Sunday 25th June 2023 - Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 20:10-13/ Psalm 68(69)/ Romans 5:12-15/ Matthew 10:26-33

On Thursday we celebrated two great English Martyrs Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. Both where of high standing in society, Thomas More was Chancellor of England and a great friend and confidant of Henry VIII, John Fisher was a Bishop, Cardinal, and a renown theologian. These two men had to make a choice, a choice between supporting false human values or the true values of God. They both chose to stick with the values of God rather than support the values of the King and both were executed for it.

We are constantly challenged to support false human values or at least go along with them without making a fuss. In our part of the world we will not be executed for our beliefs but that is not the case everywhere. Christians in many countries are killed for their beliefs and willingness to stand up to opposition. Even though we will not be killed we might have to endure ridicule and accusations of intolerance for promoting God’s law rather than human law. It seems that the disparity between God’s law and human law is ever growing and the two are becoming incompatible. Why might this be? The answer to this question can be found in scripture which is the way God talks to us and guides us down the ages. It is the way that God gradually reveals his nature to us and accomplishes the salvation of humanity.

The psalms are the ancient prayers of the Jewish people, and we have our favourite and familiar ones. The psalm chosen for today sums up the tension often encountered between the thinking of the world as opposed to God’s guidance for us. The psalm writer talks of suffering taunts for his belief, being a stranger to his brothers, an alien in his own family. The taunts against God fall on him. The tide will turn and the poor suffering people who seek God with their hearts will be glad.

In the first reading the prophet feels terror from every side as he tries to persuade his people away from error. His message is denounced and disparaged and he appeals to God to be delivered from evil men.

In the Gospel passage Jesus develops the theme of standing up to the evil of the world not fearing those who can only destroy the earthly body but rather the one who can destroy the soul as well. This is a being we don’t much hear about today but is none the less real and active in our world. The devil is the personification of evil and is the root cause of all sin in the world.

The second reading explains the human predicament clearly. It was the temptation towards pride and a false belief in independence from God that tempted Adam and Eve away from the perfect life they had been given. We must not dismiss the story of Adam and Eve as being an ancient and unsubstantiated myth. The account we have resonates down the ages and perfectly explains the relationship humanity has between God and the Devil, between good and evil, between making the right or wrong choice. In his great love God does not force anything on us, in fact quite the opposite. We are given an immortal soul which naturally seeks the presence of God but we are also given a free choice to follow that path or not. Without free choice the love between us would not be unconditional and so would not be a true love free from any coercion. God wants us to choose freely to love him and not be under any pressure to do so.

The account of Adam and Eve is the way we understand the choices humanity has down the ages. We can choose to seek God’s love, or we can choose to be tempted by the way of the world, assuming a position of pride and independence built on a belief in self-reliance. It is this turning away from God that causes the increasing gap between worldly law and God’s law. Our choice is a simple one between joining with Adam and Eve or joining with Christ. The choice might be simple but the consequence of going either way is significant. One way can lead to the death of body and soul the other the death of our earthly body but the redemption of our immortal soul.

Humanity through all time is represented by Adam and Eve. The first humans, given the free choice between temptation and God, chose to rely on their own pride and independence, turning away from God. Since then humanity has continually done the same thing, relying on human judgement to set the standards of behaviour. This has eroded the principals of life given to us by God and resulted in the growing gulf between God’s laws and the laws of the world. One leads to life the other to death. Thomas More and John Fisher, like all of us, where going to die one day, they chose to die earlier than they might have for the sake of following God’s law rather than a law adopted by a proud and falsely independent monarch. They both lost their earthly lives but saved their immortal ones.

Jesus is the second Adam. God became human in the person of Jesus so that, as a human, he could properly address and account for the continual disobedience of humanity. Let us take the example of Thomas More and John Fisher, and indeed all the Martyrs down the centuries, and stand up for what we believe in the face of ridicule, opposition, and persecution. In this way, as the psalm says, with God seeking hearts we will be glad.

God Bless Brendan.