HOMILY FOR THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER SUNDAY YEAR B (2024)

HOMILY FOR THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER SUNDAY YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: THE TRAGIC FALL: OUR COMMON GUILT OF LOSS OF SHEEP!

BY: Fr. Benedict AGBO

Act 4: 8 – 12, 1 Jn 3: 1 – 2, Jn 10: 11 – 18

A. PREAMBLE
The Church started very well at Jerusalem over 2000 years ago with a miraculous bang of faith accompanied by signs and wonders. Today’s 1st reading says that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit spoke about their source of power for the healing of the cripple at Jerusalem as no other than the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The Church continued to grow and remained united as long as everyone cooperated as belonging to one flock under one Shepherd up until the 16th century when the spirit of rebellion and corruption held sway and Martin Luther broke away. We can never justify the excessive abuse of sacraments, sacramentals, indulgences or some of the points raised in Martin Luther’s 95 thesis against the Roman Catholic Church, yet nobody can justify his insistence on breaking away, and the Church of Christ has never remained the same thereafter since the absence of synergy between us and our separated brothers and sisters remain our Achilles heels. On a day like this: As we celebrate the ‘Good Shepherd and Good Sheep Sunday’, we cannot but mourn our disunity and nurse our wounds.

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B. THE CHALLENGE OF BEING A GOOD SHEPHERD
I was listening few years ago to the popular comic girl Adeola on Social media with her barrage of indictments on President Buhari and our legislators for gross wastage of our national resources with her funny slangs: “Oga Buhari, who be your landlord…5 billion naira for the repair of State house residential building alone!!!”. But all that struck me as a theologian is that she was only accusing the President and other Nigerian leaders for having failed on their promise to be good Shepherds of the Nigerian flock; not leading by example in economic lifestyle, in the fight against corruption, etc. The situation has not improved since then. I think it rather got worse. On a day like this, we need to examine again from today’s gospel, the qualities of good Shepherds and good Sheep:
1. He lays down his life for his sheep,
2. He knows his sheep and they know him, 3. He corrects them with his crook and staff,
4. He leads them by example.
Our shepherds whether in the secular (eg the President or Governor) or in the ecclesiastical realm (eg the Bishops and Priests ) can all be evaluated using the above barometer of measurement.

We also need to evaluate the qualities of a good Sheep;
1. Obedience; allowing oneself to be led without trying to break away,
2. Knowledge; they must know their Shepherd’s voice, ie the Word of God,
3. Feeding; they must feed only from their master’s provisions – listening to false prophets and apostate teachers has destroyed Christian unity terribly and still does,
4. Unity; they must have a group spirit not guided by individualism.They must never scatter or engage in unguided private ministries.

Our major biblical characters had very humble and Shepherd – related occupations; Abraham tended cattles, Moses shepherded sheep, David and Amos all did the same. In the New testament, Jesus was a Carpenter, Paul was a tent maker and Peter and many of the apostles were fishermen. They all learnt how to seek for or take care of something without being too greedy. Today, our greatest problem is that of irresponsibility and failure to take care of what is kept in our custody. Our Youths have deserted farming and all those professions that make us good shepherds.

C. CONTEXUALIZATION
We have gotten used to registering losses in Nigeria; Starting from the Church, a lot of dioceses and parishes have become notorious for losing their flock. Some Parish priests lose their flock through highhandedness, hot temper, shouting at and abusing their flock, exorbitant clearance fees before they can receive basic sacraments like Infant baptism, Holy Eucharist, Confessions and Weddings. A lot of people are lost to other Churches through the above weaknesses. Some end up going back to ATR. Many arms of the government are only recording losses; the legislators account for economic losses due to what they spend on welfare, vehicles, honorarium, wardrobe and sitting allowances, the executives account for inflation of naira, fuel prices and dilapidated infrastructuryes, etc.

Everybody is guilty of the same sin of materialism, carnality and corruption. Parents would not provide sufficient time and care for their children and lose them to bad gangs and corrupt influences. Teachers would not give sufficient time for their students and leave them to resort to examination malpractice. Doctors will not research well and end up killing their patients. Nurses will not provide sufficient care and their patients will be feeling frustrated. Rich Parishioners will not support parish projects through freewill donations and the priests will end up taxing the poor people.

D. CONCLUSION
The greatest demonstration of pastoral love is the readiness to lay down our lives for our flock and vice versa. Leadership / followership without sacrifice is counterfeit. Nigerians are getting disappointed with their Presidents because they have been deceived a number of times to think that they will show exemplary Shepherd leadership by fighting the war against corruption and economic wastage. But that has continued to elude us. The question now is whether they will also have the boldness and fortitude to fight for better electoral reforms that can guarantee better leaders? An example of such reforms is: Direct Primaries and electronic transmission of results.

Both Jesus and Pilate asked for the wash hand basin. But the difference was that while Jesus took his own to wash the feet of his disciples, Pilate took his own to wash his hands off from the responsibility and consequence of saying the truth. Remember, a vote was cast between Jesus and Barabbas and majority went for Barabbas. It is still happening in Nigeria. The greatest challenge of modern day Christianity is the challenge of unity and ecumenism. For this to happen, the extreme conservatives must let go of some of their rigid structures and rituals; while the extreme rebellious progressives must get back to the drawing board and realize that the Church is not a private business nor a political party.

We need both unity in diversity and some level of diversity in unity, especially in liturgical prayers, use of charisma, and overall theological understanding about matters. The Church of Christ should not be allowed to continue to scatter and divide more and more because of our failure to listen to one another or pursuit of personal interests. We must remember what our Master prayed for; one fold, one Shepherd, Jn 10: 16, Jn 17: 21, Eph 4: 5. Obedience to the Chief Shepherd of the diocese remains the antidote for this unity and oneness. Happy good Shepherd Sunday dear friends!

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