Reading 1 Nm 21:4-9
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21
- (2) O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Verse Before the Gospel
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower;
all who come to him will live for ever.
Gospel Jn 8:21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
The first reading of today tells us that the ingratitude of the people of Israel got to a point that God had to punish them severely. Interestingly, when he sent them a fiery serpent, they repented and they became wise.
Question:
Must God punish us before we repent and become wise? Must we be afflicted before we return to the Lord? Must God deal a heavy blow on us before we come to our senses and refrain from wrongdoing?
Today, let us look at the offences of the people of Israel that attracted such penalty, let us be careful to avoid them in our lives because they always attract wrath.
I. They became impatient with God.
God is always patient with us; he endures even our sinfulness and patiently waits for us to return to Him. On our own part, we can’t wait for God to handle our issues. We are often impatient with God.
We must always keep in mind that we need patience in our relationship with God, we cannot rush God and if we abandon Him for quicker solutions, the end is always disastrous (Hebrews 10:36).
II. They spoke against God:
Most times when we lose someone so dear or we don’t get what we pray for, we start speaking disrespectfully to God. Remember there is no better indication of shallowness of faith than abusing God when we are not able to control him. God should not be seen as worthy of praise and worship only when He grants our request. God remains a good God no matter what befalls us in life.
III. They spoke against Moses
We should be careful of what we say about the ministers of God. This was the offence of the Pharisees who treated Jesus and his words with scorn and contempt. All forms of imprudent confrontations, blackmailing, disrespect, hasty judgment and slander against God’s ministers should be avoided scrupulously. Those who perpetrate such, pay heavily for it.
IV. Ingratitude:
They called the food God gave them worthless/unsatisfying. This is the sin we commit when we regard God’s blessings with contempt and ingratitude.
When we fail to show gratitude for blessings bestow upon us or when we compare ourselves with others and feel God hasn’t done so well for us.
V. They grumbled against God.
Instead of praying, they grumbled whereas God listens to prayers and not to grumbling.
When we come before God and all we do is to complain of all he hasn’t done for us or what is not well with us, we are grumbling. Prayer is appreciating God’s kindness and expressing our dependence on Him for favours yet unreceived.
Let us pray
Lord Jesus, help us to be patient, teach us to revere God and His ministers, may we be always grateful for all we have received and be hopeful instead of grumbling for what we are yet to receive.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on April 9, 2019