Full of contempt, full of scorn for the rich and the disdain of a proud man.

Homily

14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

Sunday 7^th July 2024

by Reverend George Kingsnorth (Deacon)

First reading	Ezekiel 2:2-5
Responsorial Psalm	Psalm 122(123)
Second reading	2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Gospel	Mark 6:1-6

 

Today’s psalm talks about us being full of contempt, our soul full of scorn for the rich and with the disdain of a proud man. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the word contempt in two ways. The first meaning “a strong feeling of dislike and having no respect for someone or something” (Press, 2024). An example given is a pupil having complete contempt for every one of her schoolteachers, they were beneath her. A second definition is “behaviour that is illegal because it does not obey or respect the rules of a law court” (Press, 2024). The example here is a corporation being guilty of contempt of court for refusing to produce requested documents.

In today’s politics across the globe there are many instances of contemptuous leaders sending ordinary people to fight in their wars. On the BBC there was a report about how Ukrainian soldiers were getting exhausted having to machine gun waves of Russian troops to defend their position (Corera, 2024). In this situation, there was a sense of contempt from how the Ukrainian soldiers saw their Russian foe, but also how the Russian leadership believe their own people are simply cannon fodder, and if you throw enough of them at the enemy you will win. This assumption is based on the belief that there are plenty more to send wave after wave.

In the early part of this new European war, many Russian soldiers were led to believe that every Ukrainian was a Nazi. This was the reason for sending an occupational force. The memories of how SS Troops had brutalised Russians during the Great Patriotic War, where Nazi Germany attempted to annihilate the Soviet Union with 3,500,000 soldiers (Dawsey, 2022). Soviet prisoners were seen in such contempt by the invading forces, they were treated savagely as sub-human. This is a tactic used by leaders to vilify their enemy so their armies would slaughter the foe.

The “General Plan for the East” was to decimate the population of Russian cities and to starve up to 30 million people (Dawsey, 2022). Thankfully, this plan was never enacted.

Ukraine came under German influence in 1941, with 17 million people coming under their rule (Dawsey, 2022). Initially, Ukrainians saw the Germans as allies against the Soviets, but the Nazis forced Ukrainians into servitude (Hajda, 2024). Approximately 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews died in mass killings, and 2.2 million Ukrainians were sent to Germany as slave labour (Hajda, 2024).

When the Soviet Union began to push back in 1943 (Hajda, 2024), the cost to the USSR was 1 million soldiers to remove the Germans from Ukraine (Dawsey, 2022). At this time, the 14^th Division of Ukrainian SS was set up made up of Ukrainian volunteers (Pugliese, 2020) (Yousif, 2023). By the end of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR had lost roughly 24,000,000 souls (Dawsey, 2022) and in Ukraine, an estimated “7 million people perished” (Hajda, 2024). Sadly, after the war, under Stalin, it is estimated that nearly 62 million people died due to the Communist Party (Rummel, 2002).

These are only a few examples that link current wars with those of the past century. There is much more, but too much to go into here. The key point is how vast populations can be seen with contempt by a relatively small number of people. Such figures can be seen as overwhelming, and when faced with such details, we can feel insignificant, and that our actions are futile.

Jesus returned to his hometown, but there due to the lack of faith of most of the people who thought they knew him he was unable to work miracles, only a small number were cured because they believed in him. The majority saw him with contempt.

Paul found that an angel of Satan had given him a thorn in his flesh, and though he asked several times to be relieved of his pain, Jesus told him, his grace was enough, so he would not get proud. Paul realised that even though he was suffered hardships, insults and persecution, because of his faith in Christ, his weakness was his asset, not his strength.

When we believe we can solve the problems, we tend to go it alone, under our own strength. Yet, this is when we will almost certainly fail. On our own we are fragile and no match for the forces of Satan. We can easily be crushed. When we realised how weak we are, it is then that we know the only way is to let Jesus into our lives.

When God’s spirit went into Ezekiel, making him stand and was able to hear the Lord speak to him. God was able to send him as his messenger to the rebellious Israelites who turned away from him, were defiant and obstinate. All Ezekiel had to do was pass on the message. Whether they listened or not, the revolutionaries would know a prophet was among them.

In our lives, we must reflect upon what is causing us to rebel against God. How have we been misled into being contemptuous towards others? Who have we judged, even though we are asked to love one another as we love ourselves? We are asked to treat others as we wish to be treated. In Matthew, Jesus tells us “Do not judge, or you to will be judged”. The way we measure others, we will be measured by the same standards. By loving others, God will love us. In our human strength, we will be lost. Through our weaknesses, God can show his strength, and nothing can stand against us, simply because we have given ourselves over to Him.

As the Gospel Acclamation says: The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives. Alleluia.

References

Corera, G. (2024, July 4). Ukraine calls them meat assaults: Russia's brutal plan to take ground. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80xjne8ryxo

Dawsey, J. (2022, March 18). Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Retrieved from The National WWII Museum - New Orleans: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-patriotic-war-russia-invasion-ukraine#:~:text=The%20Second%20World%20War%20is,%2D%20May%209%2C%201945).

Hajda, L. Y. (2024, July 5). The Nazi occupation of Soviet Ukraine. Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-Nazi-occupation-of-Soviet-Ukraine

Press, C. U. (2024, July 5th). Contempt. Retrieved from Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/contempt

Pugliese, G. (2020, October 30). Whitewashing the SS: The Attempt to Re-Write The History of Hitler's Collaboratiors. Retrieved from Esprit De Corps -Canadian Military Magazine: https://www.espritdecorps.ca/history-feature/whitewashing-the-ss-the-attempt-to-re-write-the-history-of-hitlers-collaborators

Rummel, R. J. (2002, November 11). Lethal Politics Chapter 1 - 61,911,000 Victims: Utopianism Empowered. Retrieved from University of Hawwaii System: https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/USSR.CHAP.1.HTM

Yousif, N. (2023, September 29). Canada Nazi row puts spotlight on Ukraine's WWII past. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66914756

 

 

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