Love, the foundation of all laws

Homily for 30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-30

Introduction

A story is told of a gentile (a non-Jew), who wanted to convert to Judaism.  But because he was not staying long in Jerusalem, he wanted a Rabbi to expound for him the contents of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) within the length of time a person can stand on one foot.

So he went up to Rabbi Shammai, who was famous for his strict interpretation of the Law.  The Rabbi went over the Torah, its laws and those that Jewish interpretation had since then added - all declared to be equally obligatory and necessary for salvation.  At last he had to admit that this was an impossible task.

The gentile then went to Rabbi Hillel, who did not find the least difficulty with the request and without beating about the bush, answered, "Whatever is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man.  This is the whole law: all the rest is commentary.  Now go and study."

Scripture and Theology

It is no wonder then that Jesus, in today’s gospel, teaches that “The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments:” love of God and love of neighbour.  Jesus gives this answer to a lawyer who is testing him by asking: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  Perhaps the lawyer expected Jesus to pick one of the Ten Commandments, such as “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” or “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  And then lawyer would have showed Jesus how other laws were far superior to the one he had chosen.  But Jesus does not fall into the trap; instead he uses the occasion to teach a fundamental truth: that behind all legitimate laws lies the important principle of love of God and love of neighbour.  Like the second Rabbi taught the gentile man, the whole law, all 613 commandments, was summarized in the command to do nothing hateful to a neighbour, that is, to love.

Even the Ten Commandments, are nicely summarized by these two laws of love.  The first three commandments are inspired by love of God, while the last seven, by love of neighbour.

·        When we keep the three commandments, we are in fact loving God: by worshipping him alone, by not profaning his name and by keeping the Lord’s Day holy.

·        When we keep the last seven commandments, we are in fact loving our neighbour.  A person who respects his parents, who does not kill, who does not commit adultery, who does not steal, who does not give false witness, who does not desire other people’s property and other people’s spouses, definitely loves their neighbour.

But Jesus was not the first to make this connection between law and love.  The Old Testament is full of references to these two laws.  Deuteronomy 6:5 teaches about the love of God while Leviticus 19:18 teaches about the love of neighbour.  In fact devout Jews recited the commandment about loving God at morning and evening prayer each day. And as we heard in the first reading, loving and caring for one’s neighbour, particularly the widow, orphan and stranger, were very important requirements of the Jewish daily life.

Jesus, however, for the first time teaches that while love of God and love of neighbour, are the summary and inspiration of all laws, the two loves must go together.  Love of God is the greatest of the commandments, but love of neighbour resembles and flows from love of God.  You cannot say that you love God and you do not love your neighbour.  Nor can you love your neighbour and say you go do not love God. 

Christian Life

For many people today, the words “law” and “love” are diametrically opposed.

·        Law imposes obligations on me, while love gives me desire and affection.

·        Law forbids me from doing the things I want, while with love, there is nothing I cannot do for a love one.

·        Law is a burden, while love is a pleasure.

Recently I was reproaching a student about some misconduct.  In response he told me that rather than enforce the laws of the school, I should be promoting love.  I am sure that you parents here, when correcting your children have been naughty in some way, have been told: “Mum, you don’t love me.”  And yet, for teachers and mothers, enforcing the law is love; it is tough love.

·        Perhaps in today’s society we fail to see the intimate connection between laws and love, because laws are often presented in the negative.  “Thou shalt not do this or that shalt not have that.”

·        Perhaps we fail to see that love is the basis for all laws because laws are often enforced with punishment or the threat of punishment and nobody likes punishment?

It might be easier for us to the connection between the two, between law and love, if we realize that what God really wants from us is not just the keeping of laws.  God wants to have a relationship with us, a friendship with each of us.  Laws are just the guidelines or that relationship, a set of principles that directs our friendship with God.  The laws are a set of duties that we taken upon ourselves when we enter into a love relationship with the Lord.

