To read the texts click on the texts: Lev19:1-2,11-18; Mt 25:31-46
The Gospel text of today is
a passage about the "kingdom" of God, about all those who are kin to
God, and, therefore, who are kin to each other. We are each of us kin to one
another. We are all indeed one. The deepest expression of this truth, on this
side of life, is a spirituality in which there is no split between our devotion
and our deed; no split between mystery and commandment; no split between piety
and ethics and no split between being and doing. Like mystery and commandment,
interwoven as they are, Jesus is one with the hungry and the thirsty, is one
with the stranger and the prisoner, and is one with the naked and the sick. To
care for these, is to care for Jesus. To care for them is to reach back into
the very essence of life and to touch the God who takes shape in the hungry, in
the thirsty, in the naked, in the sick, in the stranger, in the prisoner.
"And then the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it
to one of the least of these, who are members of my family, you did it to
me.'" The text, thus, is not so much about the condemnation of God, as it
is really about the universal vision of the love of God, about the very scope
of God's love in Jesus for the whole world. Jesus remains the model of
unconditional and eternal love. This was shown in the most powerful of ways by
Jesus himself, when in total obedience to the Father, he dared to spread his
arms on the Cross in total surrender of self. Therefore, God raised him.
This understanding is
important to avoid any kind of misinterpretation that might arise due to a
person thinking that it is his/her deeds that earn merit and reward. The
righteous who reached out to the least of their brothers and sisters, did so
because of the necessity to help, love, serve, visit and feed. They dared to
listen to the promptings of the Spirit and responded to these promptings. They
did not do what they did for reward. It was not the condition of their good
deeds, but its consequences. They did not earn the kingdom but inherited it.
Inheritance is determined by the giver not the receiver. The kingdom remains a
free gift of God.
Though the unrighteousness
also address Jesus as Lord – a title used in Matthew’s Gospel only by those who
at least have some faith - it is not enough. Their address remains at the
theoretical level and is not translated into action. They did not act because
they did not believe that God could hide himself in the poorest of the poor.
They did not believe that God could be present in the scum of society and in
those who live on the margins. They believed that God could be present only in
a beautiful sunset or in the stimulating fragrance of a rose or in the silence
of one’s heart. They did not realize that our God had been made visible in
Jesus, who taught all who were willing to listen, that God was primarily a God
of the poor, and that though he was king, he came only to serve.
The sufferings borne by the
least of our brothers and sisters continue to summon and challenge us as Church
today. They continue to ask us to dare to be credible and authentic witnesses
of the Gospel. They invite us not merely to preach acts of loving kindness but
to do them. However, what we need is not merely more action, more doing for the
sake of doing. No! What we need is a universal unity of love and togetherness.
It is a togetherness that transcends all of our frontiers, the frontiers of our
mind and of our heart, the frontiers of our creeds and doctrines, the frontiers
of our ideas and concepts. This is a radical call to transcend all of those
externals that keep us apart, that keep us separated and split.
The challenge for us today
is to forget our own needs for love and happiness and to reach out in love to
make someone else happy who may be in greater need. For whatever we do to the
least of these needy children of God, these brothers and sisters of Jesus, we
do to Jesus Himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You may use the "Anonymous" option to leave a comment if you do not possess a Google Account. But please leave your name and URL as www.errolsj.com