doctors, carpenters, government officials, to mention a few. But we are all called to bring Christ to people in all these different ways of life. We are to help spread His Kingdom on earth. Our light must shine in the corner we find ourselves so that people will know that we are truly children of God.
If it is the case that we are called differently, but for a common purpose, then why all these divisions among us? In the second reading, Paul admonishes the Corinthians for allowing themselves to be divided. If we are all called to spread the message of Christ, then where from the assertion of I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos, I belong to Cephas? We are all one people with a common goal. We are gifted in different ways but these gifts are to be used for the same purpose. We should not allow divisions to prevent us from responding to the message of Christ. Some of us have occupied ourselves with trivial things instead of focusing on our major calling as Christians. Our call is not to promote division but rather unity. This attitude has become an obstacle preventing some of us from responding to the call of God.
My dear friends, in 1Cor 12 the same sense of unity is also proclaimed in relation to the gifts of the spirit. There are varieties of gifts, service, and workings but it is the same Spirit, it is the same Lord who bestows them upon us all. If the gifts given to us are for one purpose as building the peaceful Christian environment and for our salvation then where from the many fightings, competitions and jealousies among Christians? Do we really see ourselves as one people with a common destiny? I do not think so because the kind of lives we are portraying to the world do not testify to the Holy Spirit we have received. We are our own enemies in this kingdom business. God has given us different gifts to promote His kingdom on this earth but the very people who are to be united to fight for this purpose have tend to be bitter rivals. We have resorted to backbiting, slandering, gossiping, character assassination and others we can think of. We are supposed to be a team in which we play different roles but with a common objective. This is what the Spirit which we have received encourages us to do. To recognise the gifts of others and encourage ourselves to achieve the potentials in us to the fullest.
The people of Galilee and its environs and the disciples responded to God’s call with a sense of urgency without any delay, and they saw a total transformation in their lives. What about you and l? How do we respond to His call? Are we also part of those who keep on postponing the call of God by living out authentic Christian life? The ball is in our court to examine our lives very well so that this year we can become true signpost to people to come to Christ. May the Holy Spirit strengthen us to respond to God’s call as it is expected of us.
As we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God, it is my prayer that you will allow the Word of God to take a centerstage in your life. So that it can bring a total transformation in your life. Meditate on God’s Word prayerfully daily. There is life in His Word. Remember “Ignorant of Scripture is Ignorant of Christ” says St. Jerome.
AMEN. Follow the lord without delay. Be a unifier! Read your bible always!
Have a blessed Sunday of the word of god AND A FAVORED week ahead!!
REV. FR. Akakpo Matthew