1.    For example, the first commandment enjoins us to have no other God but the God of Jesus Christ.  Why not?  Because we love God and we must love him above all else.  As the young people today say, he must be our BFF, Best Friend forever.  Even in marriage, you cannot say you really love your spouse, if you have another man or woman on the side.

2.    From the commandments that regulate our love for neighbour, the sixth commandment enjoins us not to commit adultery.  Why not?  Again if we really love our spouse, he or she then is the only person with whom to be intimate.  We we cannot share that intimacy with another.

We could go through all the Ten Commandments, but if we did we would be here until the cows come home, and I might not be invited again.  Let this be your homework, to reflect on the all the commandments given to us by God and the Church, and see why there is only one reason to keep them, and that is, because we love God, and in some of them because we also love our neighbour.

Conclusion

As we reflect on the commandments, let us remember the passage about love in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 13.  We often hear this passage at weddings, where clearly we are celebrating the love of two people getting married.  But did not write this letter for married couples, he wrote it for all Christians, to teach us, like Jesus does, that love is the backbone of everything that we do.  And so let me give the last word to St. Paul.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.  And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails (1 Cor. 13:1-8a).

Citizenship of two worlds

Homily for 29^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 • I Thess 1:1-5 • Matthew 22:15-21

Introduction

Every priest or deacon is aware that his homily will probably affect people differently.  Two years ago around election time, a priest friend was preaching at a church in the area.  And faithfully following the bishop’s instructions, he steered clear of partisan politics, that is, he avoided telling the parishioners who to vote for.  Rather, he spoke about how Catholic teaching touches upon the various hot button issues of our society: marriage, sexuality, immigration, poverty, death-penalty etc.  He was happy with himself, for what he thought was a job well done.

But at the end of Mass, as he was walking down the aisle, barely getting to the main door, a visibly angry parishioner came accosting him verbally: “Why did you preach against my party, my candidate?”  And before storming off the parishioner told him to leave out politics and preach only about God, telling the priest: “Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

My priest-friend was still recovering from this when a few minutes later, as people continued filing by when another parishioner came to him with an axe to grind.  But this time, her complaint was quite the opposite: “Father, why were you so wishy-washy in your homily?  Why did you not just come out and tell us who to vote for?  Why don’t you give us very clear instructions?”

Scripture and Theology

Jesus faces a similar problem in today’s gospel, but this time the two groups who don’t like each other, are conniving to bring him down: Pharisees and Herodians.

·        The Pharisees were deeply religious and nationalistic; they hated the Romans who were occupying their nation.

·        The Herodians on the other hand were very secular and were willing collaborators with the occupying Romans.

But now these two diametrically opposed groups join hands and come to entrap Jesus.  I guess as they say, my enemy’s enemy could be my friend.  And so they ask him this loaded question: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” 

This would be like someone asking you today, “Have you stopped beating your wife?”  A “yes” or “no” answer puts you between a rock and a hard place.  A “yes” or “no” answer would have put Jesus in a Catch-22 situation.

·        If Jesus said, “Yes it is lawful to pay taxes to the Romans,” the Pharisees, who opposed Roman occupation, would say: “Aah.  We got you.  You are a Roman collaborator.  You have betrayed God and our nation.”

·        But if Jesus said “No, it is not lawful to pay taxes to the Romans,” the Herodians would immediately hand him to the authorities as a subversive, one encouraging people to evade taxes.  The IRS would come after him.

Jesus is too smart for their trap.  He does not give a “Yes or No” answer.  Instead he asks for the coin with which the tax is to be paid.  He points out to them that this coin bears the face of the Emperor and then gives the famous reply: “. . . repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

This answer is famous, not just because it gets Jesus out of a tight spot, escaping the accusation of being either a traitor or a subversive.  But this answer is especially important because in it Jesus teaches us the basic relationship between Christians and the society in which we live.  Not only should Christians give allegiance to legitimate civil authority, Christians must also participate fully in society, in the meantime obeying God and working for the things of heaven.

