Homily
for December 16, 2007
Liturgical Year A- Cycle II
3rd Sunday of Advent
By Fr. Andrew Moyo Topic:
Be humble
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Jesus praises John
the Baptist as being the greatest in the kingdom of God. “Amen I
tell you among those born of women
there had been none greater than John the Baptist…yet one who is least
in the
kingdom of God is greater than he”. What is greatness? We usually think of
people as great
and famous when; they produce great and exciting things; when they
accumulate
great power or wealth. John the Baptist
did none of these and yet Jesus called him the greatest in the kingdom
of God.
Jesus does not see greatness in these. In the eyes of Jesus, a person’s
greatness is measured by
one’s commitment to one’s faith. John the Baptist was uncompromising
and
unwavering in his faith. Hence, Jesus praises him as the greatest in
the
Kingdom of God. John’s greatness is
demonstrated by the question that Jesus puts before the crowds, “What
did you
go out in the desert to see? A reed shaken or swayed by the by the
wind!” We
all know a reed. A reed is spineless and can be bruised easily! John
was not a
reed. His heart was set alight with a fire of God’s truth and love. He
could
not be swayed by anything and was uncompromising in his faith and love
for
God. He openly challenged the hypocrisy
of the Pharisees and the Saduccees. He
said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Herod put him in prison and subsequently had him executed because of
his
strong stand. John challenged Herod
directly, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Hearing today’s Gospel, let us ask
ourselves, “Are we
like reeds? How is our faith? Are we
also swayed by the circumstances? Do we
sometimes compromise our faith?” We will
be great like John the Baptist, if we hold firmly to what we believe
and teach
others to do the same. John’s greatness was also demonstrated
by his
humility. John held the place of honor
as being the last of the prophets and a forerunner of the Messiah.
John didn’t boast at all about this. When Jesus appears on the
scene, John is not
at all jealous. He does not even try to
compete with Jesus. He simply says,
“Behold the Lamb of God, this is he of whom I said, “After me comes a
man who
ranks before me, for he was before me.”
He humbly says, “He must increase and I must decrease?” This is
true humility. John witnessed not about himself but about
Jesus. He talks not about himself but about Jesus Christ. The greatest
danger
that we face in our lives, is talking about ourselves. We want to
let others know how great we are
or how much we know. Let me give you an
example from my recent experience. Last
Monday I flew to Omaha. I really had an
awesome time there. On the plane, there were three ladies in front of
me. One of the three was talking all the
way. She was talking about her career and
achievements. She was relating on how
she had to remind many people, many times that she was the boss and
they were
merely her subordinates. What was really
interesting for me was, when it was time to deplane, she stood up and
said,
“Holy cow! It’s really been nice talking with you.” And they
really hadn’t said a word! How different from John the Baptist!
He did
not talk about himself! He talked about the one coming after him. Don’t
talk
about yourself, let others talk about you. Talking about self is pride.
And
pride hinders us from knowing God. CS Lewis says: As long as you are proud, you cannot
know God. A proud man is always looking down on things
and people, and of course as long as you are always looking down, you
cannot
see something that is above you.” Let us pray; Lord Jesus, stir our zeal
for your
righteousness and for your kingdom. Free us from complacency and from
compromising with the ways of sin and worldliness that like John the
Baptist,
we may be wholeheartedly devoted to you and to your kingdom."