HOMILY FOR THE TWELVETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR IN THE ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A

Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Jeremiah 20:10-13 – He has delivered the soul of the needy from the hands of evil men.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68(69): 8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 – In your great love, answer me, O Lord.

Second Reading:Romans 5:12-15 – The gift considerably outweighed the fall.

Gospel:Matthew 10:26-33 – Do not be afraid of those who kill the body.

Human hearts constantly crave for the Truth. But strangely, the first spontaneous reaction to the Truth is that of hostility. Oftentimes, the bearer of the Truth is viewed as a harbinger of bad luck and suffering. This is why if you must become a teacher of the Truth, you must be prepared to be ridiculed, ignored, and starving. Indeed, something has never passed as a great truth without being ridiculed; and nobody has ever passed as a teacher of truth without being isolated and even killed. From Socrates to Jesus Christ, from Copernicus to Galileo, from Martin Luther King Jr to Dele Giwa, these are all great teachers of truth who were ridiculed, isolated, starved, and killed. But the Truth, for which they were killed, still lives with us today.

Jeremiah was one of such teachers of Truth who suffered persecution because of the Truth. In the first reading of today, he recalls how those who used to be his friends deride him. Even those he considered as friends turned against him because, truth hurts. But only the truth shall set us free. Note how the people tried to seduce him into error so that they can take their revenge. When you want to stand up to the truth, these are exactly what you will experience. Many people will lay snares on your path in order to catch you the way animals are cut with snares. You will see yourself being abandoned even by your so-called friends. In a world of populism like ours of today, teachers of truth belong to the insignificant minority. Falsehood has become the order of the day; and liars now rule the world. The question that often comes to mind given the reality of the world of today is: Why then waste time pursuing and teaching the truth when that has become a dangerous thing to do?

Well, Jesus was fully aware of this organized assault against truth and teachers of truth when he instructed the disciples not to be afraid of those who can only kill the body. The real people to fear are those who can kill both body and destroy the soul in hell. These are the real dangerous people to be afraid of. And this is where those liars that rule the world come in play. They might be popular; but they are dangerous. They are dangerous because they confuse others. They use their position and/or intelligence to lead others astray, arguing that what is wrong is no longer wrong, and that what is right, because it is not popular, has become wrong. If one is foolish enough to become their cheerleader, one is already on the path of destruction. Populism does not last long. But within the short period of its existence, it destroys a lot of people, literally. When Nazism became the most populist ideology in the world, it attracted a lot of cheerleaders from all over the world. But see how many millions of people it destroyed (physically, mentally, and, spiritually). Truth, on the other hand, might not be popular, but it lasts forever. The teachings of those great teachers of truth, who gave their lives for the truth, are still with us today, centuries after they had been killed. Their truth liberated the world and will continue to do so. It is therefore important that we be not swayed by the antics of those who confuse us with their particular brand of populism. Four or five years of utopian and false lives are not worth the rest of your existence. Utopianism fades away as quickly as it comes. Only the truth lives forever; and only the truth can set us free.

When Jesus tells us “Do not be afraid”, he is not telling us to be careless with our lives; he is not telling us to throw caution to the ground. He is rather warning us that any action taken under the atmosphere of fear is an irrational action. Does it then surprise you that many of the followers of those populist cult personalities do so under extreme fear and duress? They are afraid of losing their positions; they are afraid of being labelled as traitors; they are afraid of being set up and prosecuted; they are afraid of being targeted and killed. Because of these constant fears, they find themselves saying and doing things that they would ordinarily not say and do. Their actions become irrational and even dangerous. They find themselves living in a prison they constructed for themselves. The free person is the truthful person. He owes no one any apologies, and he expects nothing from any one. He may be isolated, but he is free and happy. He may not get everything that he wants; but he is contented with what he gets. In the end, the truth that he pursues will eventually help save the world.