We cannot be like the Pharisees or Herodians, who choose one or the other.  The Pharisees chose religion, the Herodians chose government.  Today some people speak about separation of Church and State in much the same way, suggesting that the two have thing to do with each other, like the man who accosted my priest-friend.  They think that Church life begins when you enter those doors and stops as soon as you exit the Church.  They want you to choose between Town Hall and the Cathedral, between the mayor and the bishop.

This thinking is wrong.  Jesus said: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar AND to God what belongs to God.”  Jesus did not gives us multiple choice, where we have to choose either to give to Caesar or to give to God.  We must attend to both, especially because the truth is this: everything belongs to God, even that which we give to Caesar.  Jesus simply makes this distinction because the things of Caesar will end on this side of death; while there are other things that will survive death and will live on in the world to come, where we shall be with God.

Christian Life

And so as Christians, our involvement in this world is not an optional extra.  We give to Caesar when we involve ourselves fully in transforming this world and bringing it under the kingship of Jesus Christ.  At the Final Resurrection, this is the world that Jesus will hand back to the Father, not some other world in some other galaxy, but this world.  And that is why, we cannot brush off this world; we must begin living heaven here on this earth.  How might we do this?

First, from the very beginning of Christianity, Christians have been known for caring for the poor and needy.  In fact, that is what won them the admiration of many pagans, especially because Christians cared, not just for their own poor, but for all who were needy.  Now if this earthly world was not important, why would be we concerned about earthly things like food, water, clothing, medicine, education, housing, even the environment?  We care about these things, we care about our society, because what happens here on earth has effects for life in heaven.  When we ensure that Caesar’s society on this earth has life and life to the fullest, we are already beginning the experience of heaven, of life with God.

Secondly, we have to give to Caesar in our family life and in our work.  Especially as lay people, your theatre of operation is in family and work.  You fathers and mothers give of yourselves completely to your children, feeding them, clothing them, teaching them, disciplining them.  These things which belong to this side of heaven, prepare us for the Kingdom.  When you go to work, in an office or at a worksite, in public or private service, self-employed or under a boss, your job is your theatre of operation, the place where your Christian faith is revealed, not just in words, but in the way you do your work.  You are giving Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but in reality all you are giving will return to God eventually.  That is why Church teaching takes family life and work life very seriously.

Finally, we have the issue of political life.  Despite the temptation towards cynicism in politics today, we cannot dismiss political life as if it were useless.  That is why in the first reading, we heard that God used King Cyrus, a pagan king as his instrument to liberate the Jewish People.  Respect for the legitimate role of government is part of our giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.  But we must also take up our civic role, in voting, in going to town hall meetings, in standing for election ourselves – Christians do these things, because we want to transform this world and make it ready for the Lord.  When Jesus returns at the Final Judgement, he will find a world that is nearly ready to be given to the Father.

Conclusion

There is a prayer the priest says at Mass during the season of Advent.  In that prayer, we pray that the Lord “may teach us to judge wisely the things of earth and hold firm to the things of heaven.”  For we are dual citizens; although our primary citizenship is in heaven, we currently travel under the passport of our earthly citizenship.  As we work to acquiring the passport to eternal life, let us take up fully our rights and our duties in this earthly city, as we also hold on to and work towards ensuring our permanent citizenship in heaven.

RSVPS and wedding garments

Homily for 28^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Isaiah 25:6-10: Philippians 4:12-14.19-20; Matthew 22:1-14

Introduction

Having lived in New Orleans now for a few years, I have learnt that you don’t need a reason to have a party.  New Orleans is known all over for its good food, its daiquiris and its partying.  But why do we enjoy our food and drink so much?

Now some people think that we New Orleanians are gluttons and drunkards.  But I think the reason we treasure our food and drink is because we know that eating and drinking together builds fellowship in the family and among friends.  Whether it is the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, whether it is Grandma’s Sunday dinner or the family evening meal, we know that it is not just about the food or drink; it is about sharing fellowship and communion.

