What you need is Fidelity NOT Success: Coping with Failure
Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6
In our age of stars and celebrities, thanks to the Oscars and pageant contests, to be famous, one needs to receive human approbations and ovations simply by playing in accordance with earthly rules, especially by being seen to oppose the Christian way of life. To preach the awfulness of sin is to be out of sync with contemporary culture; to promote virginity up until marriage is considered a sign of mental derangement; and to manifest one’s faith in the public squares and spaces is seen as a sign of intolerance and as something politically incorrect to do. Yet, our democracies claim the defense of “freedom of speech,” when they allow gay parades, Islamization of Judeo-Christian countries and the promotion of women’s right, but Christian values are denied the same rights and Christians accept it as the new normal. You know what? the world needs Christian prophets, not Christian cowards!
The rejection of Jesus at home, by his own people, in today’s gospel, is a close call – “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house,” declares Jesus. Western democracy that is founded on Christian principles has alienated the same Christianity – what a rejection!
“Home” is the singular place where love is supposed to reign supreme, acceptance taken for granted, and encouragement the order of the day: for a prophet, all these are outlawed and turned into taboos! Today, as always, “prophets” are trouble makers – King Ahab called prophet Elijah “the troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17) because he confronted the king with his sins. John-the-Baptist had his head chopped off because he told King Herod the injustice of taking another’s wife (Mark 6:18). In fact, sin had already overtaken the heart of Herodias that she plotted the death of John-the-Baptist – this is the case of Christians destroying Christianity from within!
Indeed, we all experience rejections and failures in different forms and shapes, but fidelity alone can remedy it, faith in God! That our friends and families are those who reject us, how painful! However, the attitude of Jesus to rejection, discredit and failure, in our gospel today, provides us with an example to follow – the precedence of “fidelity” over “success”. Despite the slurs and criticisms of his own people, Jesus went ahead to perform miracles for those who needed it! Jesus didn’t allow his mission to be derailed by apparent failure or mistrust of others because he has a different understanding of “success” in one’s mission. For the world, “success” is when people praise us for doing what is wrong and by acting contrary to God’s will revealed to us in Holy Scriptures. “Success” is the promotion by thoughts, deeds, words and omissions every anti-Christian value. “Success” is the absence of the audacity to challenge the status quo and stand up to be counted as a prophet of God in our generation. On the contrary, “fidelity” is to willingly stick out one’s head to be chopped off; to stand up for Christian truths in season and out of season; to exhort and promote Christian virtues of love, faith and hope – a direct connection with God! The price of “fidelity” is martyrdom, and Jesus paid with his life the price of fidelity – they hanged him on the cross! Yes, prophet Jesus, faithful Jesus!
Our Christians of nowadays have become academic theologians, with little morality to show for it: martyrdom for one’s faith is no longer fashionable. In academia, it is different: the sign of a quality education is measured by efficiency and productivity in the field. As a matter of fact, parastatals and companies pay a fortune for those workers who are able to bring to bear, at their jobs, what they learned in school. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Christianity! In a flagrant display of cowardice, some Roman Catholic Christians find refuge in Gaudium et Spes no. 16: whatever your conscience allows you to do is fair and square with God, and very few talk about the necessity to properly form one’s conscience! Sin has become selective, we cherrypick whatever sits well with us, and condemn to garbage cans all the inconveniences of Christian morality! Yes, like the siblings and acquaintances of Jesus asking “Where did this man get all this?” as a pretext not to believe in him!
The transformation of the society gets its power from “fidelity” to God and NOT from the human desire for “success”! According to our first reading, in the very resistance to the truth and the persecution of the truth lies the realization of God’s will – God writes straight even on crooked lines! Here are the words of our first reading: “And whether they heed or resist – for they are a rebellious house – they shall know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5). In the face of opposition to the faith and the rejections we encounter, what we need is faithfulness to God and NOT running after “success” measured by human beings. Coping with “failure” needs our resolution to be prophets and unpopular among the people of our generation. We need to glory in the fact that by our fidelity to God, we become “intercessors” before God on account of our brothers and sisters. People’s rejections and insults do not destroy our capacity to do good; they enhance it!
An “intercessor” is one who offers her/his life for the salvation of others like Jesus did. An “intercessor” doesn’t wait for the conversion of the world, but offers her/his own life in sacrifice for the conversion of sinners. By refraining from sin, an intercessor offers the fruits of her/his sacrifices to God as atonement for the sins of the world. An intercessor lives her/his life in reparation for sinner. She/he doesn’t spend her/his time complaining and whining about sin, but does something about sin – confronts sin with the sacrifices of holiness and praise! We seriously need intercessors today, rather than the many theoretical Christians we have, whose lifestyles only augment the problem of sin rather than diminish it!
A faithful Christian willingly becomes an intercessor because she/he realizes that our Christian destiny is intertwined; to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., she/he admits that it is difficult to be a Christian alone, without others putting in their best, so she/he wants others too to live out their Christian vocation. From the intuitions of St. Paul, in our second reading, a faithful Christian becomes an intercessor because he realizes that he is not an angel, that he too is a sinner: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness . . . Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, persecutions, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” In fact, rejections and persecutions, for the sake of Christ, are signs that we are on the right track – the gospel path to God and godliness!
“Faith” helps the Christian to see something good in each person and every circumstance, no matter how bad they may seem. The insults we bear, the obstacles we confront in our daily lives, these are the necessary stamina we need as we journey through life to make us strong. Through the insults Jesus endured, salvation came to humanity. Through the sacrifices made by parents, a brighter future is charted for their children. Through good and positive investments, a better day is planned ahead. It is through you and me, what we are ready to do today, that the Christian faith will be restored, fidelity to God made possible, and evil minimized. Whining helps no one; it only worsens the situation. Let us conclude with a story:
There was a man who had made up his mind to divorce his wife because he believed that she constantly ignored him. The day before he was going to file for divorce, he decided to give the wife one last chance. So, in the evening, he called out to his wife, who was in the kitchen: “honey, what are we having for dinner?” He didn’t hear any reply. He left the sitting/living room and came to the kitchen door and asked again: “honey, what are we having for dinner?” Still, he couldn’t hear any response. This time around, he walked over to her, touched her, and asked again, “honey, what are we having for dinner?” The wife answered: “darling, this is the third time I am answering you that we are having a turkey dinner”. It was only then that the husband realized he was hard-of-hearing! We may actually be the problem, not the other!
Assignment for the Week:
Could you choose a notorious sinner you know, and pray for him/her this week?