B Cycle – 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time 24

Dt. 6: 2-6

John gospel begins with these words: “in the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God. All things came into being through Him and without Him nothing came into being” (Jn.1:1-2).  Those words remind us of a reality that is important for us to remember. A reality which is foundational for us to grow in faith and grow in holiness.  Paul adds to that need for us to grow by encouraging us to go beyond “…elementary teaching about Christ and press on to maturity” (Heb.6:1).   At the same time, he reminds us how important it is for us to lay down a foundation of faith.  A faith he calls a faith in repentance which focuses on sin and what defines sin. That is how each of us begin our spiritual journey and we instinctively know more is required of us.  Obedience to the law is motivated by a desire to appease God or to avoid punishment.  To love God requires a belief and trust in God’s promise to not only forgive our sins but to forget them. Love is the only foundation on which we can become “… holy as God is holy” (Lev. 11:45).   

That standard of holiness seems impossible for us to attain because we have continually fallen short and sin. We have for too long measured ourselves against a standard of holiness defined by laws and commandments.  As children we were taught disobeying those laws separate us from God and prevent us from attaining holiness.  Not that we should ever dismiss them because they are a disciplinarian given to us by God.  Yet, Moses does remind us there is another step beyond the foundational step of keeping the commandments.  We are to move far beyond just obedience to the law and “love God with all our hearts, our minds, our strength and our souls.’ 

Saul, of Tarsus, would not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah because his faith formation emphasized “repentance” for sins and demanded a ritual sacrifice.  No other way could appease God.  He never experienced a loving, merciful, God until his encounter with Jesus.  That is when Saul of Tarsus became Paul the apostle.  Paul began to understand how his foundational faith in the law was intended by God to prepare us for a deeper obedience of surrendering and a desire to be one with God. That is what God desires for all of us. He wants intimacy with us not blind obedience and sacrifices (Hos.6:6). That is why God created us. We were created in the image and likeness of God to share intimacy with God. To encounter Him each day in our prayers, in our moments of weakness, our moments of despair and moments of joy. 

It is not wrong to judge ourselves by the law as it is our only means of judging our ability to do God’s will.  Faithfulness during those formative years can be a powerful witness to those who are unable to overcome their weaknesses.  But we can give a more powerful witness beyond obedience to law. The command to love God with “all our heart, mind, strength, and soul” is what God desires of us. We cannot love God without moving past the law.  We must grow in our relationship with God, for it is the only means of our encountering God as “Abba – Daddy.”   

How many times does it take for Jesus to invite us to come and follow Him.  Or to come and dine with Him.  Or to sit with Him.  Or to be in His presence.  How long will it take for us to respond to His desire to give us what we need more than anything else – to know and feel God’s love.  Not because we are good but because God is good.   Not because we have kept the commandments but because we need God to show us how precious we are to Hiim.  Our failure to keep the law and our inclination to sin is not a barrier between us and Christ.  Instead, sin is the reason Jesus came to earth.  To become the “sin offering” for all of mankind’s sins.  To remove the barrier sin crates between us and God. We do not have to hide behind a façade of righteousness any more.  Our sin is the thing Jesus wants to touch and heal, touch, and remove. 

Why do we keep allowing our failure to keep the commandments to be something we believe we need to overcome? When Jesus constantly showed us how He seeks out the sinners, the lost and the broken.  What will it take to thank God or for us to realize everyone who had a hand in our faith formation.  Providing us with a foundation of faith within us. To help us take that next step of faith and invite Jesus to touch our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to respond to the presence of God. 

If we respond to Jesus and give Him our yes it changes everything. We will begin to hear the voice of God guiding us. We will become aware of the presence of God in the wonders of creation surrounding us. We will begin to openly give praise to God in song, in words, in prayer and in loving action with others.  We will understand forgiveness is total and complete.  We will begin to seek encounters with God in the scriptures, in daily events and in the sacraments.  We will set aside old habits which constrained us and adapt to a newfound freedom to become more vocal, more visible.  We will be more active in our proclamation of faith in a loving, merciful and forgiving God who offers to change our hearts and minds. To become holy as the Lord God is holy because He will make us holy.