Going to the Heart of the Matter

Homily: Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Matthew 22:34-40

25 October 2020

Fr. Ricky Montanez

There is a household inhabited by people known to publicly practice their faith and spread the gospel. Their neighbors believe them to be so kind to have employed a helper despite her hearing disability and history of abuse. Their helper is trustworthy, and hardworking and has a cheerful disposition. She sincerely cares for the family and normally goes beyond her duties to see to it that they are comfortable. They speak to her kindly  and take her on a shopping spree on her birthday. Her employers claim to appreciate and love her very much. Lately she asked if she could be taken for a check up since she was experiencing painful urination, lower back pain and persistent low grade fever.  They refused! They downplayed her need for medical attention, saying her symptoms were chronic and nothing serious anyway and that she risked contracting worse illnesses in the hospital. They feel justified in their actions because they claim to care about her. Would you say their actions were genuinely motivated by love and concern? What can you say about how they prioritized their expression of compassion for their helper? 

For sure, priorities can differ among people. These are extremely personal to each one of us and they are formed by our values, environment and life experiences. What are your priorities in life? Have they been changed by your experience of the pandemic? The economy is in recession, businesses have closed down, jobs have been lost and more people are experiencing poverty. Are the things you thought absolutely necessary before, equally indispensable now? 

St. Augustine once said the essence of sin is disordered love. His statement suggests that there is a proper order of loving. We are to love God above all, in recognition and appreciation that we are His creatures.  It is but right that we worship Him. If we place anything or anyone before God, that becomes the thing we worship. Romans 1:25 warns against exchanging the truth of God for a lie, and worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. The order in which we love is also evident in the way we live. We look at our motivations and see what drives us to do the things we do. When you do good things for others are you looking at what others really need or are you trying to glorify yourself? Why do some people donate gowns and party clothes and expired food items to the calamity stricken? Do they truly love others? When people are more concerned with appearing generous or compassionate, it is their image they love more than anything. Another measure of your priorities would be to ask what you fear losing the most. If your house was on fire, what would you save first? Your family? Your jewelry? A prized painting? Your pet dog?  Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21  

Recently, I presided over a wedding here at CTK.  There were only six (6) people in attendance. I’ve been used to observing the grand church productions that could make a bid for “the wedding of the century”. The groom joked, “It’s less stressful and cheaper to get married these days.” The bride’s comment, however, touched my heart. She said, “We decided to push through with the wedding despite the odds because we want the Lord’s blessing on our life together more than anything else. This is something we cannot postpone nor forego.” I admire these engaged couples who recognize what is truly essential about the sacrament they are asking of the church. 

Also commendable are parents with their newly-born children  who sought Baptism for their little ones the moment the quarantine restrictions permitted. It didn’t matter that only a maximum of ten (10) people were allowed in the baptistry or that they could not hold a huge celebration in a proper venue with throngs of invited friends and family.  What mattered was that they could have their little one initiated into God’s spiritual family and ensure the salvation of the child’s soul. 

These are stories of how people learned to prioritize higher values. They have learned the proper order of love.  In this Sunday’s gospel, a scholar of the law tests Jesus by asking Him to identify the greatest commandment from among the 613 laws of the rabbinical tradition. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Their intention, was to trap Jesus, as it was last Sunday. Remember that the query was posed by the Pharisees, the experts in the law.  Had Jesus selected one among the 613 laws, they would have easily argued their way into making Jesus appear, heretical or blasphemous.  Jesus, however, seeing through their intentions, responds by going to the very heart of the matter. He doesn’t choose from among the clear cut laws. He captures uniquely a truth that none of them can contest: to love God with one’s entire being is a commandment above all others. Then Jesus adds the expression of the love of others as an extension of the self. The first commandment is lifted from the Book of Deuteronomy 6:5, known as the Shema, which is committed to heart and recited morning and evening by every devout Jew. The second one is a citation from Leviticus 19:18, which is an injunction to love one’s neighbour as oneself.  The two commandments are inseparable and inter-related. 

In pointing this out Jesus does not negate the other commandments. Instead, Jesus clearly reminds them that everything else that they do shall be measured against the highest ideals of love.  Jesus revolutionizes the perception of God, from the prevalent Old Testament archetype of someone who metes out  punishment and must be feared and obeyed, to a God who relates to human beings with love and to whom we are invited to respond with love, rather than fear. For Jesus, God is our Father — full of compassion and is meticulously attentive to the most vulnerable, defenceless, and disadvantaged among His people. Jesus shows his adversaries that it is not enough to memorize the law and live it to the letter. Of more importance is learning that love for God ought to be the very core from which all our actions flow. 

The second half of Jesus answer suggests that one’s love for God should not only remain on the level of thought and speech but should come to fruition through our loving actions toward our neighbour. He reveals that love of oneself should form the basis of our love for others. It may strike you as odd, because Jesus’ entire life is a testament to selflessness, of putting the needs of others before our own. Why does he say “Love others as you do yourself”? Does this not presuppose that you must love yourself first in order to afford love to others?  I guess the answer lies in the same principle behind the saying, “We cannot give what we do not have.” Recall also the familiar instructions on flights that should cabin pressure drop, you must put an oxygen mask on yourself first, before you help others put on theirs. In his letters, St. John writes: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20) Furthermore, St. Paul cites the Christians of Thessalonica as an example of how their commendable life has served as a witness of their faith in Jesus Christ for others. “You have become a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia,… but (also) in every place your faith has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.”  

As we all continue our struggle to find some normalcy in our present setting, may Jesus’ commandments of love be our guide, helping us to order our priorities correctly.  St. Augustine famously said: “Love, and do what you will.” If we train ourselves to love God above all, we can be assured that we will not do anything in life to offend Him. May our loving God truly be “our rock of refuge, our shield, our horn of salvation, our stronghold” to see us through difficulties.  May we always walk together in love as brothers and sisters in Christ.