Christ the Healer of Divisions: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sermon by Emmanuel Suntheni OSB – Third Sunday In Ordinary Time – Year A
Sermon And Christian Act In The Word
Theme: Christ the Healer of Divisions! Follow me and be healed! The Healing Remedy!
Point of Reflection: Why do our countries have broken economies? Why are our hearts broken? Why are our societies broken? Through Jesus, God acted decisively to heal the broken world. The task of believers in the divided world has always remained the same: to bring people into the one “net” of God’s kingdom. This mission has always posed a profound challenge to the Christian community, both internally and externally. However, today’s liturgy reminds all believers that this task remains an essential aspect of their call, of all those who, to use the Psalmist’s words, “seek to live in the house of the Lord”.
First Reading: Isaiah 8:23–9:3
Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4, 13–14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10–13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12–23
Sermon (Reflection): The liturgy also provides an assurance that our problems and difficulties are neither permanent nor insurmountable.
The oracle of Isaiah in the first reading contains a symbolic and powerful image of restoration, thus, a lifting of the darkness that envelops the land, and the rejoicing of the people. However, why has the land been covered with darkness and its people consigned to the life of gloom? The answer is simple: there was darkness because of political and religious oppression that was to last for centuries. My dear brothers and sisters, in our countries, do we not have political and religious oppression? How are our civil and religious leaders governing? Are we not having a very poor economy because of political reasons? By all means, we need restoration in our country; the economy is just worse, as manifested by a series of load-shedding and corruption. As Christians, we need to pray to God as the Israelites did to restore their Kingdom.
Still, referring to this tragic history, Isaiah delivers an exuberant picture of restoration when darkness will give way to joy and prosperity. The nation, broken and destroyed by an internal conflict, will eventually be healed, and the yoke of its oppression broken. What human divisiveness and pride destroyed will eventually be healed by God’s intervention. To restore the economy in our country lets pray to God and publicly speak of injustices in a diplomatic way. God is ready to restore our countries. Let us be united, God restored Israel, why not us?
In the second reading of today, we are still continuing to encounter the problem child. Writing to the Corinthians, St Paul begins by addressing the root cause of the numerous problems which plagued the community. Like the Israelites under Rehoboam, the Corinthian community was deeply divided. The reason for these divisions was not political or geographical; it was personal allegiances. Do we not have personal allegiances to the political leaders, so that even our society and political parties are divided? Some have even extended to the Church that they are personal allegiances to the Parish priest, and some even to the bishops or religious superiors? If we are all baptised and the baptism is of Christ, then we need to be united for the purpose of saving humanity and proclaiming the Good News.
Corinthian Christians claimed loyalty to different leaders, depending upon who brought them into the community by baptism. This is deeply ironic; baptism, the rite which brings a person into the community of God’s people, became for the Corinthians the very grounds for dividing their community. Again, the deadly power of division is evident here. Paul sought to heal the problem by emphasising that any allegiance to the human baptizers, no matter how wise or eloquent they are, is meaningless. What truly and only matters is the union with Christ crucified. To Christ, and only to him, do Christians owe their allegiance. All other distinctions are pointless and harmful.
Quite interesting to note from the Gospel of today is that Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee, a fact which Matthew emphasises by naming two Galilean towns, Nazareth and Capernaum, and the two Israelite tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali, which inhabited that region. The Gospel of John clearly reflects this deep division and perception of Galilee, when Nathaniel, a pious Jew, hearing that Jesus comes from Nazareth, a Galilean town, asked the famous question, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (Cf. John 1:46). Similarly, the people of Jerusalem found it unthinkable that God’s Messiah could come from Galilee (Cf. John 7:41). Galilee, even if rich and fertile, was perceived by many as the land of darkness.
Yet, Jesus chose to begin his ministry in this deeply divided land. Furthermore, he chose Galilean men as his closest companions and apostles. They were simple Galilean fishermen who were unlikely to live up to the high standards of purity and piety expected by the religious leaders of the day, who were based in Jerusalem. Clearly, Jesus neither accepted nor respected the dividing lines of the day. On the contrary, he chose to cross them. As Christians, are we ready to bring unity to our divided societies, relationships, and our lost economy? Can we not be united and bring solutions to the problems we are facing if there is a political will to listen and adopt new solutions? Christ did it, why can’t we do it today!
Jesus’s mission to the divided world began with the call to repentance, which means literally “turning around.” He called for turning away from divisions and becoming a part of the one new community, which he called the Kingdom of God. Very appropriately, he also used the metaphor of fishing to describe the mission of his first disciples. Fishing means gathering fish into one net; thus, a perfect metaphor for rising above divisions and the creation of unity between people belonging to God’s Kingdom, which he would establish among them.
Christian Act in Word of God “Jesus Christ the Healer”
In our churches, we encounter divisions in our parishes, small Christian communities, groups and even in our families. These divisions bear their ugly fruits when quarrels arise and conflicts develop.
Disagreements on important issues are one of the most common causes of problems, prejudices, and strife among God’s people. Another important reason is competition for power, influence and access to money. These also cause division and hate in the secular community. Divisions can start over any issue, important or unimportant – how to spend money, a disapproving look someone gave me, unfairness, misunderstandings between cultures, differences in wealth, and social injustice. Wounds caused by these conflicts can scar so deeply that they become permanent dividing lines running through the soul of a family, a church, or a community.
Divisions are a great scandal because they contradict the very essence of the Church. That essence demands that the Church be one, as Jesus so ardently desired (cf. John chapter 17). But there is a way to stop divisions from taking hold, and, perhaps more importantly, there is a way to heal a community, a church, or a family, no matter how deeply its divisions run. We can and must move forward towards unity in a new way, but there needs to be a change much bigger than most of us have thought about or imagined. The Lord does not want some kind of endless state of civil war among us or a declared truce while hostilities in the hearts remain. He wants us to go way beyond divisions and return to the original state of unity that existed before divisions occurred. He desires that relationships be restored and communities and hearts knit together, ending divisions that have disrupted harmony between believers, friends or families.
Christ, who has healed our broken relationship with God, took the initiative in healing what we could not heal ourselves, bridging the chasm that separates us from one another and himself. He reconciled us to himself, and he calls us to be reconciled to one another. We can bridge our divisions and be reconciled in our families and communities when we take him as the source of our unity. How foolish it is to be divided in God’s family. Let us today celebrate our oneness and unity. Let us reflect on our vocation to be the agents of healing and unity in our often divided communities, families, friends and Church. As Christians, may we be the healing agents in our families and societies.
Action: From today onwards, I will open my heart for healing. Jesus Christ, heal me!
Prayer: Our loving God, Your love is beyond measure. We seek healing for our personal relationships, our community conflicts and our bad economies. Almighty God, as your children, we open our hearts to bring unity in our societies and our families. Gracious God, help us to treat others with respect and love, regardless of how our opinions differ. May each one of us be a healing agent in our society. We ask this through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
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