HOMILY: 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
HOMILY: 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
THEME: THE COMMANDMENT TO LOVE
By: Rev Fr Stephen ‘Dayo Osinkoya
Exodus 22: 20-26
Psalm 17
1 Thessalonian 1: 5-10
Matthew 22: 34-40
A man was offered a N1,000 note (one thousand naira), but he noticed that the one thousand naira note was incomplete. It was half torn and he could not use it without the second half and stitching the two parts together. In the same way, love is made up of two essential parts – love of God and love of neighbour and each of these parts is necessary to make love more meaningful.
On this 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time and just as we come gradually to the end of the year and also the cycle of Ordinary Time, our liturgy today reminds us of what is most important – the commandment to love. The first reading from Exodus reminds us that there is a link between our ritual and justice. Our faithfulness to God cannot be separated from our practice of justice in everyday life. How we treat others has a direct link to our relationship with God.
ALSO RECOMMENDED: HOMILY: 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A
There is a poem written by Englishman Leigh Hunt about a man called Abou Ben Adhem. Abou Ben Adhem woke from his sleep one night and saw in his room an angel writing in a book of gold the names of those who love God. “And is mine one?” inquired Abou. “Nay, not so,” replied the angel. “I pray thee, then,” said Abou, “write me as one who loves his fellow men.” The following night the angel came again and displayed the names of those who love God and Abou Ben Adhem’s name topped the list. This poem makes the point that true love of God and true love of our fellow human beings are like two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist apart from the other. That is the point we find in today’s gospel.
Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment in the law. The answer, of course is love of God. But Jesus does not stop there. He goes on to give a more practical answer. He gives the other side of the coin as well, which is love of neighbour. True love of God and true love of neighbour are practically one and the same thing. As Jesus said:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
How, then, do we respond to Christ’s mandate that we love everyone as we love ourselves? First of all, we should take it for what it is – a mandate, a command. It is something we must choose to do with little or no regard for our feelings. Love is a choice, a decision, a commitment to do things. That is why Jesus is commanding us to love others. It’s what we do to others not how we feel toward them that matters. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. If we live in peace we must help our neighbours to live in peace. If we are living well we must help others to live well too. And if we are happy we must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. This is because God really wants us to find, worship and love Him through others (our neighbours), and when we find God we find our own peace and love too.
This is why in the first reading of today, God through Moses warns us as he warned the Israelites to be careful of how we treat others, most especially the weak in the society, the widows, the poor, and the strangers: “You must not oppress the stranger or molest him…not be harsh with the widow or with orphans.” God really hates oppression and injustice especially against the weak and the poor. (Cf. Proverbs 22:22-23, Isaiah 10:1-3, Zechariah 7:10)
The Cross is a complete illustration of love of God and neighbour. The vertical line of the cross illustrates our love for God and the horizontal line of the cross illustrates our relationship with our neighbours. If the two lines are not crossed, they are not a cross. And without the cross, there is no Christianity. So if God’s love for us is expressed by Christ’s death on the cross, the love of others should be our cross too.
FOR SIMILAR HOMILY, CLICK HERE >>>>
