Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Palm Sundy Year B - March 28, 2021

Homily of Palm Sunday Year B, 2021

 Mark 11:1-10; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Philippians 2:6-11; Mark 1-15:47

 Today is the sixth and last Sunday of Lent and it is called Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. It commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, days before he was crucified. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. The Passion narrative from the Gospel of Mark invites us to participate in the passion journey of Jesus Christ.

 Almost all Jewish prophets prophesied the coming of the messiah who was to redeem Israel from her oppressors. At the time of Jesus, Israel was governed by the Romans. Jesus’ disciples were convinced that Jesus was a political messiah who would lead a rebellion against the Roman colonial rule and drive out the Romans. On arriving in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, he was given a rousing and heroic welcome: “Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!’” (Mark 11:8-10).

 I don’t think that the people would have given Jesus such a rousing and heroic welcome if they knew he was not a political messiah. A few days later, the same crowd shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” I guess that the people were frustrated and disappointed that Jesus did not fulfill their expectation. If Jesus had overthrown the Roman leadership, everyone would have stood behind him. He would not have been crucified. Do we do as the Jews and the crowd did? We get very disappointed, and frustrated, and upset when our expectations are not met, or when we fail to get what we want. Then, we become aggressive, destructive, or even murderous.

 As we read in the gospel, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a colt (a young donkey). Jesus chose to enter into Jerusalem on a donkey instead of a horse. He identified himself with a donkey which is a beast of burden, thereby fulfilling Isaiah 53:54, “He took up our pain and bore our suffering.” As a donkey carries load, Jesus carries our pains and sufferings.

 During Jesus’ time, horse was the means of transportation for the rich, the high and the mighty, while donkey was the means of transportation for the poor. By riding on a donkey, Jesus identified himself with the poor and the lowly. Jesus teaches us to do the same. He wants us to identify with the burdened, the needy, the sick and the suffering. And by riding on a donkey, Jesus teaches us the importance of detachment and humility. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, “Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart.”

 What do the palm leaves symbolize?

In some cultures, in times of crisis or misunderstanding, carrying or presenting palm leaves is a symbol or a gesture of peace and reconciliation. Therefore, the palm leaves symbolize Jesus as the King of Peace. We are, therefore, invited to peace and reconciliation with one another. Blessed palm is not to be thrown around or discarded as trash. It is kept reverently until next year when it is returned to the church to be burned and the ash is put on our forehead on Ash Wednesday.

 

In some cultures, palm leaves symbolize sacredness and victory. Jesus, the Good Shepherd and the Sacred Lamb of God, came to bring victory over evil. In Hebrew, ‘hosanna’ means, ‘save us now.’ We pray to God to ‘save us now’ from our burdens.

 In some cultures, palm leaves symbolize eternal life. Jesus is the way to eternal life. Jesus says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

 Today’s celebration becomes even more meaningful if Jesus makes a triumphal entry into our lives, grant us peace, victory over evil, salvation and eternal life. Let our sins not stop Jesus’ entry into our lives. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelations 3:20).

 Lastly, St. Andrew of Crete writes, “Let us imitate those who have gone out to meet him, not scattering olive branches or garments or palms in his path, but spreading ourselves before him as best as we can with humility of soul and upright purpose … It is ourselves that we must spread under Christ’s feet…”

 Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Fifth Sundy of Lent Year B - March 21, 2021

Homily of Fifth Sunday of Lent Year B, 2021

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-23

 Jeremiah was sent by God to prophesy to the Jews at a time when political and religious leaders offended God so much. There were a lot of corruption and injustice in the land. The political and religious leaders did not care nor believed that corruption and injustice could make them lose favor with God and bring destruction to their land. They prided themselves on the temple, and the covenant God made with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

 The old covenant was sealed with animal sacrifices and animal blood. For instance, in Exodus 24:8, “Then Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’”

 Then, Jeremiah prophesied to them that the temple would be destroyed and the old covenant would no longer hold. Jeremiah prophesied the nature of the new covenant as we see in the first reading, “But this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 13:33). The new covenant was no longer going to be sealed with animal sacrifices and animal blood, and the law written on scrolls and tablets of stone; but it would be sealed with the Blood of the Lamb, and the law written on the hearts of men and women.

 The Book of Hebrews affirms, “For this reason, [Jesus Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). During the Last Supper (the institution of the Eucharist), Jesus took the cup, gave it to the apostles and said to them, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many” (Matthew 26:27-28). This new covenant, hereby, replaces the old covenant.

 The Jews prided themselves on the temple and the covenant God made with their fathers, while condoning corruption and injustice in their land. In the same way, some people pride themselves on their church, their position, their ministry, or their organization; but in their hearts are evil desires of murder, adultery, immorality, theft, lies, and slander (Matthew 15:19).  Jesus quotes Prophet Isaiah for such people, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8).

 Each of us is invited to a spiritual checkup during this Lenten Season to examine the state of one’s covenant with God. God says, “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” How does this apply to me? A finance company advertisement asks, “What is in your wallet?” The question for me is, “What is within me?” “What is written upon my heart?” “Is the law God placed within me still there or have I excreted it out?” “Is God’s law written upon my heart still there or have I erased it?”

 In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to renew ourselves by dying to our sinful selves. He says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25). Jesus, further assures us, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me” (John 12:26).

