Homily for Tuesday, 12 July 2016– Ferial

Tuesday of the 15th week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Isaiah 7:1-9; Psalm 48:2-3a, 3b-4, 5-6, 7-8; Matthew 11:20-24

This homily was given at the chapel of Kateri House Women's Residence of St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

How many of us have been faced with situations of extreme sorrow or devastation, or know somebody who has faced a situation like this with seemingly superhuman courage and faith? Maybe the situation was the loss of a home or employment, or other economic hardship. Maybe it was the serious illness or death of a family member or other loved one. Maybe, closer to the situation of today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah, some of us know people who have been forced to leave their homelands because of war or persecution.

Please pardon my loose Charles Dickens reference here, but today we are presented in our readings with the tale of three cities. The two towns in our Gospel reading from Matthew, Chorazin and Bethsaida, do not remain courageous and faithful and so are chastised by Jesus. And in one city, Jerusalem, in Isaiah, at least a few, a “faithful remnant,” face one invasion after another by neighbouring nations, and then deportation and exile, with great courage and faith in God.

I am not sure anybody really knows why Jesus scolds Chorazin and Bethsaida, two tiny fishing villages of his time, so harshly in Matthew’s Gospel. Nobody knows what circumstances they may have been facing that led them to turn away from Jesus and his message. All we have today as witness to this event is a small plaque next to the ruins of Chorazin (this according to a humorous story by my brother Basilian priest, Fr. Thomas Rosica of Salt and Light Television in Toronto, of whom some of us may have heard). The plaque reads, “Welcome to Chorazin. This is the village that Jesus cursed.”

Jerusalem of Isaiah’s time is faced with the weak leadership of Ahaz, the king of Judah, roughly the southernmost third of Israel including Jerusalem. Instead of trusting in the one God of Israel, our God, Ahaz had made alliances with neighbouring nations, including agreements to allow worship of their gods in Judah, in an attempt to stave off Judah’s invasion and destruction. We know that ultimately Judah and the rest of Israel are invaded and overtaken anyway.

But Isaiah gives us, in the name of one of his sons, Shear-jashub, meaning “a remnant shall return,” a clue of how this time of invasion, deportation, and exile will end. “A remnant shall return.” Most of Israel’s exiles would become comfortable in exile and never return home. Yet a small group would return to rebuild Jerusalem and Israel.

This remnant would need the prophet Isaiah’s encouragement to face the devastating destruction of their homeland once they had returned. Isaiah encourages this remnant people by pleading with them: “Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint… Stand firm in faith” because this awful situation is temporary. Before God “it shall not stand.”

Could these be timely words of encouragement for us or for anybody we know who is dealing with extreme sorrow; devastation; even despair? These could be timely words to bring to prayer for all people who especially need our prayers and our encouragement today.