Homily Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B : Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
- · Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48;
- · 1 John 4:7-14
- · John 15:9-19
Universality of God’s Love
Today we celebrate a God who loves us
as a loving mother would! This Divine love is universal. It has no boundary. It’s
available for both Jews and Gentiles alike. This is true in today’s readings
and in most of the writings of Saint Paul. Romans 2:1-16 is also uppermost in
my mind!
However, in today’s Gospel, John 15, soon
after his farewell discourse and prediction of his death, Jesus, says to his
worried disciples, “As the Father loves, me so I also love you. Remain in my
love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love… No one has greater love
than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.”
For
those who may still have doubt after reading or listening to this words of
Jesus in John 15, the 2nd
reading, 1 John, does so well to reaffirm that “God is love,” (Deus Caritas est) as revealed
in his Son, whom we are called this day to imitate by loving everyone around us;
Jew or Gentile.
This universal invitation to love as God
loves is again displayed in Acts of the Apostles 15, today’s 1st reading
where Cornelius a Gentile receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and Peter
clearly preaches the impartiality and the universal love of God. Peter says, “in
truth I see that God shows no partiality (prosōpolēmptēs), an expression
in Greek, that Saint Paul also uses in Romans 2:11 to stress the universal love, redemption, judgment, and
righteousness of God to everyone, Jews and Gentiles, who believe in him.
As witnessed throughout scriptures, it is
not just and empty love, but Divine love full of actions through God’s
incarnation, becoming human in his Son to be with us, teach us, walk with us,
eat with us, preach to us, and heal us. Christ love for his father in turn, is
in action through his obedient ministry. Though he was in the form of God, he
did not for once, count equality with God his father, but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-11).
Throughout his ministry from baptism to the
cross he humbly proved his love for us in changing water to wine (John 2), in
encouraging non-believers to believe (John 3), in reaching out to the poor, the
weak and foreigners, the “Samaritan women,” (John 4) in healing the sick,
raising the death (John 6-11), washing the feet of his disciples (John 13), and
marching freely to the cross. In fact, “no one has greater love than this, to
lay down one’s life for one’s friend.”
We are truly God’s friends no matter where
we come from or what language we speak, or look like! It does matter if you
are, “Peter, Cornelius, Saul or James.” Our friend Jesus expects us to
imitate him. Don’t we ordinarily say, “Show me your friend I will tell you
who you are?” If we are God’s friends, we are expected to remain in him, keep
his ethics, morality, commandments, values, theologies, spiritualties. We
are expected to put who our divine friend is into practice.
We can do this by bearing witness to him
like Peter in today’s first reading. Peter brought the spirituality of his
friend, Jesus to the Gentiles, beginning with the house of Cornelius, whom he
baptized in the name of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit. We are told, “While Peter
was speaking, preaching the word of God, the Holy Spirit fell upon “all” who
were listening to the word of God.
This God is love and his love is
universally in action. It reaches to the Jews and Gentiles! This is the true
love of God. Of course, in our own practical situations, the test of true
love, in fact is not just by what we feel, but by what we do which affects our
neighbors. Do I speak well about my neighbor, pray for them? Am I able to hold
that elevator/ door for my incoming friend or senior? Am I patriotic!
Am I charitable and sensitive especially to the needs of the poor?
What
effects has the papacy of Pope Francis has on me thus far? Am I
understanding, prudent, modest in what I say, write, eat, drink and wear? Am I
kind, generous, gracious, compassionate, joyful, not instigating violent,
hatred, jealousy and division, or rushing to judge my neighbors
without the facts? Am I conscious that I am limited in many ways!
[ Again, on a Mother’s Day ([ forth coming... in
the States) we might ask Am I loving, forgiving, caring, generous, obedient to
my superiors, parents, available, approachable, affectionate, impartial
as our loving mothers?
There is a story of a Maltese loving mother
who gave birth to conjoin-Siamese baby boys. Any surgery to separate them would
result from one baby boy giving up his life for the other. It was a very
difficult choice for both parents, especially the mom, who really spoke up,
passionately. Her argument was that she loved both children equally, without partiality
(prosōpolēmptēs). I am sure many of us have also seen or heard
about children, sons and daughters, husbands in prison who are loved by
their moms and wives in spite of who they are.
Of course, we also live in a challenging
time that some children, husbands tend to ignore if not abandon their parents,
wives or aged moms in nursing homes, without visitation. Sometimes we forget
their roles in our lives, and in our families. Without our moms many of us
would not be here today. So today is the day we reflect on the love of our
mothers, the role of women in the church and society, appreciate them,
pray for them, visit with them, take them out for dinner, if you can, or call
them on the telephone if they are far away from you!]
As we celebrate God’s love today let us allow
Jesus’ universal love to challenge us in our brokenness, in our tendencies to
segregate, discriminate against those we shortsightedly presume are politically,
socially, economically, culturally or religiously inferior to us.
Reflection
Questions
- 1. How often do we practice the oneness and the universality of God’s love stressed in today’s scriptures?
- 2. How often or what prevents us from recognizing that there is no partiality in God, in his love, in his righteousness, in his judgment for Jews and Gentiles ( Rom 2:11, Acts 10:34)
- 3. In the face of socio- political, economic, cultural and racial challenges of our time how often do we examplarily assist members of our faith communities to remain in God’s love (John 15)?
