Homily for 2nd Wednesday of Ordinary Time Year 2 2014
Mass of thanking God for the Gift of Human Life
Mark 3:1-6
Introduction
My grandfather had a sure fire way of
telling which kids had only book knowledge and which also had common
sense. "There are ten birds on a
tree,” he would say. Then he would ask:
“After I shoot and kill one, how many birds remain?"
The smart kids quickly did the math and
came up with the answer, “nine birds remain on the tree.” But the wise students, after giving the
question a little thought, answered “zero.”
Surely no bird is going to remain a sitting duck, when the life of one
their own has just been taken.
Preserving one’s life is perhaps the one
thing all animals treasure. On this day
of prayer for legal protection of the unborn child, we have an opportunity to
reflect on the dignity of human life and our attitude towards it.
Scripture and Theology
The dignity of human life is such an
integral aspect of Christianity, that today, I did not have to choose special
readings for this special Mass of thanking God for the gift of human life. In today’s gospel Jesus shows us how valuable
life is, so valuable that saving it trumps observing the Sabbath law.
We have heard just heard Jesus ask: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” That Jesus even need ask this question should
tell us that saving life was not the priority for some people. Jesus poses this question to the Pharisees,
who apparently thought that observing the Sabbath rest was far more important
than saving life. And we heard that when
Jesus goes ahead and cures this man with the withered hand on the Sabbath,
thereby breaking the Sabbath Law, we heard that the “Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians
against him to put him to death.”
And so, not only do the Pharisees not care about the sick man, the sin
of indifference; they are also guilty of plotting murder, since they want to kill
Jesus who does something about the illness.
It would not be a stretch to say that the Pharisees prefer a culture of
death, rather than one of life.
Christian Life
Unfortunately, this culture of death
continues in our world today. I would
like us to reflect on three questions that deal with human life today. What are many examples of a culture of death
rather than a culture of life today?
What are the factors that lead to a culture of death, rather than of
life today? Why should we Christians promote
a culture of life?
The culture of death, is not just about
abortion, as Pope Francis reminds us, but pervades many areas of our life today
·
A culture of death in the
medical field, which carries out abortions, euthanasia, and a contraceptive
mentality.
·
A culture of death in the
judicial system, which carries out capital punishment and rejoices at the death
of the sinner.
·
A culture of death in the
economic system, which either refuses to care for the needs of the poor or
forces them into a mentality of entitlement and a vicious circle of poverty.
·
A culture of death in the
social system, with murder and child-neglect being the order of the day.
·
A culture of death in the
political system, with assassinations, terrorism and wars, being the easy
solutions to problems.
But why do we have this culture of
death? Why does a Christian country like
this one, continue to promote death rather than life? The reason the Pharisees did not care about
the life of the man with the withered hand was because of their scrupulosity
and legalism. For us today, three things
seem to motivate our culture of death: a sense of entitlement, feelings of hate
and sheer indifference.
Today people will kill each other because they
feel entitled to do so.
·
Many would-be parents turn to
abortion, because they want to take away what they see as an obstacle to a
brighter life, career and reputation.
The life of a child in this case stands in their way. And nothing should stand in their way;
absolutely nothing should stand in their maintaining a certain way of life or
having their reputation damaged by a pregnancy out of wedlock. This sense of entitlement argues that one
should do with their body as they like, including the killing of a baby growing
inside the womb.
·
The drug-dealer also kills his
rivals, because he wants to corner the drug market; so does the war-load and
the politician who arranges assassinations of rivals. Nothing should stand in the way of
advancement.
·
In fact, the media often frames
the wars in Africa and other places as being primarily about religion, Muslims
against Christians and vice-versa. If
only they did a little more digging, if only they set aside their stereotypes,
they would find that at the root of most wars is economic conflict and gain.
Of course besides economic gain, yes, some
people will kill each other because they don’t like each other’s ethnicity,
nationality or religion; but this only a secondary factor. It is also such hate that is the root of the
great support of capital punishment in this country, which remains one of very
few industrialized countries, to still carry out legally sanctioned
executions. Many other countries,
realizing that this punishment no longer serves the need it might have served
in the past, have removed it. I suspect
that we still keep it, because we still thirst for the Old Testament law of an
eye for an eye, rather than Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek.
Perhaps one of the greatest examples of
this hate-driven culture of death was what happened after the death of Osama
bin Laden. There is no denying that
everybody was probably relieved at the news that this master-mind of so much
terror in the world would no longer be able to continue his murderous work. We in Uganda have such a man, called Joseph
Kony, who has caused so much misery to the people of Uganda. I am sure that
when he is finally captured or killed, many people in Uganda and the
neighbouring countries will sleep easy.
But as Christians, as a people who promote life, we cannot rejoice, at
the death of the sinner, as happened on many streets in the United States when
Osama bin Laden died. We cannot express
our relief by breaking out the champagne and letting of fireworks. For when we do that, we undermine the whole
project of fighting for life in all its forms.
Apart from entitlement and hate, the third
cause of today’s culture of death is perhaps a little subtle; it is
indifference. It is political
indifference of Christians that allows laws that promote abortion, euthanasia
and capital punishment to be passed. It
is the political indifference of Christians that allows the elderly and
children to be abused, the poor to starve to death or live lives of
misery. It is the indifference of
Christians that allows our children to grow up thinking that they can get
anything they want, even in ways that do not promote life.
Conclusion
The Christian way cannot be the way of
entitlement, hate or indifference. The
Christian way promotes life in all its forms, not just the life of the
innocent, because all life is a gift from God.
God does not rejoice at the death of the sinner. Rather he wants the sinner to convert and
return to him. That is why as Christians,
we must promote all life, from the womb to the tomb and in between. We cannot be cafeteria pro-lifers, only
choosing to promote some life. For we
promote life, not because of its inherent value, but because of God. All, even that of the sinner is from God and
all life leads to God. Preserving life
is a way of giving glory to God the Creator; for this gift of life we have here
on earth is the beginning of an eternal life with God, for which he created us.
“Is
it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather
than to destroy it?” Jesus asks the Pharisees. Perhaps Jesus might rephrase this question
for us today in this way: Is it lawful
to think of the other first, rather than to think of one’s own needs, to love
rather than hate, forgive rather than seek revenge, to save life rather than to
destroy it?
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