Rev.
Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
WHAT MUST
WE DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?
As
humans, we are always desiring to know what life requires of us, especially when
we are faced with the realities of life. We often want to know the things that
should be our priority. So we always ask questions that will help us in
addressing most of the challenges we encounter. These questions are sometimes
meant to test our ability towards understanding the realities of life.
This
is the deposition of the lawyer in our Gospel passage today, who came to Jesus
to test him by asking him questions concerning the requirements for inheriting
eternal life. This lawyer backing up his question with his knowledge of the Ten Commandments, referred to the 'Shema Israel’, the prayer that the people
of Israel knew and recited from their earliest years, from which they learned
that the most important thing in life is to love God with all their heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all their mind and to love their neighbour as well.
In other words, loving God with all our heart, with all our understanding and
strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves is what is required of us and
it is the foundation of all the things we have to do.
But
this lawyer needed more clarification concerning these requirements, then he
asked Jesus a second important question when he said: who is my neighbour? At
this point Jesus did not just explain, he illustrated who a true neighbour
should be with the famous story of the good Samaritan. In fact, from the story
Jesus did not just answer the question: ‘Who is my neighbor?’ He also demonstrates what a true and righteous neighbour should be like, thereby showing
us that our neighbours are often those we least expect to be neighbours. For
our neighbour can be anyone even the ones we most despise or fear just like
the good Samaritan and this tells us that a true neighbour shows compassion,
love, and care and makes sacrifices for others.
Dear
friends, love is the centre of all the teachings of Jesus, for love is a gift
from God to humanity. It is like the stream water, so innocent and pure. True love is not hidden, it radiates from the innermost being of a person who
experienced it. If we love God, then, we will see him in others and treat them
justly and honourably. We will not hurt our neighbours but do our utmost best
to live in peace with them.
The
truth is that the absence of love is the cause of all the problems in our
world today as most families exist by grace and not by love. Imagine how
wonderful the world would be if we all loved one another. How I wish we could invest our time and resources in ensuring love and unity in our dealings with
one another. Believe me, we will not only be fulfilling the first and greatest
commandments of God, but we will be building a happy community.
LET US
PRAY: Almighty God, in you, resides the fullness of love. Grant that we may
truly love you and our neighbours and so conquer the world full of hatred,
self-centeredness, greed and corruption, we ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen. Do have a fruitful week ahead.p
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