Restoring God’s Order! Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
Sermon and Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Restoring God’s Order! Reconciliation of humanity with God’s order! The disrupted World is healed!
Point of reflection: Have I contributed to disruption and harm of the natural world? Today’s Scriptural readings call for a reflection on the theme of God’s work to restore everything to its intended order. Furthermore, today’s readings affirm that, in the midst of life’s chaos, God leads us to the restoration of our lives by liberating and guiding us towards peace.
First Reading: Genesis 3:9–15
Psalm: Psalm 130:1–8
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1
Gospel: Mark 3:20–35
Sermon (Reflection): According to the Scriptural readings of today, perhaps, we can say that the mission of Christ on earth is centred on restoring the harmony between God and humanity lost due to sin as recounted in the First Testament in Genesis. Christ restored that relationship on the cross, the place where reconciliation took place. Proclaiming Christ and bringing people to faith in God’s son, and as recounted in the second reading, St Paul was on a mission to bring the people back to a right relationship with God.
In the first reading of today, we encounter the original harmony which was disrupted by the disorderly ambition of human beings to “become like God” (Cf. Genesis 3:5). Yielding to the temptation to be more than God intended humanity to be, the first people transgressed the rules for life set by the creator, in a vain attempt to become like God. Thus, they reached for the knowledge of good and evil, the knowledge that God alone possesses and can handle.
Notably, today’s reading shows some major disruptions that distorted God’s harmonious handiwork. In the beginning, there was the disruption of the relationship between God and humanity and the first man played a game of hide and seek with God because “he was afraid”. Filled with fear, he hid himself, paralysed by the awareness of having transgressed God’s commands. Fear and sin separated the first human being from God.
What kills Christian life is the fear of the unknown and sin! As Christians, we need to trust in God.
Another major disruption in Genesis was that of the relationship between the man and the woman. The man blamed the woman for his transgression, even though he had been present with her all the time and had freely eaten the forbidden fruit. This was the first “blame game” in history, leading to hostility between man and woman. Another part of this passage states that they were ashamed of one another and had to cover their nakedness (Gen 3:7). This refers to the distortion of their mutual perceptions and the potential for disorderly conduct towards the opposite sex. In history, this took the form of gender-based abuse and violence. We could also look at the snake which caused the dismay. Snake bites are the way snakes kill; their bites as deadly as crushing of the head. Thus, this statement implies that the harmony between creation and humanity has disappeared and their relationship has turned deadly for both, because of game blaming.
Today as Christians, are we not blaming each other in our families, in our religious communities, in our parishes and dioceses and archdioceses?
Sometimes, we are good at blaming everybody in life forgetting that Christ is ready to help us restore our dignity and lost glory. God made the world an oasis of peace and harmony.
In the second reading of today, we encounter yet another disrupted relationship in the shape of a bitter conflict between the apostle and the community he founded. Writing this missive, Paul was trying to be reconciled with his Christians, while also fiercely attacking the false apostles who misled the faithful in Corinth and were responsible for the conflict. The passage in today’s reading comes from the part of the letter where Paul defends and explains his ministry as a “ministry of reconciliation” (Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19). For him, in Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself, and Paul is engaged in the ministry of reconciliation.
The raising of Jesus from the dead, God defeated death, and this act of God’s supreme and life-giving power implies that the most dramatic and destructive effect of human sin has been rendered powerless and that the restoration of creation’s lost harmony has begun. The resurrection of Christ which makes the resurrection of believers possible, signifies the reversal of the effects of the tragedy described in Genesis 3, it means the beginning of “the return to paradise.” This journey towards the return to the original harmony relies on the person’s union with the Risen Lord, founded on faith. Because of the supreme importance of faith in Christ in the restoration of humanity, Paul puts himself completely at the service of the Gospel.
As Christians, are we living to the service of the Gospel?
The Gospel passage of today again portrays the disrupted reality of human bonds and relationships. First, Jesus’ family did not understand what he was doing. They thought that Jesus had become mentally ill and they attempted to prevent him from going on with his mission. Family harmony was disrupted by their misconceptions, by which even Jesus was affected. Then, the Jewish scribes accused Jesus of being an agent of the devil. Telling the story of the “binding of a strong man” Jesus stated that he came not to do Satan’s work but to “bind Satan”. His work was thus oriented towards preventing Satan from dramatically disrupting people’s lives. Jesus works for the restoration of humanity by liberating them from the dominion of evil. By attributing Jesus’ exorcisms to the powers of Satan, the scribes “blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.” Such a sin cannot be forgiven, not because God is unforgiving, but because those who choose to interpret the work of God in Jesus as the work of Satan cut themselves off from any possibility of forgiveness. They can never repent and turn to Jesus because they see him as an agent of Satan, and without repentance, there can be no forgiveness.
In the final section of the Gospel passage, Jesus suggests how the harmony of the human family can be reinstated. Stating that his family are those who do the will of God, he sets faith and obedience to God as the foundation of the family of God’s people. Jesus’ own life and mission rested entirely on these two responses to God.
Thus, the same faith and obedience which is available to believers, serve as means of mending disordered relationships in the human community and in creation.
Christian Act in Word of God “Reconciliation of humanity with God’s order! The disrupted World is healed!”
Faith in Jesus sets the foundation for a new human family created to exist in harmony and peace with God.
By the grace of God, we are renewed each day. By his unceasing renewing action we are able to stand in his presence and are able to communicate with him. God does not abandon us even in our darkest moments and does not leave us alone in the chaos we have brought upon ourselves by our wrong choices. God makes himself present so that we can be healed and restored to the state of peace and serenity he intended us to live in. By this grace we are always given a second chance.
No matter how grave the situation or how disrupted our condition has become, we can always be restored to the state of grace. Reading the Scriptures of today, we realize that God never gave up on his people. No matter how gravely they failed, God always acted to save and restore them. In the same way, we can be certain that he will never abandon us. Time and again God gives us opportunities to be restored and lifted up from chaos.
Knowing that the grace of God works in our life, and in the world, we restore all our brokenness and bring order, we must strive to stay close to God through a life of constant prayer.
Action: I will make a conscious effort to preserve and care for the natural world in some practical way, no matter how small.
Prayer: Our Gracious and Loving God, you who created the world with natural order and everything in it is complete, Almighty God be gracious to the work of your hand and heal our brokenness in our hearts and in this world so that we will continue to be sustained in our earthly journey towards your divine good, we ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
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