Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

When I first came to the United States I was at a parish in St. Louis. I was invited by a parishioner to work at a soup kitchen run by the Sisters of Charity. This gentleman is a really good person and we keep in touch even today. On the way, this man shared with me why he helped at the soup kitchen each week. On the one hand his motivation was really the willingness to help the hungry. But a greater motivation as I figured out was guilt – guilt for past; There was also fear – fear that he will not make it to heaven. He said to me, “I am making sure that I have a place in heaven.” I have to admit I have myself thought like this man often. It is possible then, that even our most charitable action comes primarily not out of love for God or love for others but out of our own need. In a real sense we are not doing charity but we are really using people so that we can feel good about ourselves. It is in this context that I would like to reflect on the readings for today. A pious Jew at the time of Jesus was expected to follow 613 laws. These laws related to every aspect of human life - from worship to leisure. In reality, at the core of these laws were two things: God and the human person. In other words, these laws are not about the Laws themselves. These laws are about relationships. If we as human beings forget the “persons” (God and neighbour) then even the meticulous following of these laws achieve no good. We end up becoming like the Pharisees in today’s gospel reading. They asked Jesus the question about the Law to “test” him. They were asking him to choose between 613 laws. But this not the real purpose of the Law. The Law was put to the wrong use. The Pharisees had forgotten the core purpose of the Law.

Jesus’ answer refocuses the Pharisees back on to the two core aspects of the Law. “You shall love the Lord your God…” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” It is in light of these two commandments that we must understand the first reading. What does a society, a nation, a family or a person who lives by “the love of God and the love of neingbor look like? First, God would be at the very centre – of the heart, the soul, the mind. This means that God would be at the centre of the centre of every person. How can anybody know whether God is at the centre of a person? The answer to this question is the second point. The neighbour would be at the centre of the person, especially the weak, the poor, the helpless, the immigrant and the oppressed neighbor. That is the relevance of the first reading today. The Israelites are asked to treat the alien, the widow, the orphan with dignity. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is not our needs, our fears, our guilt that is the focus here. The focus is on God and the neighbour.

Let me offer three practical implications:

1. Jesus is basically saying that there are two principles that never get compromised: a) that I love God above all and through it all and b) that my basic attitude toward people is love. I said earlier that the Law is about relationships. Relationship, both with God and others is complex. There will be times when both these principles are tested. There will be times when life tests us so much that God seems far away. There will be times when we will be inclined to lose trust in human beings. Above all and through it all Jesus is saying that our basic attitude, at the centre of the centre of our lives must be “love of God” and the “love of other human beings.”

2. The motivation for building our lives on these two principles is, “Christ on the cross.” The motivation for the person in my story at the beginning was his own desire to be in heaven, his guilt, his fear. On the contrary, in the first reading God asks people to recall their own experience of helplessness as the motivation to treat the weakest people with respect. For us, the greatest motivation should be Christ on the cross. Christ on the cross is our experience of how much Christ loved God and how much Christ loved us. It is as if God is asking us to be on the cross each day. It is in our bringing God to the centre of the centre of our beings like Christ did, it is in our offering ourselves selflessly to others that we find our own redemption.

3. This week let us allow Christ to help us refocus on the two core aspects of the Law – love of God and love of neighbor. We can live the first principle by making sure that each day we take the time to be with God. Let us bring God into the centre of the centre of our heart, our soul and our mind. Second, not from our abundance, but from our struggles, from our needs, not from our guilt, not from our fears, but from our poverty let us take time to focus on one weak person in our family, our neighbourhood or society. After all the Law is first about God and the human relationships.

This Eucharist is a celebration of the love of God and the love of neighbour. In obedient love for his Father, Jesus offered himself to the Father's will. In genuine love for us, he offered himself for our redemption. Let us go and live Christ in our lives. Amen
- Fr. Satish Joseph