Today’s gospel is one I find myself preaching on quite often, especially
this time of the year, because many couples choose it for their wedding.
And it’s a great choice – even though, as I often tell the bride and
groom – it’s a very challenging choice. Jesus gives a commandment that
borders on the impossible: “Love one another as I love you.” How on
earth is anyone to do that? Even a passing glance at the crucified Jesus
– arms outstretched in the most vulnerable embrace of love imaginable -
tells us that this is not possible. Yet that is his command: “Love one
another as I love you.”
Years ago, I had the
privilege of hearing the great Archbishop Desmond Tutu preach over at
St. Mark’s Cathedral and he preached on this text. His homily was
stirring, but his message was really quite simple. We who follow Jesus
Christ are called to love, he told us, but not in the abstract; no, our
love is to be like the love of Jesus: all-embracing, none-excluding. And
he reminded us of the incredible compliment Jesus pays us: he calls us
friends, brothers and sisters; and that, Tutu said, means that there is
no one in the human family whom we are not called to love. Absolutely no
one. Think of that for a moment, and then maybe fill in the blanks. It
can be difficult when particular faces come to mind, can’t it! Coming
from Archbishop Tutu, the message hit home. He was no theoretician about
Christian love. He was the highly credible embodiment of Christian love:
in so many ways, a lightning rod for human hatred and hostility at their
worst, yet he loved his enemies because they were his sisters and
brothers.
There’s an old Peanuts cartoon
in which Lucy announces, “I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand!”
Desmond Tutu left no room for that sort of love. Neither, of course, did
Jesus. Nor can we. Here’s how St. Augustine put it in a homily long ago:
“Real Christian love goes beyond words,” he said. “Real Christian love
has hands to help others; it has feet that hasten to the poor and needy;
it has eyes to see misery and want; it has ears to hear the sighs and
sorrows of others. This is what Christian love looks like!”
My friends, the heart of
our faith is not a catechism or a code of laws. It’s not a holy book,
either, no matter how revered or how sacred. It’s not timeworn
traditions or towering temples. It’s not hierarchy and it’s not sacred
rituals. All of these have their place but only, only to the extent that
they serve to bring people close to God. And only to the extent that
they bring people close to each other in love – which is really the same
thing for, as we were reminded in today’s reading from the Letter of
John, God is love.
So, forget the old man
in the clouds with the flowing white beard, forget the stern, demanding
judge; forget the miserly bean-counter or bookkeeper. Those are
caricatures of God. God is love: passionate love, personal love,
overflowing love, love beyond all telling. God enfolds each of us in an
embrace that is wider than the ocean, deeper than the sea. And, you
know, it’s this love that is God, and this love that God has for us,
that makes it possible for us to love. Listen again: “In this is love,
not that we loved God but that God first loved us.”
God first loved us! In
reflecting on those words, something occurred to me that helped me
understand those words in a way I hadn’t before (I guess I’m a little
slow!). It came to me that the reason Jesus was able to love so well, so
perfectly, so unconditionally, was that he knew that God loved him. He
knew it better than anyone ever has or ever will. Not even for a moment
did he ever doubt or question God’s love. He knew it with every breath
he breathed. And because Jesus knew God’s love for him in such a clear
and intense way, he was able to love in the way he did, love
extravagantly, love unconditionally, love without limit.
And, my friends, when we
wake up to how much God loves us, that’s when we begin to love. Really
love. But not before.
I remember the first
homily our former Archbishop, Raymond Hunthausen (surely a local
saint!), gave here in Seattle. It was at his Mass of Installation as
Archbishop way back in May of 1975, nearly fifty years ago, but I still
remember almost word for word some of what he said. He told us that his
life changed completely the day he woke up to the fact that God loved
him unconditionally. After that, he told us, everything changed. God
looked completely different to him, and so did people. He could never
look at God the same as before, and he couldn’t look at people the same
way, either, because if God loved him unconditionally, God loved them in
the same way.
My friends, it’s all
about love. Nothing is more important than love. Absolutely nothing! May
Jesus who is the loving face of God and the very heart of God, transform
us by this Eucharist into disciples who love as he loves. Or who at
least try!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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