Reading 1 Rv 14:1-3, 4b-5
I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,
and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand
who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
I heard a sound from heaven
like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder.
The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.
They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,
before the four living creatures and the elders.
No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand
who had been ransomed from the earth.
These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They have been ransomed as the first fruits
of the human race for God and the Lamb.
On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
- (See 6) Lord, these are the people that long to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Lord, these are the people that long to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Lord, these are the people that long to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his saviour.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Lord, these are the people that long to see your face.
Alleluia Mt 24:42a, 44
- Alleluia, alleluia.
Stay awake!
For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Lk 21:1-4
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
In the first reading of today, we have the vision of John. He saw the Lamb on Mount Zion and around him were one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had the name of the Lamb and his Father written on their forehead and they were singing a new song (I pity those who don’t like singing- I don’t know how they will cope in heaven).
When a name is written on something or a stamp placed on an item, it shows possession/ownership. The names written on the saints in heaven shows that they belong finally and eternally to God.
Like them, we also belong to the Lord even though; our “belongingness” has not been eternally confirmed. At baptism, the sign of the cross traced on our foreheads, the anointing, the water, the white clothes etc. all are expressive of the fact that we are being claimed for God. However, this will be eternally sealed when we get to heaven.
This being the case let us keep in mind today that we are no longer our own, let us stop contesting control with God. Let us stop questioning God’s order, we must live totally for God and surrender to His will, to his plans and designs for us.
This is what the widow in today’s Gospel did. She gave herself with her gift. She gave all she has and is to the One who owns her. This is the kind of self-giving that God wants.
I leave you with Romans 14:7-8.
“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on Monday November 26, 2018.