Homily for 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 9, 2024
2 Cor 4: 13—5:1
Ps 130
Gen 3: 9-15
Mark 3: 20-35
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“The one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence” (2 Cor 4: 14).

by Raphael

Brothers and sisters, there you have the Gospel in one sentence!  God the Father raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and he’ll raise us from the dead, too, and give us a place alongside Jesus.

St. Paul goes on to tell the Christians of Corinth that God “bestows his grace in abundance on more and more people” so that gratitude to God may overflow, gratitude that gives glory to God (4:15).

God’s grace means forgiveness of our sins.  The 1st reading and the gospel speak of sin—human disobedience to God, human ducking of responsibility for their sin, and the demonic power of Satan in human lives.

In the Genesis story of human sinfulness, the couple—representing all of us—try to shift blame:  “The woman made me do it.  You put her here with me [3:12], so it’s your fault!”  That’s a pretty bold thing to tell God.  And her excuse is that the serpent tricked her (3:13):  “The Devil made me do it!”  God, of course, doesn’t buy their excuses, and he banishes them—us—from Eden, from paradise (3:23).  We’re barred from eternal life.

In such a state, we pray with the Psalmist:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.  With you is forgiveness, that you may be revered” (130:1-2,4).

Forgiveness!  That brings us back to St. Paul:  Grace is bestowed in abundance.  And since it’s grace, it’s unmerited, undeserved.  It’s God’s gift.  “With the Lord is kindness, and with him is plenteous redemption.  He will redeem Israel”—and all of us, “more and more people”—“from all their iniquities” (Ps 130:7-8).

Already in Genesis, God had promised us help.  “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.  He will strike at your head…” (3:15).  A human being descended from Eve, namely Jesus of Nazareth, son of the new Eve, Mary, will strike at Satan in mortal battle and will smash him.  Jesus announces himself as the one powerful enuf to enter the Devil’s stronghold, bind him up, and plunder his house (Mark 3:27).  Jesus goes down to the underworld, the realm of the dead, defeats the Devil by his resurrection, conquers our sins, sets the Devil’s prisoners free, raises us up to live and to glorify God forever.

Victory goes to everyone, to “more and more people” who seek to “do the will of God” and so become brothers and sisters of Jesus (Mark 3:35), forgiven and placed with him in God’s presence.