Homily for 21st Sunday (25/08/2024), Year B.
How do you handle rejection? How do you feel when people leave you? How do you feel when those you thought are your friends and fans abandon you? Brothers and sisters, we can get the answers from Jesus.
In today’s gospel reading, some of the disciples found the teaching of Jesus as the bread of life unacceptable. In addition, Jesus spoke about His Ascension. It was a shock to His disciples and His fans. They left Jesus. The part I love most was when Jesus turned to the apostles and asked them: are you not going away as well? Then Peter responded: Lord, to whom shall we go to? You have the words of eternal life. Now, What can we learn from today’s gospel reading?
1) Our happiness doesn’t depend on people. Whether people are close to you or not, it doesn’t matter. Always remain happy. Jesus demonstrated that in today’s gospel reading. He was not afraid to loose friends or to loose people. Don’t be afraid to loose people. Na by force? Our happiness is more important.
2) In this life, not everybody will like us. Not everyone will like our ways of life, our styles, our principles, our faces, and our personalities. Jesus is God and the messiah, but some people didn’t like him or believed in him. They left him. We can never please everybody. The beginning of a miserable life is when we want to please everybody. No kill yourself o. Person wey like you, like you. Person wey no like you, no like you. Gbam!
3) Remember this, some people who are close to us today will abandon us tomorrow. It happened to Jesus. It may happen to us. Don’t worry yourself about that. Such is life. Some people will not be in our lives for long.
4) Some people who are close to us today may betray us or disappoint us tomorrow. In today’s gospel reading, when the people left Jesus, Judas Iscariot did not leave. In future, Judas betrayed Jesus. Be careful. Some people who are close to you today are not happy with you, some are jealous of you, some are angry with you. Some people will make promises to you and will not keep to those promises tomorrow. Don’t be too fast to trust people. Pray to God to protect you and help you.
5) In this life, only few persons will stand by you, believe in you, support you, understand you, appreciate you and truly love you. After many people left Jesus, only the apostles remained with him. Don’t get carried away by the crowd. Don’t look for too many friends.
6) Always be yourself. Maintain your principles. Don’t compromise your personality. Jesus was convinced of who He is and He stood His ground.
7) Finally, the only person we can trust, rely on and depend on is Jesus Christ. Peter said that in today’s gospel reading. Let us stay with Jesus. Jesus is our only hope, our only option, our only trusted friend and our only Saviour.
Brothers and sisters, let’s pray: O God, help me not to put all my trust in people. O Jesus, help me to trust you. O Holy Spirit, give me wisdom, through Christ Our Lord amen.
By Fr. Kris Ikegwuonu, MDM (Fr. Galala).
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