30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A – HOMILY
THEME: Love as the Centre of Divine Revelation
Fr. Celestine Muonwe
Ex. 22:21-27; 1 Thess.1:5c-10; Mt.22:34-40
Ex. 22:21-27: Love for Neighbour
This passage focuses on our duty towards our neighbour, that is, on the love of neighbour. It involves the three-fold love for strangers, the weak and the vulnerable, and the poor. It is much easier to treat our own close relatives well, than it is to treat strangers well. While it is advisable to treat those who are close to us very well, it is much more rewarding when we treat those we have not met before very well, which is much more difficult, because we are not used to such persons initially and we do not know their characters or behaviour. Some, in housing strangers and tending them well have cared for angels, the case of Abraham is the case in view. The fact that there could be strangers who have abused our privileges in the past should not discourage us from assisting persons in need of our help. The enduring hatred and strife among the various tribes in Nigeria, all signs of parochialism, statism, diocesanism, townism, racism and the like, are all indications of the mistreatment of strangers forbidden by God. When we visit social media, it is evident, how much young people hate each other along ethnic, religious and national groups in Nigeria. Each day, we hear about the destruction of other people’s livelihoods, denials of employment, and promotions, purely on the basis of where one comes from.
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It is a fact, that any country that fails to use its best, and chooses people for important offices based on identities of origin and social status, will not make appreciable progress in development indices. This problem is also seen today on religious grounds, where people who are not of the same religious or denominational lines are excluded, simply on grounds of religion. Such ill-winds show how backward a society is, and how such a society could be far away from any meaningful development. For God, the reason why Isreal should show kindness to strangers is because they themselves were strangers in the land of Egypt, their own experience of being strangers should have given them appropriate sympathy for strangers in their midst. If not ourselves, our relations are all strangers, living in places outside our places of birth.
Our love for our neighbour should give priority to compassion for the weak and the vulnerable: “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.” The strength of any society is measured on how well such a society has been able to foster the well-being of the weakest members of its fold. The mission of the Church should always give priority to the poor at all times. We have seen cases where the death of the husband of a woman who either has male kids or not, would incite the man’s brothers to greed. They would insist on seizing forcefully, the businesses or the wealth of the deceased brother from the wife, and even render them homeless. God has a reward and punishment for such crimes, such persons at times do not last long to enjoy their ill-gotten fortunes at the end of the day.
God calls us to compassion for those who are materially poor. The word of God prohibits interest on loans given to the poor, and the taking of collateral from them have to be reasonable. This is because the poor man borrows in order to satisfy his . immediate needs and not his wants as commercial lenders do. The loan, as such, is seen as assistance to a neighbor, and making money from such needy persons would be immoral. On the other hand, poor people borrowing money should be sincere enough on their capacity to repay the loans without default. The primary duty of any government is to protect the interest of the poor, not only governments but all of us. The sight of mentally deranged persons in our roads, the many handicapped persons begging daily on our streets, are all signs of a society that is weak in humanity. According to Adam Clarke, the usury that is forbidden in the Bible is charging interest on the poorest of the poor, or unlawful interest, that is, receiving more for the loan of money than it is really worth, and more than the law allows. God hears the prayers of the poor, He has general sympathy for the poor. It was on this count that Jesus came from a poor family. He was born in a manger, and at His dedication in the temple, shortly after His birth, the sacrifice brought by his family was that of a poor family: two birds (Luke 2:24).
Thessalonians 1:5c: Witness of Love by Paul and the Thessalonians
This letter was written by both Paul, Sylvanos and Timothy from Corinth. Timothy had just returned from Corinth with good news about the church at Thessalonica, which was strong even amidst persecutions. After they had thanked God for the good works in the life of the Thessalonian Christians. They moved to strengthen their faith by reminded them of the good works they worked among them: “You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake” (v. 5c). Paul and his colleagues were authentic in their preaching in Thessalonica, they were intent on pleasing God rather than the people to whom they were preaching (2:4). They never used words of flattery to manipulate their hearers (2:5). They sought no human given glory (2:6), and worked to support themselves so that they might not impose a financial burden on the people to whom they were preaching (2:9). The Thessalonian Christians noticed this, and saw their integrity, unselfishness, their agape love; hence their confidence that Paul and his colleagues were serving God rather than promoting some sort of private agenda.
The effective witnessing to Christ, of Paul and his colleagues led the new Christians in Thessalonica to imitate them: “You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction” (v. 6a) and indirectly imitating the Lord as well. The Thessalonian Christians had suffered, just as Christ, Paul and his colleagues had suffered in the furtherance of their preaching ministry. Nevertheless, these Christians also experienced joy in the Holy Spirit in spite of their troubles. The Holy Spirit now dwells in them, guiding and strengthening them. And by the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit, these Christians “became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia“ (v. 7). Hence, their suffering for Christ, their joy in Christ even amidst hardships, have made them powerful witnesses throughout their part of the world—north to south—border to border. A saying goes that a life well-lived is a sermon well-preached. According to the Roman philosopher, Seneca, “We reform others unconsciously when we walk upright.”
