Homily For Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 3rd November, 2024

 

Readings: Deut. 6:2-6; Ps. 18; Heb.7:23-28; Mark 12:28-34

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVING GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOURS IS WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF US

As human beings living in a world full of crisis, hatred and uncertainty, we often struggle with so many commitments and responsibilities trying to resolve our problems and challenges. But, when we are faced with these realities of life, we want to know the things that should be our priority. What should be the most important thing to focus our energy on? What should become the foundation of all the things we need to do? What will be the very solution to our problems and challenges?

In fact, we always desire to know what is required of us in this life. This is the deposition of one of the scribes in our Gospel passage today, who came to Jesus and asked him a question concerning which commandment is the greatest.

In response to his question, Jesus reminded him of the 'Shema Israel' - שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל, the prayer that every Jew 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; that is, with all the powers and the very noble faculties of the soul which includes the mind, the understanding, the judgment, and our will. Jesus then added loving one’s neighbour as the second priority.

This is just very practical because anyone who loves God will naturally love all God’s children, who are, of course, in a very real sense, our neighbours. We must love every single person because we are all created in the image and likeness of God. 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. So, we can see that it is not possible to separate the love of God from the love of neighbour, for it is one commandment with two parts which will be the criterion for the final judgement of God.

Therefore, Jesus set this as a standard of love not just by how he described love, but by the depth of love which he shows by dying and sacrificing himself for us as the ideal high Priest. This is exactly what we have in our second reading which says: To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices every day, as the other high priests do for their sins and then for those of the people, because he has done this once and for all by offering himself.

So, today we are called to embrace the true love of God in our hearts. This is possible only when we understand the true meaning of love and sacrifice and this is what is lacking in our relationship with God and our neighbours. In fact, a critical look at what is happening in our world today, it is obvious that the world has lost the true meaning of love.

This present generation has failed to understand the true meaning and source of love and this can be seen in the kind of fruit we bear. The fruit of love in this generation is so complicated: love has become a tool for selfishness, deception, greed, and emotional and sexual satisfaction. This is because we have abandoned God, who is the source and power of love, and created for ourselves a mirage in the name of love.

Dear friends, love is the hard way and love is the only way to solve the problems of humanity. So today, we are called to come back to the source of love, God himself, who teaches us that love is an attitude that seeks the good of others despite how we feel about them. Love teaches us to be merciful, just as our Father in heaven is merciful. Love is a sacrificial attitude, an attitude that forgives, an attitude that accommodates, perseveres, preserves, heals and builds up when every other thing fails. This is the kind of attitude the world needs now, the attitude that comes from the pure love of God and our neighbours.

I don’t know if you have ever loved someone and you show it, or someone loves you and you know it. The fact is that it feels right and awesome because love brings healing and wholeness into people’s lives. Love is peace, Joy, strength and passion; love is stronger than death; why? Because it is that nature of God that we share.

Friends, it is by loving God in our neighbours that we can share and experience this nature of God in us and by so doing we will conquer the world full of hatred, self-centeredness, greed and sin. 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 humanity.

But how can humanity recover this power of love and harness it to bear more fruit in our societies where it seems as if true love exists no more? This is possible when we realize that we are all products of love and are called to live out our essence, which is to love. Therefore, we can make our choice today to renew our commitment to keeping these two commandments and to reflect on how best we can put them together for our good and the good of humanity. Remember, God loves you and in you resides that love that is lacking in your neighbours.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, in You, is 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. Have a blessed Sunday celebration.