GOD'S LOVE SUPERSEDES

[11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2Sam12:7-1013; Ps 32; Gal 2:16-19-21; Lk 7:36-8:3]

Prophet Nathan exposes David’s sin. In his subtle but firm approach, he unveils the logic of sin. God favoured David, showed him so much love and made him king. “And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.” Then, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?” We come to see that David’s sin was a withdrawal from the love of God or lack of appreciation of God’s love and blessings. ‘Love’ is always the first victim of sin. We cannot sin if we are hanging on the love of God. Yes, God is love! So the Master says, “Remain in my love” (Jn 15:9-10). “If you love me, keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15). The second logic is this; though David hurt Uriah’s family, it was God who took the offense! Sin is not just a human mistake or hurt against someone. It despises the Lord. In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me (Mt 25:40). The King confessed, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

God’s mercy surprises us. How could he allow David to get away with so much atrocity! Furthermore, this mercy of God is now more readily available and accessible in Jesus Christ and through the Church. According to St Paul in the 2^nd reading, faith in Jesus unveils this mercy and we are justified. Jesus is visiting…

At the meal in Simon’s house, “A woman of the city”—a popular for her sins—came to Jesus, who was equally popular as a prophet. At the feet of Jesus, she did something unpopular; “she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” It appears to sin is popular but contrition and repentance are not. With those gestures, she regretted her past, poured out herself and expressed the desire to share in the holiness of Jesus. Above all, she loved Jesus, and sacrificed her expensive perfume for Him. Often times, we have to do the “unpopular” thing in order to come out of our sins, e.g, queuing for confession, etc.

Simon, the Pharisee, a man who admired Jesus and invited Him for a meal, became suspicious; “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” But Jesus patiently demonstrated to him that He knows both the woman’s heart and his own secret heart. Jesus knows our hearts. He is in touch with the heart of man, even our hidden sinful thoughts. “I, the Lord, search the heart, test the motives, to give each person what his conduct and his actions deserve” (Jer 17:10). “God, Sabaoth…observer of motives and thoughts” (Jer 20:12). We remember Simeon’s prophecy, “So that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare” (Lk 2:35). If we like the Pharisee, try to probe the minds of others, we end up judging and condemning them. That is why there is so much gossip in our societies today. Only Jesus judge and purify our consciences. Yes, “we believe in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ.”

Then, Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” This disturbed those at table and they began to ask, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” He is “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). “He bore our sins in His body on the Cross, so that we might die to sin and live for uprightness” (1Pet 2:24).  He is the Good Shepherd who came to bring back the lost (cf. Mt 18:12). And he continues to absolve our sins through the ministry of the Church in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (cf. Jn 20:23). We cannot cancel our own sins, neither can we cancel the sins of others even if they hurt us. Ours is to forgive! Sin is an offence against God—a crucifixion of Jesus! You crucified Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Acts 2:23ff). If we realize that sin is primarily an offence against God, it becomes easier to forgive, since we cannot probe the heart no matter the extent of the hurt.

“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Sin cannot be the final word for those in Christ Jesus since the love of God has been poured into our hearts (cf. Rm 5:5). Faith in Jesus is the key. We live by faith, not by sight (cf. 2Cor 5:7). Yes, the righteous shall live by faith (cf. Heb 10:38). “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

And they went with Him. Those forgiven should not go back to their old ways, but they follow Jesus to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God—the manifestation of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. Therefore, God’s mercy overrides the logic of sin, “For his faithful love endures forever” (Ps 136).

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help,
Ugwogo-Nike, Enugu,
Nigeria.
Sunday, June 12, 2016

THE TWO CROWDS

[Reflection for 10^th Sunday in ordinary time Year c

 1Kg 17:17-24, Gal 1:11-19, Lk 7:11-17]

The widow of Zarephath, who harboured Elijah, lost her only son. She began to throw blames. Maybe it was the prophet that brought this calamity upon her or it was a punishment for her sins. Elijah prayed to God and the Child came back to life. Her mourning was turned to joy. She exclaimed, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.

A similar story in the Gospel tells of Jesus entering the city of Nain. And a great crowd went with Him. At the city gate he met an ‘opposing’ large crowd from the city going out to bury a young man, the only son of his mother, “and she was a widow.” We see in this woman the deepest form of human agony, devoid of hope. Her future has been annihilated. This is the threat of death; it speaks of a concluded future. Then the two crowds met at the gate—the rejoicing crowd, centred on Jesus, moving in, and the mourning crowd, centred on the agonizing widow and her dead son, going out!

The compassion of Jesus on the widow reflects his love for humanity. He is in touch with our deepest misery. “Young man, I say to you, arise.” He has overcome death. Jesus has conquered our deepest agony and restored hope. He turns mourning into dancing (cf. Ps 30:11). Life itself is within him; ‘‘I say to you...’’ He is the life and the Resurrection (Jn 11:25-26). With the intervention of Jesus, the mourning crowd mingles with the rejoicing crowd of Jesus, and goes in with Him (like the drop of water that mingles with the wine at the Holy Eucharist and becomes part of the wine). “This I remember...how I used to pass under the roof of the Most High...among cries of joy and praise, the sound of a feast” (Ps 42:4).

Therefore, there is no need to throw blames. Sometimes we are more interested in who is the cause of our problems than who has the solution. Such attitude can lead one to sorcery. “Why cast down my soul, hope in God! I will praise him still, my saviour, my God” (Ps 42:11). It is no more death that is the dividing line of our lives since Jesus is now Lord of the living and the dead. He has conquered sin and its resultant death. “So alive or dead, we belong to the Lord...(Rm 14:8-9). Like St Paul in the 2^nd reading, our life-history is now divided between living for Christ or not. 

The calamity of life is no more death, but living without Christ. The deepest human agony becomes our inability to meet Jesus at the gate. Only Him can save us from the agony of a concluded future posed by death. With Jesus our life will be renewed. “He who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). Let us go forward to meet Jesus at the gate (“Behold, I am standing at the door, knocking” Rev 3:20). He will have compassion on us, and we shall join the rejoicing crowd and enter into the city of God.

Fr Jude  Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

St John Mary Vianney Catholic Church,

Trademore Estate, Lugbe,

Abuja, Nigeria

June 5, 2016.