One Monday morning, the traffic light turned red during rush hour, and a young lady was the first in her lane. When the light turned green, she was busy texting on her cell phone without noticing the green light. Before she noticed the light, it was back to red. The young man in a truck behind her began to honk, curse, give her the middle finger through the window, etc. Then, a police officer showed up and arrested him. The young man kept protesting that he had done nothing wrong and that the lady who was texting at the traffic light should have been the one under arrest. The officer said nothing; he detained him for about two hours in handcuffs. When the officer eventually released him after some background check, the young man said he would not leave until the officer told him the reason for his arrest. The officer said, “Do you want to know?” He said, “Yes, if not, I won’t leave here.” The officer went on, “At first, you did nothing wrong. But I was right behind your truck; I noticed the rosary beads hanging on the inside rearview mirror of your truck, I noticed the bumper sticker of ‘40 days for Life,’ a sticker of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the logo of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and your license plate, which reads, ‘I LOVE JESUS,’ and a statue of the Holy Family on your dashboard.” Then, when you started honking, cursing, and giving the middle finger, I said, “This driver must have stolen this truck.”
My dearly beloved in Christ, we find ourselves in a world that sin has not only stained but also dominated. Each day confronts us with new opportunities for sin, even when we strive to avoid them. It is in this very world, soaked in sin that Jesus calls us to standout and live a life free from sin. In today’s Gospel passage according to Mark, Jesus sends his twelve apostles to proclaim the Gospel. In Matthew’s account (Matthew 10:16), he challenged them to be like sheep among wolves, to maintain their identity as sheep in the face of the world’s wolfishness.
In the second reading, St. Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus that God chose them “before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish…” Yes, the purpose for which God chose us as Christians is for us to be holy. The Greek word for holy is hagios. This word connotes being different or set apart. A temple is holy because it is different or set apart from other buildings; a priest is holy because he is different or set apart from other human beings; a victim (animal offered in sacrifice to God) is holy because it is different from other animals; the Sabbath is holy because it is different or set apart from other days of the week; God is supremely holy because he is different from creatures. The call of a Christian to be holy is a call to be set apart from the world, a call to be different from the rest of the world.
It is crucial to understand that this call to be different and set apart is not a call that necessitates our physical removal from world; it is a call to be different while in the world, that is to be in the world but not of the world (cf. John 15:19). A Christian can be in the same school, shop, factory, office, hospital, traffic, or on the same bus or plane as others, but without self-announcement, others should be able to discern something positively different about the Christian. It is interesting to note that even the world has an expectation of us. The police officer arrested the young man in our opening story simply because his words and actions did not align with the Catholic stickers and statues adorning his car. It is through our way of life that they will recognize that we are Christians. My dearly beloved in Christ, living a holy life in a sinful world is never easy. But it is a call we have received from God before the foundation of the world. May God, who has called us, grant us all the graces we need to live according to our Christian calling until we come to our heavenly inheritance, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Amen and Amen Father Ochigbo ! The preaching is so touching may the good Lord help us all in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Thank you so much. God bless you!