Homily for 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 21, 2020

Rom 5: 12-15

Matt 10: 26-33

Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.

“Thru one man sin entered the world, and thru sin, death….  Much more did … the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many” (Rom 5: 12, 15).

The Letter to the Romans is probably St. Paul’s most important writing, abounding in the theology of sin and grace.  We’ll be hearing selections from it for 13 weeks.

Today Paul speaks of the original sin of the human race, the sin that broke humanity’s relationship with our Creator, and by breaking that relationship made us subject to death.  To clarify one matter:  our lectionary text 3 times uses the word man, the 1st time referring to the fellow we call Adam (which itself is a generic Hebrew word meaning “human”), the 2d time to everyone, the 3d time to Jesus Christ.  The Greek word Paul uses is άνθρωπος, the generic word for a human being.  Paul’s not attributing sin to males, obviously not dooming to death only males, nor crediting salvation to a male, as such.  Sin and death identified with all of us, and Jesus Christ likewise is identified with all of us, sharing our human nature.

Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit (Michelangelo)

All spring we were aware daily of death—death ravaging the human race in our country and around the world.  And we know the pandemic is far from over.  We’ve also known since we reached the age of reason that death will come for all of us, with or without a plague.  So St. Paul is putting this curse that we all must face into perspective—which he does at considerable length in this letter.

Why death?  Because of sin.  When the 1st human being sinned, he brought death into the world:  “by the transgression of the one, the many died” (5:15).  We might note here that the word many is used in a common biblical fashion, as it is in the words of consecration at Mass, meaning a general application, not limited to just a few; a few lines earlier, Paul had said, “Thus death came to all humans, inasmuch as all sinned” (5:12).  Because of Adam’s sin, which implicates every human being—because of sin, of which every one of us is guilty by our own personal choices—everyone dies.

Happily, that’s not the end of the story, not our eternal fate.  By a wonderful divine gift, by “the grace of God and the gracious gift of one human being” named Jesus, we are delivered from that fate.  That’s the Gospel Paul preaches always wherever he travels, to whomever he writes.  Death doesn’t have the last word because sin doesn’t have the last word.  In Jesus Christ we’re all offered forgiveness and the chance to be reconciled with God, to have our relationship with our Creator restored, to receive the “gracious gift” of the same life that Jesus, risen from his tomb, now enjoys.

Icon of Christ Risen freeing the dead

That promise of everlasting life is why Jesus repeatedly tells us not to be afraid, 3 times in today’s gospel (Matt 10:26,28,31), besides other occasions in the gospels.  Most of you will remember that “be not afraid” was the mantra of St. John Paul II, starting with his 1st words from the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election.  If we give ourselves to Jesus Christ—to his teachings, to his sacraments, to his manner of life, to his person—then there’s nothing, finally, that can frighten us:  not a pandemic, not terrorism, not persecution, not any form of human cruelty, prejudice, or foolishness.

When Matthew composed his gospel late in the 1st century, the harassment and persecution of the disciples of Jesus was a fact of life in many parts of the Roman Empire.  Thus his citation today of Jesus’ words not to be afraid of anyone, even “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (10:28), to proclaim the Gospel on the housetops (10:27), courageously to “acknowledge Jesus before people” (10:32).  The only thing to fear, Jesus advises us, is “the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell (10:28); that is, we must fear the Devil, the enemy of our Creator, the enemy of our souls, the one who wishes us to sin, to remain in our sins, and to suffer eternal death, eternal pain and loss.  We must fear him in the sense of having a healthy respect for him, knowing what are his intentions, his malice, and where he can take us if we give him a chance.  But we are confident that Christ has conquered him by defeating death and redeeming us from sin.

In the 1st reading we heard of the persecution endured by Jeremiah (20:10-13); and was he persecuted!  It’s a sad fact that religious persecution is a continuing fact in the 21st century:  in China, in Nigeria, in India, in the Middle East, and in other places, where thousands are suffering the loss of their livelihoods, their homes, their freedom, even their lives because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ.  Religious freedom is a fundamental human right, like food, water, education, and other rights—but it’s a right with an eternal implication.

Regardless of what the Supreme Court rules or what state laws decree or politicians and the media pontificate about, the Catholic Church and other believers will continue to “proclaim on the housetops” that unborn human beings are entitled to live and abortion is a crime against their human dignity; that God’s plan for human sexuality is for marriage between a male and a female and the generation of offspring, and any other sexual activity is sinful if not also against the very nature of our bodies; that being male or female is how God creates us, it’s part of our DNA, and it’s not a construct of our minds, a figment of our imagination, something we can change on account of our feelings; and, as we’ve heard repeatedly and justly so much in recent weeks, every human being has a God-given dignity and is due respect, fairness, and justice, without regard to his or her race, color, national origin—or age, sex, social class, or immigration status.

So even in the U.S., Jesus addresses us:  “Fear no one.  What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light.  Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father” (10:26,27,32).  And our faithfulness to Jesus will keep us in his grace, will lead us to his “gracious gift” and eternal life.