30 TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR A
Love…It’s as simple as that…Love…It’s all about love…Love for God,
love for others, and for self.
So when we hear the words of Jesus in our gospel today about love, he is
speaking to the very heart of what it means to be one of his followers.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul
and with all your mind. And that’s the demanding nature, I think of Christian love;
that God wants all of us, not just a part of us. We are called to love God
unconditionally and wholeheartedly, without any reservation.
Of course, we fall short of that time and time again. And, because God
loved us first, he always forgives and accepts us back. But that must not stop us
giving ourselves to God each day and renewing our commitment to a life of
discipleship and true love for God.
You shall love your neighbor…The command to love our neighbor isn’t just
about loving those who share the same faith as us or who share our interests or
who are similar to us.
The command to love our neighbor means to love those who are antagonistic
toward us – or may even hate us – and that is, by far, the hardest thing to do. But
such is the cost of love if we want to be followers of Jesus. Christian love for
others is unconditional, friends and enemies alike.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself. For many people, this is the
hardest thing of all to hear – that God love you.
There was a wonderful Christian author who died some years back, named
J.B. Phillips. He wrote dozens of books of the spiritual life. Over the years,
hundreds of people wrote to him with their problems and he faithfully let them to
God. And through his ministry, many people received healing and blessing from
God.
What was less known was that J.B. Phillips suffered from clinical depression
his entire life and that illness brought him to the brink of suicide a number of
times. His problems ran deep, but a major part of his depressions was not feeling
acceptable to God and so, he hated himself.
Maybe that’s true for some of us too. We hate what we are and we can’t
believe that God can love us. But, Jesus gently challenges this attitude when he
says, Love your neighbor as you love yourself. He doesn’t say, more that you love
yourself or less than you love yourself, but as you love yourself. We are acceptable
to God and God loves us just as we are and for whom we are.
Love is the very definition of Christian faith. It is the heartbeat of what it
means for us to follow Jesus: A love that is mission oriented and demanding and
inclusive and self-accepting. We need to pray for ourselves and for each other that
we can grow in love and reflect the ministry of Jesus in our lives