Fifteenth Sunday Year C
God’s Limitless Love is Near Us (GLLNU)
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
§ Deut 30:10-14;
§ Ps 69:14,17,30-34,36-37;or Ps 19:8-11;
§ Col 1:15-20
§ Luke 10:25-37.
On July 5th,
2013 the Holy Father, Pope Francis released a new Encyclical Letter, Lumen
Fidei- the Light of Faith. Part of this 4 chapter Letter touches on today’s
Bible lessons: that, Faith in God is expressed through Love.
In paragraph
(n. 4), of Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis talks about faith as a light to be
discovered. He says, “Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who
calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can
lean for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain
fresh vision, new eyes to see” what God has done for us and what he will
continue to do for us.
Imagine yourself
being Abraham, our father in faith, or Moses who led Israel through that long
journey in the wilderness. One of his challenges was to constantly let Israel
know that God is not only near them, but he constantly loves them from creation
and carries them through the ups and downs of life. All that God requires of
Israel is faith, trusting in God, acknowledging his omnipotence, omniscience,
keeping his precepts, including the 10 commandments, and reciprocating God’s love
by reaching out to their neighbors charitably.
For Moses (Deut
30:10-14), what God has done for Israel/us or who God is not so difficult to
perceive. It is not too mysterious, or above us, or as if someone had to ascend
to heaven and bring it down to us. It is not far from us to see. Think of the
oxygen we breath, the mountain we climb, the oceans we fish from and ride our
boats and ships, the beaches we enjoy during the summer, the moon, the sky, the
stars, the gardens, trees, the nature- the gift of life, family and properties;
the technology God has bless our this century with, the gift of one another,
the roof over our heads, our jobs, the security we have, in spite of threats of
war and terrorism etc.
This is what
Saint Paul means in the Second reading when he says, “all things were created
through him and for him, visible and invisible” (Col 1:15-20). Note the
language, “all things” not “few things” or “some things.” God’s love is
universal. It is not selective. It is not for the few, some, men, some women,
some children, but for all men, all women and all children. How do we respond
to God’s limitless love? This is a multimillion dollar question. Apart from
Jesus' answer to the lawyer in today's Gospel, 1 John 4:19 also presents
excellent and straightforward answer on how we are to respond to God's
love.
In 1 John 4:19 we
read, “We love because God first loved us.” In other words, we are all
called to love limitlessly since God has first limitlessly loved us.
Our Lord Jesus
Christ puts this well in his parabolic response to the lawyer who went tempting
him with the question, “what must I do to inherit the Kingdom of Christ? What
must I do to inherit eternal life? (Luke 10:25-37). Both Jesus and the lawyer
were all Jewish. They were familiar with the Book of the Deuteronomy which
emphasis love of God and love of one’s neighbor (6:5). They were familiar with
what Moses reminded Israel of in the first reading of today. But the difference
between Jesus understanding of the law and the attorney is on the interpretation
of who is one’s neighbor or to what limits is God’s love. Is God’s love,
charity, fundamental human rights measured by distance or geography, parish,
diocese, county, local government, state, and nation, continent, weather
condition or race?
The answer is a
big “No”. For Christ what makes us neighbors is our generous response to people
we meet on the way no matter their hair style, accent, color or race and
gender. The Samaritan who responded to the need of this robbery victim was
supposed to be a Samaritan of the North, who has had a long standing
disagreement with the Jews in the South.
I am sure you
would also recall Jesus' disciples' expression of shock when they saw their
Master chat and exchange a cup of cold water with the Samaritan Woman in John
chapter 4. These were Disciples of Christ!
Any of us can fall
a victim of selective love, omission or negligence, or failure to share our
blessings with our neighbors, the poor, the aged and the needy. Some ministers
can refuse to bring communion to the dying or visit the sick or show compassion
and mercy to the afflicted. While others can simply remain insensitive to the
needs of their flock. This is true in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Those
who walked pass the victim were those the society would have morally looked
onto: the Priests and the Levites. They were called to be shepherd, custodians
of mercy and compassion (Jer 23; Ezek 34 and John 10).
I am sure you may
have heard this story before. It has been told in different forms and styles of
a high ranking clergy, on a journey. Quite high ranking and had a driver. He
came across an accident scene on the way. Kind enough he pulled by and then
noticed that the victims critically needed prayers and some last blessings. He
looked around, reacted in a loud voice, "Is there no priest around here to
give these dying victims at least some final blessings and anointing."
Meanwhile, he completely and insensitively forgot that, he, himself was a
priest!
