Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BOAKYE YEBOAH

CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF KUMASI, GHANA.

What did the prophet Zechariah see in his vision this time? It is believed that next to the water, the liquid substance that has found itself mixed with the soil of Jerusalem, is the blood of the prophets. Because of their doomed prophecies, many of the prophets were killed and so it wasn’t surprising when Jesus exclaimed “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matt. 23:37).

In other words, the prophets were seen by the people as individuals with “bad mouths” who only spoke words of doom and never of hope and joy. But that generalization was not necessarily true because some of the prophetic messages were full of hope. One example is what we read in today’s first reading. Zechariah brought a message of hope and rejoicing to the people. The name Zechariah means “God remembered” and the prophet really lived and prophesized in line with the meaning of his name. Not much is known about Zechariah’s life other than what can be inferred from the book. Because God remembers, there is hope for the people of Israel. It was with such hope that Zechariah prophesized these words: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…”

Two verses are given in today’s reading and as we can see in verse 9, the king arrives to redeem his people and fill their lives with joy and celebrations. The prophet instills confidence in the people that their redeemer does not only come to save them and bring them hope, but that he will also permanently remove pain and sorrow from their lives. The prophet shares with such confidence in his message when he prophesized: “…he will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off…”

God does not only calm down our fears, he removes the source of our fears and pains. The prophet’s message pertains to issues in your life and mine. Each day we encounter many people going through all kind of pain and suffering and we try to calm down their fears with words of comfort. Today, instead of this, I would like to bring them to Jesus so that he who governs all things and holds the keys to all situations will bring an end to their pain and suffering. The closing words of the prophet in today’s first reading says it all: “…and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Brothers and sisters, let us allow God to have dominion over our lives and all will be well.

St. Paul was right when he said “anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation…” and I would like to think that the scholarly Apostle was speaking in such light when he wrote the words in the second reading of today. St. Paul wrote: “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you…if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwell in you.” With these words, please do not look down on yourself and know that God is not finished with you yet.

It is only in Jesus that all our problems will be solved. As the prophet Zechariah rightly said, God does not only calm down our fears, but rather removes the source of our fears, suffering and pain. Jesus adds the “icing on the cake” when he said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We surely need to bring our whole life to Jesus because he holds the keys to life’s challenges and problems.

If anybody tells you that there are others means through which a person can be saved, then he/she will be lying to you because Jesus is the truth, the life and the way. In today’s gospel, Jesus confirms such a bold statement when he prayed: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Do you have any other way? Please do not doubt because after years of doubting, Rene Descartes, the author of the philosophy of the doubt, came back to the credo statement that “God is the only being beyond whom nothing can be thought of.” Salvation comes from Jesus alone and he remains the truth, the way and the life. OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.