OMELIE / Omelie EN

10 giu 2018

10/06/2018 – 10th Sunday of O. T. - B

10/06/2018 – 10^th Sunday of O. T. - B

Reading 1, Genesis 3,9-15 * Psalm 129/130 * Reading 2, Second Corinthians 4,13-5,1 * Gospel, Mark 3,20-35

We heard how God tried to meet with the man - Adam - after he went into hiding. And, surprisingly, we hear also how God does not ask, like I would have expected, "What did you do?", but instead He asks him: "Where are you?". In this way, we understand that our Father is not interested in the sin, to deplore it, but in the sinner, to save him. The latter has gone into hiding, sure to be able to hide himself, out of God's sight. In order to hide himself from God, he needs to hide from every other creature as well, and he finds himself into the darkness, with his eyes shut. He himself will not be able to look at anybody else with love, because he will see everybody as an enemy: everybody, in fact, reminds him of the Father from whom they come. God wants to take the man back, he wants to take away the suffering and the solitude in which he exiled himself. "Where are you?": this question keeps being repeated on earth. It resounds for me, for you, for the people dear to us, for everybody. Where are you? It is like God would say: “Until you are not in my heart you will not be yourself any more, until you are not close to me you will not have joy, until I will not be able to hold your hand, you will not have security and peace”. Between the man and God entered the snake, or, to be specific, its sneaky and seductive word. The man listened to it and believed it, he thought it was trustworthy even if it was the opposite of the one coming from the Father's love. Because of this he needs to hide, not to be seen by anybody.

The word of the snake keeps insinuating itself and fool. It has even arrived at the ears of the relatives of Jesus'.  This is why they are planning to stop Him, and they do not realize that they are acting against God Himself, of whom Jesus is the true and living word. In the same way religious men, self-confident and confident in their own science, accuse Jesus to be an ally of the enemy's, to be the word of the snake, and keep themselves at arm's length. Jesus does not need to hide, indeed, He is the only one to stay in full light and He wants to keep them close to be able to talk to them. We could follow the reasoning with which He convinces His accusers of being grossly mistaken. They say that He has Satan inside him, and this is why He can drive the demons out. He correctly answers: “If Satan drives away his helpers, He destroys himself.” But he also adds: “If you say that I, who sets free the possessed men, am mad or even possessed myself, to whom you will turn to be saved? This accusation of yours is a serious sin, and, as long as you will keep it in your hearts or on your lips, you will not be able to be recognized as children of God, and therefore you will not be able to enjoy His forgiveness. This accusation is against the Holy Spirit, which, through me, shows its love towards fragile and sinful men in order to offer them salvation.”

This word of Jesus' is very serious. Who could possibly save us, if we refuse the only savior that God gives us?

When his relatives arrive, and among then the mother also, who does not abandon them even when they are against her son, Jesus reveals us something else. To be a relative, that is to say experiencing family communion lived since very young, even if it is a very strong human value, it is not definitive. Kinship does not stop us from listening to the voice of the snake, and therefore does not save us from our sin. True kinship is based in the Father's heart, is kept alive by His word, is lived obeying Him. We can say as well that we feel closer and more intimate to whom lives obeying God than to our relatives that are not obeying Him!

The sentence that Jesus uttered sounds particularly beautiful and pleasant to hear: "Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother". He, Jesus, is doing God's will and lives only for this. His mother has given Him an example of this: she is the very first of whom are trying to make the word uttered on us by God come true. And this is exactly why Jesus was born from her. She is truly and deeply His relative: with her, He feels in a very strong and continuous communion, because she is listening to the Father. But He perceives also His disciples as "brothers", even if they are still unsure and marked by serious lacks in understanding the Father's will.

Even with all our difficulties, we keep walking while listening with trust to the word of God and obeying it. Today the apostle encourages us too, in inviting us to focus our attention on the invisible things. Sin is still ruining our life, and in this way drags us towards the death of the body, but we train to live with Jesus, who, already risen, makes us able to experience a limitless interior life. With Him the victory over the snake will be ours too.