Homily for 22 October 2023

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. In the first reading taken from the prophet Isaiah, we are introduced to a very important figure in Biblical history – Cyrus of Persia. The context for the reading is the Babylonian exile, which began in 587 B.C. when Babylonia destroyed Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people into exile in Babylon. Many years later, in 539 B.C., Babylon fell to Cyrus of Persia, whose policies would prove to be quite different from those of the Babylonians. He encouraged the captured people to retain their culture and traditions, including their religions. Cyrus issued an edict allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. He even returned the temple vessels to the exiles for use in the new temple and provided financial backing for their return. Yahweh addresses Cyrus, revealing that he has chosen to anoint him.

To be anointed means to be set apart for the role or task to which Yahweh has called that person. The specific purpose for which Yahweh has anointed him is to defeat Babylon and to set the Jewish exiles free. The Babylonians have been Yahweh’s instrument to punish the exiles. Cyrus will be Yahweh’s instrument to set them free. It is interesting to note that this is the only occasion in the Old Testament where Yahweh anoints a non-Jew. This anointing of Cyrus is indicative of the magnanimity of God’s love -it is not limited to only the chosen people and it also shows how God works in mysterious ways in our lives.

Israel is the chosen covenant people of Yahweh. It is to keep his covenant promises to Israel that Yahweh has elected Cyrus. Even though Cyrus is not a faithful Yahweh-worshiper, he is chosen to be the instrument to free the Jewish exiles and to make possible the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. Yahweh also makes Cyrus powerful so that people far and wide will know that Yahweh is the one God. So, while the salvation of Israel is important, the salvation of the entire world is equally important. The world cannot be saved by a God whom it does not know. Therefore, Yahweh chooses Cyrus as a way of revealing himself to people everywhere. Yahweh is indeed God and there is no other.

Quite often in our lives, we do not understand why certain things take place. Events like suffering, sickness and death are impossible to understand. These are occasions to surrender to God knowing that Yahweh the creator of heaven and earth will somewhere sometime in his mysterious ways send a Cyrus into our lives as well and end our spiritual exile.

The second reading this week and on the following Sundays is from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. Thessalonica known today as Thessaloníki was an important seaport to the north of Athens. From the Acts of the Apostles, we know that Paul, Silas, and Timothy visited Thessalonica on Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. This letter is addressed to “the ekklesia or church of the Thessalonians,” that is the Christian community in Thessalonica. Timothy had visited Thessalonica to check on the Christians there and had brought back a good report. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy appreciate the positive things that they have seen in these Thessalonian Christians. The first is their “work of faith” which refers to the outpouring of faithful service that is the natural product of faith. The second is their “labour of love” which suggests the intensity of their hard work done out of love that seeks the welfare of the other person. And the third is their “steadfastness of hope”. It refers to the hope of salvation, made possible through the death and resurrection of “our Lord Jesus Christ” by the grace of “our God and Father.” This verse assures the Thessalonian Christians that they are beloved and chosen by God. The Holy Spirit has conveyed the Good News of salvation through Christ to these Thessalonian Christians.

In the gospel today we see a reflection of party politics. We have quite often seen political parties who are arch enemies of each other overnight form an alliance to ensure that they remain in power. The Pharisees and the Herodians are two such parties who have completely different ideologies but the only thing in common between them is that they don’t like Jesus. Their question is well planned “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” The tax being referred to here is most likely the census tax or head tax, a per-person tax of a denarius. The challenge for Jesus is this: If he answered yes, then he would be perceived as a supporter of the Roman Empire and its occupation and oppression of the Jews. On the other hand, if Jesus answers no, it won’t take long for the Herodians, who are loyalists to Rome to charge him with sedition. Ignoring their attempts of flattery Jesus asks for a denarius and gives them a convincing but at the same time ambiguous answer “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”. So though Jesus was successful in getting out of this tight spot, what did these words mean to the people back then and what is the significance of these words for us today? At one level we have the critique about idolatry and blasphemy as the coin had the image and blasphemous inscription with the claim to the Emperor’s divinity. At another level, the beauty of Jesus’ answer is that he accepts payment of the census tax while subverting the reach of the emperor.  Jesus’ answer acknowledges our obligation to the state but affirms our larger obligation to God. Just as the coin has the image of Caesar, we are made in the image of God, and so it is appropriate to give ourselves back to God—all that we have and all that we are—it is because God created us.

Though God is the creator and owner of all in our lives we have competing powers and influences which take the place of God. Competing powers which woo us and try to capture our hearts. This text raises questions about our wholehearted allegiance to God. Today the text challenges us to introspect and ask ourselves - What things in my life belong to God and what things in my life belong to the world? Do I live a dual life? Do I wear two masks? One for the world and one for God?

Let us pray that we continue to grow in an attitude of surrender to God’s mysterious ways and live a life in which God and doing his will is our top priority.  May God bless us all.