20210107 GOD LOVED US FIRST
07 January, 2021, Thursday After Epiphany
1John 4:19-5:4
19 We love, because he first loved us. 20 If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot* love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.
Chapter 5
1 Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Psalms 72 :1-2,14-15,17
1 Give the king thy justice, O God,
and thy righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with justice!
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live,
may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all the day!
17 May his name endure for ever,
his fame continue as long as the sun!
May men bless themselves by him,
all nations call him blessed!
Luke 4:14-22
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
GOD LOVED US FIRST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 JOHN 4:19-5:4; PSALM 72:1-2,14-15,17; LUKE 4:14-22 ]
“We are to love, then, because God loved us first.” This is the fundamental principle of Christian love. God does not demand that we love Him or even our fellowmen unless He has first loved us. This is because He is fully aware that on our own, we lack the capacity to love unconditionally and selflessly. Most of our love is a self-centered love. Pagan love is to love with the expectation of being repaid by love. Jesus remarked, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Mt 5:46f)
This is true even when we love our loved ones. The reason why we care for our loved ones more than strangers is because we have an attachment to them. Their happiness and ours are inextricably linked. We cannot be happy if they are not happy. Parents are sad when they see their children not doing well or are suffering. Children are sad too when they see their parents burdened by work or sickness. So it is natural that we care for our loved ones because to love them is to love ourselves. This is why it is easier to love those who are close to us. We are willing to sacrifice our resources and time to help our friends and loved one because we are happy when they are happy.
When it comes to humanitarian works, this form of love is at least purer because it springs from our humanity, being able to identify with our fellowmen in their loneliness, sickness, hunger and poverty. Still, for most of us, loving the poor and the suffering presupposes that we have abundance after taking care of ourselves and our loved ones. We will not sacrifice all we have for them, which we would when it concerns our spouse or parents or our children. Even then, we feel so helpless because we can never be able to help the poor and the suffering because there are so many, countless, knocking at our hearts. This explains why those who are involved in humanitarian work and championing social justice can become so disillusioned when they find themselves incapable of helping them, or seeing the indifference of the rich and the powerful.
The capacity to love can only come from God. God loves us so much that He sacrificed His only Son for us, and allowing Him to be one with us, and to go through the suffering of humanity, including poverty, hunger, pain and most of all, unjust suffering that comes from the wickedness, insecurity and selfishness of men. When we think of God’s love for us, and if we go beyond thinking but encountering His love radically in our lives, we can then love our brothers and sisters in the same way He has loved us. As I said, earlier, it is never a great burden to love those who love us and to love those whom they love.
Our response in love is not just directed at the person who loves us but to all those whom the person loves as well. When we love a person, we love all whom the person loves. Hence, St John wrote, “whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the father that begot him loves the child whom he begets. We can be sure that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us.” If we have encountered the Father’s love, and we know the heart and mind of the Father, how can we not also love others as well? Do we have the heart to see our Father suffering to see His other children lacking in food and needs? One of the best ways to make our parents happy is for us siblings to care for each other because our parents love all their children since they belong to them. Even if we do everything for our parents but lack love for our siblings, they cannot be really happy knowing that one of their children is sad or unprovided for. To love them is to love those whom they love.
Hence, John said, “Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this is the commandment that he has given to us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.” It must be clarified that St John is not saying that it is more difficult to love God than our fellowmen since God cannot be seen. Rather, he is saying that it is unthinkable that one can claim to love God who is love and yet does not love his fellowmen. It is not so much our incapacity to love God, since we have received His love for us in Jesus. Rather, it is because we have not received His love deeply and this is proven by the fact that we have not loved our brothers and sisters. The more radical our experience of His love, the more we will love our brothers and sisters and keep His commandments freely and obediently. The Lord said, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.” (Jn 14:23f)
The gospel illustrates the importance of being loved by God first, in the way Jesus carried out His ministry. In the previous chapter, we read how Jesus encountered the Abba Father’s love at His baptism when the Father said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22) The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s love also descended upon Him and so the same Holy Spirit that led Him into the desert to face His enemy, Satan the Evil One, returned to Galilee with Him. It was the power of God’s love in Him that enabled Jesus to overcome the temptations of the Evil One. He was tested to rely on Himself by changing stones to bread in His hunger, God’s love by throwing Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple and to worship power, wealth and glory. (Lk 4:1-12) Only when we are secure in His love, can we be confident in our own security, identity, wellbeing so that our minds and hearts are free to care for others instead of always thinking about ourselves.
Thus, in the same Spirit, Jesus “returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.” His passion for the people is the same passion of the Father. Jesus cared for the poor, the suffering and the marginalized. The poor in St Luke’s understanding is not just the materially poor but the spiritually poor as mentioned in the Magnificat of our Blessed Mother. Indeed, He envisaged His entire ministry under the banner of the manifesto of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”
This text is to be understood in the context of the Jubilee Year when the Jews were required by Moses to restore everything back to its original status quo. Proclaiming the Year of the Lord’s favour is an allusion to the 50th year when all debts were cancelled, slaves were set freed. (Lev 25:8-17) Even though it was not carried out fully, it is an important reminder that we are all God’s children and that our wealth belongs to everyone on this earth and is not the reserve of a few very rich people who hoard the resources of the earth that belongs to humanity. Jesus came to restore us as one family of God, united in love and sharing everything we have so that all can enjoy the blessings of God’s creation. It is because of greed and selfishness that so many people are suffering in dire poverty in the world when there is sufficient resources for everyone in this world.
Indeed, after reading from the scroll, “all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.” This admiration would eventually turn to rejection when Jesus challenged them to translate the Word of God which they worshipped into action. This is the litmus test of our love for God, namely, when we start to care for our brothers and sisters because we are God’s children. Only then, can we truly say that we love God because we love His children. Unfortunately, God’s children for the Jews excludes people of other races.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved. The contents of this page may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission from the Archbishop’s Office. This includes extracts, quotations, and summaries.
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