Scripture and Theology

We can therefore appreciate why Jesus often speaks about eating and drinking in the many parables he tells, including today’s parable about the King’s wedding feast.  We can appreciate why Jesus actually shared in many meals and banquets not only with his followers and friends, but also with sinners and the Pharisees, so much so that they call him a glutton and a drunkard.  Like us, Jesus knows that the family that eats together stays together.

And so, he uses banquets to teach us about the Kingdom of God and how we can get there.  You see heaven is a spiritual reality that is really difficult to explain with words.  But the example of a banquet comes close to explaining it.  Like the king in the parable invited his friends to share in the joyful wedding of his son, God also invites us to share the joy life with him in heaven.

Several hundred years earlier, as we heard in the first reading, Isaiah had also described heaven in terms of a banquet.  He said: “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines . . . .”

But today’s parable does not just describe what heaven is like; the parable also describes three kinds of RSVPs, three kinds of responses, representing three possible human responses to God’s invitation to eternal life.

1.    The first group of invited guests turn down the invitation, one because he is going to his farm do and the other to his business, and others still kill the messengers.  This group represents all those who rejected Jesus and had him killed, especially the Pharisees and Priests.

2.    The second group of guests are those whom the servants bring in from the streets, both the good and bad.  Yes, both the good and bad are invited to the feast, just as Jesus invites to the Kingdom, both the virtuous and sinners.  Some of the bad change their lives and become committed to the Lord, such as the tax-collectors and prostitutes who became his disciples.

3.    In this new group of guests, however, there is a man not wearing a wedding garment.  This one guest represents those who responded to the invitation of Jesus, but failed to live by his teaching, such as Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord.

Christian Life

We Christians today have also received an invitation to a banquet.  On the night before he died Jesus instituted the Eucharist and told us: do this in memory of me.  Jesus invites us to the Mass to share in his Word and in his Body and Blood.  The Mass is a concrete sign for us of the great banquet we shall have with God in heaven.  The Mass gives us, while we are still on this side of death, a real experience of what heaven will be like.

How do we respond to this invitation, to Mass and to heaven, which Mass represents?  Like the three types of responses in the parable, we also respond in three different ways.

1.    Sadly survey after survey reports that only 30% of Catholics in this country come to Sunday Mass regularly. The rest, the 70%, refuse this invitation to share in the Word of God and in his life-giving Body and saving cup. 

2.    But we the 30% that come to Mass can be further divided into those that come to Mass wearing a wedding garment and those that don’t.  What is the wedding garment for Mass?  The wedding garment for Mass is something we wear both on the inside and on the outside.

a.    The wedding garment is love of God and neighbour. When we celebrate Mass, the sacrament of love we must also have love.  We must love God some much that we pray to him with devotion and reverence.  We must love our neighbour so much that we treat other people well, whether it is before Mass, during Mass and after Mass.

b.    This interior wedding garment of love is shown externally in how we present ourselves for Mass.  Do we keep the one-hour fast?  Do we come early and recollect ourselves?  Do we come dressed appropriately as this sacred occasion demands?  Are we texting at Mass or browsing our smartphones?  Do we chew gum at Mass?  Do we genuflect and bow, stand and kneel when we should?  Do we recite the prayers and sing the hymns?  Do we leave Church early, right after communion, to beat the parking lot traffic?

And so, simply coming to Mass is no guarantee that we have a healthy relationship with God.  We also need to wear the wedding garment of devotion to God and charity to our neighbour, interior attitudes that we express in our outward behaviour.

Conclusion

Let today’s gospel challenge each of us to ask ourselves: Which of the three types of guests am I?  Am I among those who refuse the invitation of Jesus?  Am I among those who accept the invitation but do not accept its conditions?  Or am I among those who accept the invitation fully and come to the wedding not only wearing the wedding garment, but also carrying wedding gifts?

Let us ask the Lord to give us the wisdom and courage, to respond to his invitation in the only way that leads to heaven, our true home.  We who know the great value of food and drink, especially when consumed together at a meal, party or banquet, do not want to miss out on the greatest banquet of all, life with God in heaven forever.