Homily For The 15th Sunday of The Ordinary Time of The Year B, July 14, 2024
“The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”–Proverbs 28:1
Sunday Readings
My Dearest Friends in Christ,
Peace and blessings upon you all who have gathered here in the Presence of God. Last Sunday the readings challenged us to face rejection, opposition, and criticisms with courage and optimism in our prophetic mission. The readings of this Sunday continue to buttress the same points.
Rejection and Conspiracy Against the Prophetic Message
The first reading of today presents to us a case study of the rejection and also the conspiracy against Amos by Amaziah the priest of Bethel (an apostate) serving the temple of Baal situated in Bethel by King Jeroboam who led the Northern Kingdom of Israel into idolatry thus neglecting the commandments of God.
Bethel (Beth-El “House of God”) used to be a place of encounter with the true God. It was there that Abraham built an altar to God (cf. Gen. 12:8). Jacob had two significant encounters at Bethel (cf. Gen. 28 and 35) before the ungodly king and priest took over. When ungodly people are in leadership, the righteous suffer, and the land is polluted, however, only courageous people like Amos can challenge them. The Good must always challenge evil, neither can ever cohabit in peace.
Amos’ prophetic message in the land of Bethel met violent opposition, insults, and conspiracy. His message was not welcoming to Amaziah the priest. He felt threatened by Amos’ message and therefore conspired against Him just to make him leave. He misquoted Amos before King Jeroboam to incite hatred, saying, for thus Amos says, “Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile. Yet the truth is that Amos never mentioned anyone’s name in his prophecy. Amaziah asked Amos to go and preach somewhere else to make ends meet, as though Amos became a prophet to earn his daily bread prophesying. Unfortunately, many priests and prophets who today prophesy to make ends meet have Amaziah’s mindset and this is why many of them have sold their voices and integrity to money for this reason, corruption and evil are thriving in our society. It is a tragedy when those who should condemn evil suddenly become mute or prophesied falsely for personal gains.
Truth Delayed Is Truth Denied or Justice Deprived
Furthermore, Amaziah told Amos ” Don’t prophesy at Bethel because it’s the King’s residence and the King’s sanctuary,” as if that was a compelling reason to stop preaching! He wants to silence Amos by telling him where to preach. I have often heard people say “But he should not have said it there“. My dearest friends, the truth should be spoken in season and out of season. God has no boundaries or limitations when He wants to speak to us, so we must speak out at every time and anywhere to condemn and confront evil. Prophetic courage means speaking out just in time because delays could be dangerous. There are situations in which delays in voicing out the truth could be a deprivation or denial of Justice. Truth delayed we often say is truth denied. Many have suffered and many still are suffering because the truth was delayed. Take the example of Daniel, if he had not spoken out Just in time in Susana’s case, that innocent woman would have died a disgraceful death in the hands of those wicked and lustful conspirators who had accused her falsely and had instigated sons and daughters of Isreal to stone her (cf. Daniel 13)
No matter the lies and conspiracies against you, never give up the fight against evil. Let no one decide when and where you should speak out. Those who fight for justice and freedom are usually the enemies of those in power. Don’t be afraid of them.
Embrace Purity and Holiness, and Practice What You Preach
The second reading of today tells us, we are adopted children of God and are destined to be holy and blameless before him. To wage the war against evil in society we all must embrace the garment of holiness and purity. You cannot fight or preach an evil you perpetrate because that’s a total negation of your message. Lived action is more powerful than the voice of a thousand preachers. Our prophetic mission becomes more successful when we avoid the evils we preach against. Paul also explains in this reading that it is God’s eternal plan to extend salvation, through Jesus, to all mankind, first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. Hence, the Jewish and the Gentile Christians need to love, help, and respect one another and thus proclaim Jesus, giving true witness by their lives.
You Are Sent To Proclaim the Good news and The Truth of God’s Kingdom
In today’s Gospel (Mark 6:7-13), the evangelist, tells the story of Jesus’ commissioning of the twelve apostles to preach the “Good News” of repentance, the forgiveness of sins, liberation, and salvation through Jesus. Just as God sent the prophet Amos to preach repentance to ancient Israel and St. Paul to preach the good news of salvation to the Gentiles, so Jesus sends forth His followers to proclaim the good news of God’s Kingdom and to bring healing to those who need it. Today’s Gospel reports the instruction Jesus gave His disciples on their first mission. They should be walking illustrations of God’s love and providence in action and that’s the reason we and they shouldn’t bother ourselves with carrying lots of provisions. We should preach repentance, a change of heart, and a change of action, taking people from a self-centered life to a God-centered life. Those sent by Christ, preach repentance but those missionaries today who send themselves, preach prosperity. We are all missionaries and every one of us has a role to play in preaching God’s message. We also have a liberating mission, helping to free people from the bondage of ill-health, poverty, demons of nicotine, alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, promiscuous sex, hatred, jealousy, and racial prejudice and not enslaving and dehumanizing those we are called to liberate.
May God continue to strengthen our courage to undertake our prophetic and missionary responsibilities with courage and the love of God, and neighbor. May He give us the grace to live exemplary Christian lives.
“Start being brave about everything, driving out darkness and spreading light. Don’t look at your weakness, but realize that in Christ crucified you can do everything.”
– St. Catherine of Siena
I keep you and your family always in my Prayers.© Clem C. Aladi 2021.