Sometimes, we think that our personal witness or that of our small congregation has little potential. Though the Thessalonian Christians were few in number, yet their lives made a heavy impact on the people, such that the people of Achaia and Macedonia told the apostles of the wonderful reception that the Thessalonian Christians gave to Paul and his colleagues, and how they turned from idols, to the service of a living and true God, and await for his Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Mt.22:34-40: Love of God and Neighbour
The Pharisees wanted to find out the stand of Jesus with regard to traditional faith, the faith tradition of the ancestors by throwing a theological question to Him. This is unlike the social question they came up with previously on paying taxes to Caesar or not. They asked Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (v. 36). Jesus answered by quoting the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition which the Pharisees respected so much: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”.
Jesus’ answer is by no means original; in fact, in Jewish writings long before Jesus’ time, these two commandments are taken as the summary of the entire law. In fact, every Jew knew those words, since they are taken as the essence, the beginning and the ending of the Jewish piety. It is known as “shema Isreal,” which every practising Jew repeats in the morning and in the evening. They are taught to their children and are recited just before death. In Deuteronomy we read, “Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God; Yahweh is one: and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
The answer provided by Jesus shows his respect for the Jewish faith. In Matthew’s Gospel, He affirms that He had not come to do away with Israel’s faith: “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). Though Jesus has great respect for the traditional faith, He is opposed to the traditional interpretation of the Pharisees. For the Jews, everyone was to love God, but with regard to neighbour, there was an unequal distribution and account of how much love each one is to be given. There were people who were to be shown love, and those who are to be loved less, or not to be loved at all, for instance, the outcasts, sinners, tax collectors, Gentiles, Samaritans etc. The Pharisees established laws to assist people in knowing whom to love or ignore.
The love of God and neighbour cannot be separated from each other. One who does not love God cannot truly love his neighbour, and vice versa. Jesus puts the love of God and neighbour on an equal footing, one is not more important than the other. When I love God, I show this love by my attitude towards my neighbour, and when I truly love my neighbour I love God, hence, Jesus says: “Whatsoever you do to these little ones, you do them to men”. To love God is to love my neighbour and to truly love my neighbour is to love God. According to Henry Hamann: “Jesus does not separate love for God from love for man, since the latter flows from the former, and since without the latter the former is impossible”.
The word, love is the most misunderstood word in our world today. When young people talk about love today, what readily comes to mind is sexual love or the eros. Which is the love that exists between married couples, but is today heavily abused, and reduced to pursuit of pleasures, thereby resulting in numerous sins against purity: fornication, adultery, masturbation, pornography, homosexuality and the like. We also have the filial love, that exists only within the family circles, and at the level of friendship. We have the agape love, the love that we have for God, the true love that Jesus talks about in the Bible; love that goes with commitment and sacrifice. The love that Jesus showered upon us, even when we were still sinners, dying on the wood of the cross in order to redeem and save us. The love that extends to our enemies.
Agape love is not mere expressions of emotions, or warm feelings of gratitude to God when we consider all that he has done for us, but it is stubborn, unwavering commitment to Him and His will. This implies that to love one another, including our enemies, does not merely mean feeling affection for them, rather it means a commitment on our part to take their needs seriously, just as God committed Himself to taking our needs seriously by sending his Son into this world. This kind of love is seen in marriages, when, on account of illness resulting from old age, one partner becomes physically incapacitated, difficult to live with, very demanding, and yet the other partner keeps on caring and putting up with it all. This is a kind of radical and vicarious love that the Bible speaks about. This love moves us to deliberately turn toward another person and their needs, giving away something of ourselves to someone else, without thinking of what we will get in return. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the young man whom his neighbour was, through the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 15:25-37). In this story, we see an example of a man loving a stranger, committing his money, time and energy to seeing to the needs of the man lying on the street with wounds and bruises. He stopped to help and to take up the consequences, all he could see was someone in need, it is a commitment that is self-sacrificing, putting the other person first, whether it is God or our neighbour.
We can see that this kind of love is in short supply in our lives, and in our world. In Nigeria for instance, there is the pervasive greed for gain, rampant corruption, the exploitation of students in our higher institutions, and the like. In fact, we need a new civilization, a civilization of love, which would bring about the note of commitment to other people, which would banish all violence, and war, all hatred in our world today.
Jesus actually showed us what true love is. The love that touched the dumb, the deaf, the diseased, the disabled; the love for the Father that led Him to prayers all nights, which flowed out and welcomed poor sinners, warned the unrighteous Pharisees and scribes, wept and washed dirty feet. The love that told of a shepherd searching for a lost sheep, a Father rushing out to embrace and kiss his lost son as he welcomed him home. The love that turns the other cheek, and willingly walked that extra mile. The love that carried a cross — and died upon it! The love that welcomes each of us into God’s family, forgiving our sins in the water of Baptism.
Prayer
Lord, please teach us how to love You in our neighbour, and by your grace, may we never depart from the right part, but come to the fullness of Your glory and eternal love in heaven.
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