Saturday of Week 17 Year A By Tobe Eze

Saturday of Week 17 Year A

First Reading

Leviticus 25:1.8-17

Gospel

Matthew 14:1-12

THEME: DO NOT WRONG YOUR NEIGHBOURS ON THE HOLY DAYS OF THE LORD.

Onye gbuta isi nwa nkita owere agba ya mee gini? (If you kill a young innocent dog, what will you use its jaws to do?) What did Herod, Herodias and Salome gain from killing John? Onye gburu nwanne ya adighi aza odogwu.

Everyday is 50 years anniversary. There must have existed 50 years ago today, yesterday and will still exist tomorrow which means everyday is jubilee day and every year is jubilee year. Since that is the case, we must avoid doing wrong to our neighbours for the jubilee year and day are holy for the Lord. This is the instruction from the first reading.

My question now is, did Herod, Herodias and Salome notice what was expected of them to do on the jubilee year and day? Herod being stupid allowed his own birthday celebration to take the head of a prophet. We have no right to wrong anyone on the Holy Days of the Lord and we have established that everyday is holy for the Lord.

To avoid doing wrong to our neighbours, let us guard against our pleasures. Herod did not guard against his own pleasure and was carried away by the shaking of a young girl’s buttock. Herodias did not guard against her pleasure and was carried away by the earthly richness and firm. And Salome did not guard her own by being carried away by hatred gotten from her mother on John the Baptist. When we must have made a mistake, it is not good to close our eyes to it and continue in the line of that mistake. Herod made the mistake of promising heaven and earth to the young girl, instead of withdrawing when he noticed that he had made a mistake, he went ahead and continued in that line of mistake and this happens too, to many of us. Because of what people will say or how people will look at us, we forget how God will see us and what he will say about us. Everyday is holy for the Lord and we must keep it holy for him. Onye gbuta isi nwa nkita owere agba ya mee gini? (If you kill a young innocent dog, what will you use its jaws to do?) Onye gburu nwanne ya adighi aza odogwu. Thanks.