Jesus, further says in today’s gospel, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. He said this indicating the kind of death he would die” (John 12:32-33). His passion, crucifixion, death, and glorification made him the mediator of the new covenant and “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (second reading, Hebrews 5:9). As he draws us to himself, let nothing pull us away from him. Let us obey him in order to preserve our life for eternal salvation. Amen.

 Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Fourth Sundy of Lent Year B - March 14, 2021

Homily of Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B, 2021

 2 Chronicle 36:14-16; 19-23; Psalm 137:1-6; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

 The first reading tells us what happened to the people of Israel when they continued to sin and turned away from God. They refused to listen to the prophets God sent to them. “All the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s temple…The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent messengers to them … But they mocked the messengers of God, despised their warnings, and scoffed at his prophets …” The result of this was that they moved away from God and fell into the hands of their enemies who conquered them. “Their enemies burned down the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all the palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans …” After seventy years, the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire, and surprisingly King Cyrus of Persia released the people of Israel to return to their land.

 The consequence of the rejection of God by the people of Israel, as we have read in the first reading, happens to anyone and any people who turns away from God. The person or the people falls into the waiting arms of the Evil One. This explains the reasons for so much disintegration being experienced in our homes, society, and world. We do not expect, in this modern time, that a country is conquered by another, and the citizens of the conquered country carried off into captivity, as happened to the people of Israel. However, many people, families, communities and countries are in spiritual captivity and enslavement caused by infidelity upon infidelity, abominations, corruption, and criminal pollution of all kinds. The crises in political, judiciary, economic, health, education, religious, social systems, and so on in many parts of the world are as a result of sin and turning away from God by the rulers of those countries. At the root of underdevelopment, poverty, hunger, sickness, and destitution in some parts of the world are the sins and turning away from God by the rulers. God has not designed or ascribed any people or part of the world to be impoverished and stagnant. Unfortunately, corrupt rulers and their accomplices demonize, persecute and eliminate God’s messengers who dare to denounce them. We continue to pray for the conversion of corrupt rulers and God’s deliverance of his afflicted children.

 The Book of Wisdom 1:12-16 cautions us,

“Do not court death by your erring way of life, nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands. Because God did not make death nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being, and the creatures of the world are wholesome. There is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of Hades on earth. For righteousness is undying. It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it; because they deserve to be allied with it.”

 In today’s gospel, Jesus, also, cautions us not to prefer evil to good. He says, “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works are evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works might not be exposed” (John 3:19).

 

Jesus is the new King Cyrus, who has redeemed us and set us free from captivity and enslavement caused by sin and evil. In the fourth week of Lent, we are invited to examine ourselves to know whether we are, in anyway, held captive and enslaved by sin; and turn to Jesus to free and liberate us. St. Paul in the second reading says, “God who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us [his handiwork], even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4). St. John tells us in today’s gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).

 The following passages are worth reflecting upon: “And my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and look for me, and turn from their wicked ways, then I myself will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicle 7:14). “I do not want the wicked to die but rather that they turn from their evil ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

 Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Third Sundy of Lent Year B - March 7, 2021

Homily of Third Sunday of Lent Year B, 2021

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19:8-11; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

 In the first reading, from the Book of Exodus, the Israelites had left Egypt, and were no longer under Pharaoh and the laws of Egypt. God did not leave his people lawless in the wilderness. Scripture tells us that God revealed the commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17). The commandments were to guide the Israelites’ relationship with God, and relationship with one another. The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the commandments as follows:

 1. I am the Lord your God, you shall not have any gods before me.

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not kill.

6. You shall not commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

 The Ten Commandments are called the Decalogue (Greek: deka – ten, logos – word). The first three of the commandments guide relationship with God, while seven of the commandments guide relationship with neighbors. The Ten Commandments have become the basis and foundation of many organizations’ and countries’ constitutions and laws. During our 40 days of the Lenten Season, which represents the 40 years of Israelites’ journey in the desert, God draws our attention, again, to the commandments, to guide our relationship with him and our relationship with one another. The Ten Commandments are one of the Church’s teachings handed on to us as soon as we reach the age of reasoning and understanding to guide our spiritual and temporal development. Today, God invites us, to remember our very beginning, what we have forgotten, what we have neglected, how we no longer care, and how we have fallen shot.

 By God’s grace, may I cherish the words of the Psalmist, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye” (Psalm 19:8-9).

 In the gospel reading, the Jews showed no regards to the commandments. The vicinity of the temple of Jerusalem which was supposed to be a serene place of prayer was turned into a business place. Jews who came from all over the world for the feast of Passover were made to pay a special tax each year for the upkeep of the temple. But since Roman and Greek coins were stamped with images of their gods and emperors, these coins could not be used to pay the temple tax. Thus, money changers stayed in the temple area and exchanged pagan coins for Jewish coins. The money changers cheated the people by offering them very low exchange rates. It was the same case with those who sold sacrificial animals for temple sacrifice. They also sold the animals to pilgrims at exorbitant prices. The people who did business in the temple vicinity were cheating and stealing in the name of God. Hence, Jesus “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, ‘Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace’” (John 2:15-16).

 St. John remarks that Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. In the same sense, St. Paul reminds us, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). St. Paul also asks, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). During this Lenten Season, I am to reflect if my temple area has become a “marketplace,” and invite Christ crucified, “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (second reading, 1 Corinthians 1:25) to cleanse me. I pray with the Psalmist, “Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:9). Amen.

 Fr. Martin Eke, MSP