Homily
for May 5, 2018.
“If you
belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not
belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world-- therefore the
world hates you.” John 15:19.
In our
Gospel passage yesterday, Jesus calls us his friends on the condition that we
actually love our fellow brothers and sisters. Today, Jesus in the same breath
tells us of how the world would hate us simply because we do not belong to the
world.
Try to get
the picture here. We are supposed to love others as Jesus loved us. Yet, even
if we love people, we should not expect them to love us back; in fact, we
should expect them to persecute us simply for being disciples of Jesus.
How are we
to love those who cannot love us back? How are we to love those who refer to us
as infidels; those who would force us to deny Christ; those whose hatred for us
is hinged solely on our Christian faith? This is the dilemma of being a
Christian in our world today.
The first
thing we must bear in mind is that there is nothing we can do to make the world
love and accept the Christian faith. If the world hated Christ, then it surely
hates Christians. It is either we are Christian or Worldly.
Today, we
see ladies dressed half naked with very heavy make-up going about doing evangelism,
distributing pamphlets for church programs and even armed with money to bribe
people to come to church. It is like we are looking for a blend.
We are
trying to make the world love us but we end up with a church full of people
whose real heaven is their stomach; people who just want material prosperity;
people who do not give a damn about Christ except for the fact that they can
use him to solve their problems.
In an
attempt to make the world love us, we end up losing the very essence of out
Christianity; the church becomes a miracle centre; a baby factory; a government
department of employment; a dating application; a military defence academy; a
franchise of sorts and above all, an entertainment centre.
Rather than
trying to make the world love us, thereby forcing ourselves to belong to the
world at the expense of true religion (worshipping God in spirit and in truth),
we should focus instead on using the power of love to conquer the world’s
hatred. It is not about disguising our identity, dressing like the world to
preach to them, it is about being true to what we are as Christians; facing the
hate and refusing to respond with hate.
It takes a
heart to love and to hate. Our loving faculty operates from the same place
where our hating faculty operates from. Indeed, there is a thin line between
love and hate. We know when we are being loved and when we are hated.
Our
natural human tendency is to hate those who show us hatred; wish their death or
find ways to fight back – this is normal, we all love life and we want to
survive. But then, Jesus is saying we should love specifically those who hate
us; we should wish them well, we should pray not for their death but for their
conversion. We should realize that their hatred is a result of their ignorance
of God not because of personal hatred for us.
“You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in
heaven.” Matthew 5:43-45.
“For those
who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25.
Let us
pray: Lord Jesus, teach me to love precisely those who wish my death simply because
of my Christian Faith. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the
5th Week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 16:1-10 and John 15:18-21).
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