💖 HOMILY - FEBRUARY 10 💖

First Reading - 1 Kings 12:26-32,13:33-34

Gospel - Mark 8:1-10

Selfishness is a part of life of each one of us. It impels us to assert oneself over others. The readings of today invite us to break the barrier of selfishness and become people-centric.

The first reading presents a disheartening actions of Jeroboam, the king of the kingdom of Israel. God, through the prophet Ahijah, commanded him to not get deviated from the ways of the Lord as Solomon did but he also failed to keep the words of the prophet. He becomes selfish and power seeker and decides to prevent people from going to Jerusalem for worship, lest they are drawn to Rehoboam, the king of Judah. To prevent them, he erects them sanctuaries of golden calves for their worship in his kingdom itself, one in Bethel and another in Dan, thus leads people to idolatry. To cap it all, he also appoints priests randomly which was absolutely forbidden by the law as it was only reserved for the tribe of Levi. Such heinous offence of Jeroboam against God meets his tragic end and his kingdom comes to ruin.

The gospel gives us a beautiful passage to reflect upon the considerate nature of Jesus. Jesus' considerate nature can be observed by his compassionate look with which he notices the physical need of the people - hunger. He not only has sympathy for them but that is translated into action by multiplying the seven loaves of bread to feed the hungry crowd. The miraculous feeding of four thousand people with the seven loaves and still seven baskets of loaves of bread are left (refers to abundance) which symbolizes the completion or perfection of human desire in Jesus (7 is a biblical number symbolizes completion or perfection); Jesus completes and perfects us.

Dear friends, today's readings remind me of a question of one of my professors, "Why do I do what I do?". This question prods us into our quest for a fundamental answer for our actions. The first reading tells us that Jeroboam did what wasn't pleasing to God because he wanted to protect or save his power or position. The underlying factor was his fear for the lose of power. Consequently, he led people astray from God; led them to idolatry. He was self-centred. Jesus, on the other side, does everything out of love for the people. He was concerned about them. He perceives the needs of people, in today's reading it's hunger, and acts accordingly. Jesus is people-centric. We also need to ask ourselves, 'am I self-centred or people-centric? When we are self-centred, our every action will be for self-glory, power, prestige, honour, self-gratification etc. They can reach us nowhere but certainly to our ruins because our self-centredness will alienate ourselves from others and also God. Our people-centric attitude can make us approachable and happy. This attitude can lead us close to God and one another.

Let's pray that we may become people-centric so that we will always remain close to God and one another.