REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER – YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: LOVING IN GODˋS WAY
BY: Fr. Karabari Paul
‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’
In today’s culture, the word ‘love’ means different things to different people. You can love your husband or wife, your country, your dog, your new mobile phone, and your car. But you don’t love your husband or wife the same way you love your mobile phone or your car, right?
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The word ‘love’ is used in the Bible about 310 times. We seem to know what love is, but in applying it in action, it becomes the most confused thing. More often, what we do as loving one another is transactional care. We mentally and unconscious access every action by gains. In other words, we can often find ourselves loving those whom we like, the people that are our friends, the ones who are most like us, and the ones we think are easy to love. This is even so in our relationship with God. So many of us only draw closer to God because of what He gives us. It is the reason we run away when we are not getting what we pray for.
Today, in the Gospel ( John 15:9- 17), Jesus wants us to love others as He has loved us. This is a higher form of love. We are not the canon of measurement. Some of us do not love ourselves, even. God’s love never changes depending on what we do or never do. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus says, ‘Your Father in heaven…causes the sun to rise on good people and…evil people…he sends rain to those who do right and…those who do wrong. If you love only the people who love you, you will get no reward. Even the tax collectors do that. And if you are good only to your friends, you are no better than other people. Even those who don’t know God do that…you must be perfect just as your Father in heaven is.’ God’s love towards us is ‘perfect’ because it is unconditional and non-judgmental. God’s love in the world comes before the righteousness of man. Otherwise, the righteous ones would be separated from sinners before He sends down rain.
The Bible tells us that while we were His enemies, ‘God showed his great love…by sending Christ to die for us’ (Romans 5:8). In the Gospel of today, Christ makes reference to that sacrificial love. We need to make sure that we love others without judging them, too. The Bible says: ‘Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love…if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another’ (1 John 4:8,11). It couldn’t be clearer ; we are called to love others as God loves us.
So let us try and show His love to everyone, not just those we find easy to love. It can be difficult to pray for our enemies, but Christ Himself prayed for those who made themselves His enemies. We can do the same. Moving against the tide of the world in obedience to divine precepts is a sure way of becoming the disciple of Christ.
But there are people who seemingly make themselves unlovable. How do we love them: Picture in your mind the person you find hardest to love. How can you learn to love this kind of person? First, before you can love them, you must feel and understand how deeply God loves you.
Paul writes: ‘I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves’ (Ephesians 3:17-19).
Notice the words ‘feel…understand…experience’ . God wants you to feel His love, and He wants you to understand His love. Why? First John 4:19 says that we love God because He first loved us. Why is it important to feel loved by God? Because unloved people are often unloving people. When you do not feel genuinely loved, you do not feel like giving love. So, first, you have to experience God’s love for yourself. Jesus said, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ During your worst acts, and in your lowest moments, Jesus loves you, but He doesn’t endorse your sins.
Knowing you are loved by Christ gives you value and security; it also enables you to risk loving others. All God asks is that you be willing to love, and He will supply the power to do it. ‘The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (Romans 5:5). Love is mostly something you do instead of something you feel.
We must take note: Love, at its core, is two things. First, love is a matter of choice. ‘Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity’ (Colossians 3:14). Notice those two small words, ‘put on’. Like you choose the clothes you wear each day, you choose the attitude you will display. So, love is what you deliberately wear.
Second, love is a matter of behaviour. ‘Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth’ (1 John 3:18). It works like this: when you reach out towards someone with genuine love and concern, your feelings towards that person change. And even if they don’t return your love, God is pleased with you. That is reward enough. The love Christ is talking about is unconditional commitment to love that is rooted in an unchanging decision. It always gives, and doesn’t change whether the love is returned or not. It is a decision of your heart to seek the other person’s highest good, no matter how they may respond.
What qualifies us as Christians and disciples of Christ is not how many times we come to church in a week but our love for one another. When we can overcome our differences, when we can cross lines of denomination, race, language, and culture and truly love one another, the world is drawn to Christ. Conclusively, no matter how angelic we are, if we lack love, we are nothing but clashing cymbals (1Cor. 13).
GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our world, bless and protect us all. Instil in us the grace to love in accordance with His desire through Christ Our Lord Amen. Pls, stay safe
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