Faith-Jesus Christ-St Agnes

HOMILY WEEK 02 02 – Year II

Placing our Faith in Christ as Kyrios-Lord:

Memorial of St. Agnes

(1 Sm 16:1-13; Ps 89; Mk 2:23-28)

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The late Serge LeClerc, former gang leader who had a conversion experience while incarcerated, became a motivational speaker. In one of his talks, he shared how he was always looking for identity, and found he could even manipulate the rich and powerful because they too were looking for identity.

Today’s liturgy, and the memorial of St. Agnes, invite us to place our complete and total faith in Jesus as Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath, Kyrios reigning over the whole universe.

In so doing, we must be like the prophet Samuel in the first reading who had to choose a king from among Jesse’s sons. Had he gone by human standards, he would not have chosen David. He had to look beneath the surface and see David’s potential to be the only true king Israel ever had.

Jesus did that all the time in the gospel – choosing Matthew, Peter, all his apostles. He saw beyond Peter’s impatience and speaking without thinking. He saw Peter’s heart, his passion, his love for Jesus, to the point where he would shed his blood for him. He also saw his repentance, forgave him and named him the first pope of the fledgling church.

We are called to do the same when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth, the son of a tekton, a tradesman. Can we see beyond the humanity of Jesus and recognize his divinity? The Pharisees in the gospel, totally focused only on law, rules and regulations, question why Jesus allows his disciples to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath, an obvious breach of the law. They are the forerunners of one of the earliest heresies in the church, Arianism, which basically denigrated the divinity of Jesus.

How Jesus responded should have staved off any such heresy. First, he refers to the incident in 1 Samuel 21:6 where David and his men eat the bread of the presence only the priests are allowed to eat. David was able to do this because he knew his identity – he was king, anointed by the prophet Samuel and filled with the Spirit, much as the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism in the Jordan. David knew God had made him king, and was doing what God would do in the same situation. This strong faith and clear identity as a king chosen by God and given God’s authority empowered David to overstep the law.

That is precisely what Jesus does when he allows his men to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath, and proclaims to the Pharisees, “so the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” This is equivalent to Jesus also claiming to be above the Torah in Matthew 5:27-28 (“You have heard it said – but I tell you..”). Both these statements are clear pronouncements that he, the very ordinary son of Joseph of Nazareth, stood before them as Son of God, as divine, as God.

Bishop Robert Barron adds the claim of the first Christians was Iesous Kyrios – Jesus is Lord. This was bound to annoy both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews would be massively put off by the use of the term Kyrios in describing an ordinary human being. Moreover, the implication that this man was the Messiah of Israel – when he had died at the hands of Israel’s enemies – was simply blasphemous.

And for the Greeks, this claim was subversive, for a watchword of the time was Kaiser Kyrios – the Emperor is Lord. A new system of allegiance was being proposed, a new type of ordering and lordship – and this was indeed a threat to the regnant system.

Christians should enter the public arena boldly and confidently, for we are not announcing a private or personal spirituality, but rather declaring a new King under whose lordship everything must fall. If Jesus is truly Lord, then government, business, family life, the arts, sexuality, and entertainment all come properly under his headship.

Today the church honors St. Agnes, virgin and martyr, someone who had the faith of King David, and who believed and trusted totally in Jesus as God, human and divine, to the point of dying for this faith. While this memorial has been celebrated on this day since the 4^th century, little is known about her. She was likely born in the early years of the 4^th century, and was martyred at the age of 12 during a Roman persecution. She is a symbol of virginal innocence and has been pictured with a lamb as a symbol of this innocence since the Middle Ages.

One of the 6^th century legends is that Agnes was a beautiful girl with many rivals for marriage. When she rejected the proposals, she was denounced to the governor as a Christian and sent to a house of prostitution. Those who came to visit her were struck with awe. One man apparently lost his sight while looking at her, but later regained it through her prayers. She was eventually brought before a judge, condemned and executed. She stands as a patron saint for many people, including young girls, gardeners and engaged couples.

The Eucharist we share in today is far more than the holy bread of Presence King David ate. It is the very Body and Blood of Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, Lord of the Sabbath, in which we are privileged to share.

May our celebration strengthen our faith to be like that of King David and St. Agnes, and empower us to act on that faith in Jesus as Kyrios with assertive acts of love as did King David and St. Agnes.