Homily: Love of God is the Essence of Our Christian Life

By Father Eugene Lobo SJ.

Thirtieth Sunday of the Year October 29, 2023 Mission Sunday
Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-30.

Our Christian religion is based on the love of God and the love of our neighbors.  The love of God implies not merely the notional assent to the truths of faith, but in the real, conscious, wholehearted response that makes God the chief motivation and reason of our life. The love of one’s neighbor is perhaps one of the surprising characteristics of our Christian faith as indicated in the importance given to the duty of loving others. Several passages from the Gospel show the practical necessity of the Christian precept of loving one’s neighbor and the association Jesus himself makes with the poorest and humblest. In our Christian practice it is necessary to search for the personal experience of God that uniquely religious and sacred experience found only by those who search for it. This is done principally in silence, solitude and dedication to personal prayer. We need to open our minds and find the time necessary to become aware of the presence of God in our lives. This is not easy to do, especially as we have become accustomed to ways of perception and of thinking that are always in hurry and are functional.

In the first reading of today taken from the Book of Exodus tells us of the loving relationship that the Israelites ought to have towards those under-privileged. The responsibility was upon men, because in those days, they were the persons with authority over the families. The under-privileged were the aliens or the immigrants, those who were forced to leave their homes because of circumstances such as wars, plagues or famines. The Lord reminds the Israelites that once they too were as aliens while living in Egypt. Now, their Laws command them to be warm and helpful to those who are less fortunate as they themselves once were less fortunate. They are reminded once again of their loving obligation to take care of the needs of the widows and the orphans. God wanted the needs of these aliens and poor be looked after by those who were more fortunate.

In the Second Reading, Paul reminds the Thessalonians of his living example among them for their sake so that they may grow in Christ. He tells them to imitate him as he imitates Jesus Christ. To fully live one’s Christian life, it is necessary to “become imitators of God, as beloved children, to live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Paul acknowledged that through persecution, the Thessalonians persisted in their living faith, receiving the Word of God with joy.  They were indeed inspired by the Holy Spirit so that they could become as living models to others who heard about them in Macedonia and Achaia. These were the communities where Paul was residing when the good news about the Thessalonians reached him. He tells them that the joy in their faith during persecution is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and true imitation of Christ. In his letter Paul emphasized how the people had abandoned their idols to serve the true living God.

As we read and listen to the Gospel according to Matthew, we find ourselves at a stage where Jesus is being challenged by various leading groups from among the Jewish community. Matthew after describing Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his crucifixion gives a series of attempts made by his enemies, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, to catch Jesus in some legalistic or political error. Today’s question placed before him is about the greatest commandment in the Law of Moses. Already Jesus had reduced a group of Sadducees to silence, much to the delight of their rivals, the Pharisees. Now it is some Pharisees who approach him with their own question, a question much debated among the religious Jews: “Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” As a Rabbi, extremely intelligent, influential with the crowds and known by many as someone with a mind of his own, Jesus should have his own opinion. 

Jesus often answered people’s questions with one of his own but in this case he gives an answer.  Here he responded immediately to their question by combining two commandments into one. He told them: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind.”  The heart was considered as the center of knowing and feeling, the soul, the principle of life and the source of all one’s energies, and mind the center of perception.  Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, he tells them that this is the first and most important Commandment. It summarizes the first four of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. Placing God first in one’s life means walking in faith and in the love of God. 

The second greatest and equally important Commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This Commandment summarizes the last six of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. The second Commandment means that if we have the love of God within us, it should shine towards others. Love is meant to be shared, not to be selfishly kept to oneself.  Then Jesus said that on those two Commandments (Laws) hangs the Law and the Prophets. The words mean that in those two Commandments are found the entire revelation of the Old Testament. 

Looking at the passage given to us it looks as if the Pharisees may not have had any evil intention in asking this question. But they did a good service by getting this crystal clear answer from Jesus.  In this answer he tells us that the man who loves God and his neighbor fulfills all his obligations, and carries out all the duties that God’s self-revelation in the law and the Prophets imposes on him. God revealed himself in the Old Testament as a creator and benefactor and looked after all the needs of people. In his benevolence he shared all he had with humanity and made humankind partakers in his kingdom of happiness.  Jesus strongly emphasizes the fact that love of our neighbor is an essential part of our obligation towards God.  If we fail in this we fail in our love for God, for we refuse to carry out this sacred duty.  If we fail to recognize our neighbor as our brother we fail to recognize God as our Father and we do not love him. 

In the concept of the love of God, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that the central commandment of the Jewish and Christian faith is the love of God implies not merely the notional assent to the truths of faith, but the real, conscious, wholehearted response that makes God the chief motivation and reason in their life. There is implied a certain human experience of God and it is the discernment and assimilation of this experience that is to ground and shape our lives. The second and third commandments remind us of the challenges we face to the sacred love of God.

The readings of today easily remind us how God expresses his love for us. Most of the time, God shows his love for us through the people that enter our life. He loves us when they love the other and we love God when we sincerely love our brothers and sisters.  Matthew indicates to us that Jesus has no hesitation when responding to the question of the greatest command is in the scriptures.  It is simply the commandment to love.  The challenge for the Church’s mission right now is that of “Understanding what God is saying to us at this time of pandemic”, Pope Francis acknowledges.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.  After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

In New York City, on a cold day in December, a little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.  A lady approached the young boy and said, ‘my, but you’re in such deep thought staring in that window!’  ‘I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,’ was the boy’s reply. The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.  She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel.  By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.  She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, ‘No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.’  As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand and looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her. ‘Are you God’?  No, said the woman. I am only his child. The boy smiled and said: I knew it all the time. You are some relation of his.