Homily For Friday Fourth Week of Lent Year B, 15th March, 2024

Readings: Wisd. 2:1.12-22; Ps. 34; John 7:1-2.10.25-30

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

 

WHAT HAS A VIRTUOUS MAN DONE TO WICKED MEN OF THIS PASSING WORLD?

 

There is no doubt that our societies today are full of evil and wickedness of humanity against one another. So, every day we struggle against the malice of the evil ones, and people are doing everything they can to overcome them.

 

This ugly action is evident in our readings today. In the first reading, we heard how unsound some people can be in their thinking. This no doubt reveals the thoughts of the wicked people who rejected the message of God’s truth and persecuted the prophets saying, “Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing. He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself the son of God”. Such are the ways of the evil ones.

 

In a similar way in our Gospel, we heard of the opposition against Jesus and the efforts his enemies made to try to harm him. This happened in fulfilment of the prophecy about the suffering Servant of God. It is at this point that Jesus made one of the most revealing statements at the Temple before everyone who gathered at the temple, not long before the beginning of his Passion. He stood firmly against all those who had doubted, rejected and persecuted him, showing how those who refused to believe in him and his truth were blinded by their pride and arrogance, their unwillingness to listen, and their lack of knowledge and faith in him. 

 

Dear friends, what has the virtuous man done to the wicked men of this passing world? Why all this wickedness? As we draw closer to the season of Holy Week, the readings begin to speak about the coming of the Lord’s Passion, the suffering servant of God. For out of pride and selfishness the Pharisees turned against the Lord Jesus. Their malice and worldly concerns and also their ugly desires truncated their faith and obedience to God. In the same way, the root of all this evil in our world today is none other than pride, selfishness, arrogance and over-ambition in our hearts.

 

Therefore, as we struggle against the evil of our time we can take consolation from today’s Psalm which tells us that the Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save. For many are the trials of the just man but from them all the Lord will rescue him, for the Lord ransoms the souls of his servants and those who hide in him shall not be condemned. This is a reminder that God will not forget his faithful ones, but those who have acted with injustice and evil will have to answer for their misdeeds unless they repent from their sins.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we struggle with the ugly situation in our world today, gift us grace not to give up, may we remain faithful in all trials and temptations. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.