As Pope Francis
affirms, in Lumen Fidei, the Love of God precedes us. It is limitless.
It is universal. With faith we want to lean on it for peace and security. It
beams from faith. May this love gives us new vision, new light and fresh eyes
of looking at things and our fellow humans, so that we may go out there and be
merciful and compassionate without limit, to anyone, and to everyone we meet on
our ways- homes, schools, and churches, private and public places? How we love
is an expression of the depth of our Faith.
Reflection
Questions
1.
Do we believe that faith in God is expressed through
love?
2.
What are the challenges or darkness that beclouds our
faith and love of God and neighbors?
3.
Are we the light of the world and the salt of the earth?
Loving God in our Neighbors!
Fifteenth Sunday Year C
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
§ Deut 30:10-14;
§ Ps 69:14, 17, 30-34, 36-37; or Ps 19:8-11;
§ Col 1:15-20
§ Luke 10:25-37.
In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 10:25-37)
there is this great scholar, a scribe, a professor of the law who wants to know
what he must do in order to inherit the kingdom of God. What must I do to
inherit the kingdom of God? The answer which Jesus led him to- is central
to the bible lessons of today namely, that loving God (with all our heart, mind
and soul) as well as our neighbors as we would have truly loved ourselves!
Moreover, we gain eternal life by loving God whom we encounter not only in the
sacraments, in the Holy Eucharist, in the songs we sing this day, in the
scriptures, but more importantly in how we visibly treat one another. Somebody
sitting by your side. Somebody who needs help. Somebody, that man, that woman,
that child we meet on our way- is my neighbor!
Deuteronomy
30:10-14, the first reading, which is generally a humanitarian sermon preached
by Moses, on mount Nebo, tells us that this law, the love of God and our
neighbor is written in our hearts. It is apriori. It is self-evidence.
It is divine. It is written in our hearts. One does not need a college or
a university degree to learn how to love, how to be merciful, how to be respectful,
how to be compassionate to our next door neighbor, or somebody we meet in the
train, in the school, in the work place, or in our churches.
Besides
what is written in our hearts, which Moses, reminded Israel of his time
of... Saint Paul, in the second reading (Col 1:15-20) reminds the Colossians,
by implication, each of us, that just as Jesus Christ is the “visible image of
the invisible God,” so our neighbors (rich and poor, tall and short, white and
black, brown and yellow, heavy and slim, young and old, male and female, boy
and girl, Jews and Gentiles, N-S, E-W), are the visible image of Christ living
in our midst. God speaks to us in our hearts. He speaks to us through Christ
and through our neighbors.
This
is what we mean when we sing that Matthew 25 "whatsoever you do to the
least of my brethren so you do unto me..?" And this is truly what Jesus
meant by telling that scribe, that professor of the law- the gospel parable of
today, that familiar and popular parable of the Good Samaritan. In that
parable, the Good Samaritan, unlike the other two uncharitable religious
leaders (priest and Levi) went to the assistance of the man who was almost
beaten to dead, and abandoned with fatal wounds, on the Jerusalem-Jericho road.
What a beautiful way of reminding us that we can only truly say we love God by
loving our neighbors, by behaving like the Good Samaritan- who responded with
mercy and compassion to this robber’s victim.
It
is true that no single person can solve all the world’s problems in all the continents:
the poverty, the racism, the gun violence, the selfishness, the decline in
Christian parenting, and the “you are on your own attitude.” Neither is God
asking us to board a plane from (JFK etc)…. now to Jerusalem-Jericho road in
Palestine to assist the robber victim. Not Necessarily! Rather, as believers,
there is another road from Jerusalem to Jericho that passes right through
our homes, parishes, our streets, our home towns, our neighborhoods, dioceses,
schools, and work places. In these roads, there may be some spouses, children
or parents lying emotionally wounded in our homes, due to one form of abuse,
insults, violent or another! There may be a brother or a sister living
nearby, sitting nearby, living next door who has special needs that we can
meet. It could be a simple greeting or a smile! It could be a simple looking
into their eyes, saying, hello!
Finally,
the Good Samaritan challenges us today [especially in this Year of Mercy], to
be open-minded to everyone, to be charitable, to be compassionate, to be
forgiving, to be down to earth, to be approachable, to be available, to be
loving, to be merciful to our neighbors, those in need, the church
in need, that town in need, or to people of all walks of life-
irrespective of color, height, race, culture and religion!
Reflection
Questions
1.
Do we believe that faith in God is expressed through
love?
2.
What are the challenges or darkness that beclouds our
faith and love of God and neighbors?
3.
Are we the light of the world and the salt of the earth?
