12th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A)
Theme: Do not be afraid, the Lord is with you.
Scripture Reading: Jer. 20:10-13; Ps. 68:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35; Rom. 5:12-15; Mt. 10:26-33
Last week, we were completely devastated when we heard the sad news of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput who committed suicide at the age of thirty-four. He came in the limelight with the TV serial Pavitra Rishta. He became an overnight star. His performance in the biopic of M.S. Dhoni, the untold story was fantastic. It earned 216 crores in the box office. He had millions of followers on social media. He had earned crores of rupees. He had name, fame, success and money. His death by suicide is still a mystery. The news reports tell us that he was under depression for the last couple of months. The media reports different reasons for his suicide. We do not know the true reason for his death but we do know that when a person commits suicide they do it because they not find hope in life. A person takes that drastic step when they do not find any other way to move out of the problem. Psychiatrists give various reasons for suicide such as failure, loss, loneliness, depression, guilt, pain and suffering, etc. Basically these people do not find any reason to live in their difficulties. They live a pessimistic life. As a matter of fact, the world of today is leading us into pessimism. Anxiety is growing day by day. We live under tremendous fear.
Today’s liturgy invites us to fight against the pessimism. We are introduced to three different situations of challenges in today’s liturgy. The first reading which is taken from the Prophet Jeremiah tells us the challenging life of the prophet. It gives us a glimpse of what he really went through in his life. The prophet experienced worst persecution. He spoke the truth on behalf of Yahweh to surrender to the Babylonians to avoid total destruction of Jerusalem. He was accused of treason. The king and the priest did not listen to him. He was rejected. He was ill-treated. He was beaten and put in the stocks. (Jer. 20:1-2) He was sentenced to death (Jer. 26:11). King Jehoiakim burned his scroll and humiliated him. (Jer. 36:23). He was left to die in the cistern (Jer. 38:6). He was called a liar (Jer. 43:2) The prophet experienced terror from all sides. So much so that his close companions had turned against him. His life situations highlight suffering and rejection at the hands of people responsible for justice.
The second situation is seen in the life of St. Paul in the second reading from the letter to the Romans. Paul points out to the Romans the sinful nature of man. He takes help of the Jewish scriptures and argues with them that death is the result of sin. It existed from the beginning, even before the law. The Jews considered breaking the law a sin. Thus, he says death has reigned overall from the time of Adam until Moses who is the lawgiver. The sinfulness has gripped man because of one man i.e. Adam. The effects of sin have affected the man. We commit sins again and again. He says in the same letter, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Rom 7: 15). St. Paul highlights yet another situation of man i.e. his sinful habits.
The third situation is seen in the lives of the disciples. Jesus points out to his disciples a third situation i.e. persecution for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus instructed his disciples that they ought to proclaim what they had heard in private. While proclaiming the Gospel/Kingdom of God, they would suffer persecution. Jesus speaks about it on many occasion in the same Gospel. While giving the sermon on the mount, he says, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for there is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 5:10). In the same chapter, He asks to pray for those who persecute (Mt. 5:44). On another occasion he says, the people will hate you for my name’s sake but the one who endures to the end will be saved (Mt. 10:20). Jesus highlights the life of a disciple. He will have to suffer for the Gospel.
Each of these situations arises in our day-to-day life. There will be suffering, persecution, failure to lead a good life. These situations create enormous pressure on the man. We find it sometimes difficult to cope up with the situation. It is important to know here that we need to surrender to God. The liturgy tells us that in such situations, God is close to us. He has not abandoned us. Prophet Jeremiah felt the presence of God in the midst of tribulation and loneliness. He called God his mighty hero. He began to sing songs to the Lord. St. Paul who discovered that he was a slave to sin, yet ye he found divine grace from Jesus. He realized that if sin has entered humanity through one man then the grace has entered into humanity through another man i.e. Jesus Christ. He was filled with confidence. Therefore, he could say “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:10). Jesus who knew that persecution would be part of discipleship told his disciples not to be afraid three times in today’s Gospel. As a matter of fact, ‘do not afraid’ appears 366 times in the Bible, in different ways.
God loves us more than anything in the world. If God takes care of the sparrow, the tiny bird then how much more the human being is in the sight of God. He is present in the midst of all our difficulties, sufferings, persecution and sinfulness. We need to turn to God and become aware of His presence. People who are feeling dejected, lonely, hopeless and sad due to failures, loss, depression, death, suffering, etc., must believe in God who gives us so many chances to live on.
Robin Uthappa, a member of Indian Cricket team that won the T20 World cup in 2007 says that he wanted to commit suicide. He was not doing well in cricket. He wanted to jump off the balcony between 2008 to 2011 but something held him back. It was during this time that he received the baptism. Later he became the highest scorer in Indian Premier League in 2014-15 season.
