Reading 1: Micah: 6:1-4, 6-8
Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, present your plea before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice!
Hear, O mountains, the plea of the LORD,
pay attention, O foundations of the earth!
For the LORD has a plea against his people,
and he enters into trial with Israel.O my people, what have I done to you,
or how have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
from the place of slavery I released you;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow before God most high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriad streams of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my crime,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Gospel: Matthew 12:38 – 42
Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment, the queen of the south will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
and there is something greater than Solomon here.”
For those of you around this environment, court proceedings might not be something to new to you. At the slightest provocation, we threaten to sue the other person; we are quick to say, “I will sue you.”
Where I am coming from, nobody tells the other “I will sue you” when someone offends you, you need not go through the legal rhetoric and endless adjournments of court. All you need is to get a Babalawo (a witch doctor) who will only hear your side of the story and sentence your offender.
May God deliver us from such evil judges.
However, for the interest of those of you who are not acquainted with the pattern of the court hearing, the first reading of today presents to us a unique type.
This particular case is an interesting one- contrary to the legal maxim that no one is a judge in his own case (Nemo iudex non casua tua), in this particular case before us, God is the complainant and the judge at the same time while Israel is the accused.
The witnesses are the mountains, the hills and the foundations of the earth.
The accusation:
God accused Israel of infidelity, which is evidence of ingratitude. The Lord asks: “O my people, what have I done to you…” God said he brought them out of the land of Egypt and redeemed them from the land of Bondage, he sent them leaders and prophets but they repaid him with ingratitude and sheer abandonment.
The defence of Israel:
Israel defended themselves by asking “What have we done wrong and how have we repaid you with ingratitude, we brought burnt offerings, with calves, rams, rivers of oil, we are even willing to sacrifice our sons? What again do you want?
After the whole accusation and defence, the judge now made his sentence.
The Sentence: I, your creator and Helper, your accuser and judge, after accusing you and listening to your defence, I hereby pronounce this judgment.
Henceforth, I am no longer interested in your burnt offerings; take away your calves, rams, and oil. From today, these are the offerings I want, these are what I request henceforth:
- Do justice
- Love kindness
- Walk humbly with me.
Dear brethren, these are three important things that God also expects from us too.
To do justice means to be fair in your dealings with others. Do not do unto others what you don’t want to be done to you, do not withhold what belongs to another person by right, do not defraud others to build your wealth, give people their proper dues, be faithful to mutual agreement, do not be unfair to anyone, do not oppress or maltreat people, treat others with respect and dignity.
To love kindness means to be willing to wipe peoples’ tears, to decide to change someone’s life positively, to be good to others and be willing to help those in need, to treat people better than they deserve.
To walk humbly with God is to be faithful to God, to scrupulously avoid what offends the love of God, to make effort to be intimate with God.
Gospel:
In the gospel reading, some scribes and Pharisees came to ask Jesus for a sign. A sign that he is the Messiah and that his claims are true.
What does this mean to you?
This is the message. The same way these religious’ leaders asked for a sign to confirm Jesus’ identity, the world is asking you and me to show them the sign that we are Christians whom we claim to be.
Our signs are not our uniforms, not in our sacramentals, not our regular and punctual attendance in the Church, it is not even in scapulars, it is not in the statue of infant Jesus or Jerusalem rosary, your bible is not an indisputable sign, sacred heart altar is not an infallible sign.
Your signs are what the first reading enunciates:
- To be just in your dealings with others
- To be kind to others
- To walk humbly before your God.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami at the Catholic Church of the Presentation GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria on July 23, 2018.