Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Sometimes, our faith can seem to be really complicated. There are so many things to

know and do, and for new converts, despite attending all the preparation provided,

there can still be so many things to catch you out later on. “No one told me about

Mass offerings.” “I think we were told, but I completely forgot about abstaining

from meat on Fridays.” “What is a narthex?”

But it’s no simpler if you look at the Jewish faith back in the time of Christ. Just as

we hold the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels, to be the most

important, they held the first five books of the Old Testament to be of prime

importance – what they referred to as the “Law”, with the majority of the rest

referred to as the “Prophets”. Look through the whole of Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – which is the most important part of it all?

Which is the most important rule? People could argue over that for hours. So they

think they’ve got a really good question to stump Our Lord. “Teacher, which is the

greatest commandment in the law?” Let’s see what he says. I suppose it’s a bit like

certain journalists wanting to ask that question which really leaves a politician

thinking, “Why did I get up this morning?” Using a slightly different example, it’s a

bit like a video I saw on-line about a week ago, where a man is going for a job

interview. The interviewer tells him that the interview is more of a formality, after

the work he’s already done for the company, but he just wants to ask a few simple

questions. But after a few moments, the interviewee is stuck. Under the table, he

looks at his smart watch, but there’s no internet connection. He starts to panic, so he

asks to go to the bathroom, where he then gets a better signal.

So, they expect Our Lord to sweat at this one, except He doesn’t. He doesn’t need

AI – He is intelligence itself, and more than just intelligence. He is God, and He

says that the most important commandment is to love God above all else and the

second most important one is to love our neighbour as ourselves. Everything hinges

on those two commandments.

It’s important noting the order of those two: love of God comes first, then love of

neighbour. There’s the danger today that people see the value of the second one, but

then quietly begin to ignore the first. Then things get out of balance and there’s the

danger of our so-called love of neighbour becoming an obstacle in the way of our

love of God. And there can also be the danger of picking up the ways of the world,

where we then begin to justify certain wrong behaviours and drift away from true

love of neighbour. If we love God, we will also love the Scriptures, God’s revelation

to us, which can help correct some of our wrong tendencies. We can just read

through some of the letters of St Paul, and see how he had to put right some of the

new Christian communities who hadn’t left behind certain things they should have

left behind from their past. Meanwhile, in today’s second reading, he commends the

Christians in Thessalonica:

“you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much

affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the

believers in Macedonia and in Achaia ... [Your] faith in God has gone everywhere.”

So he’s saying that they have received the Faith, and it has grown as a radiant light

among them, and others can’t ignore it – it’s changing them and the people around

them. That is what love of God is supposed to do – to overflow to others and be

seen in love of neighbour.

In the first reading, we have examples of two commands in the Book of Exodus.

The first concerns care for the migrant worker and the second is about not exploiting

the poor when they come to you to borrow money. You can see the extreme poverty

mentioned there because the person has only one cloak to sleep in – if you take it off

him as a pledge, what will he sleep in that night? Of course, we know that anyone

lending money or goods has to be careful, because there are those who will put it on

and then run away. Christopher was saying to me last Sunday how in Nigeria,

borrowing money is a rare thing, because how do you know you will get it back and

how do you track the person down? But lending as a business is different to acts of

charity as a private individual. There are those in the past who have been cheated

but have said that the other person was probably in great need than me.

Lastly, the benefits of love of God and of neighbour outweigh the concerns of just

this life. Maria Christina of Savoy, when she was young, good-looking and queen of

Naples, wrote this:

“I am healthy, rich and fair, but what of it?

I have gold and silver, but what of it?

I am almost unequalled in my wit and knowledge, but what of it?

Were I to enjoy the world for a thousand years, what of it?

Death comes to all, and nothing remains:

Serve God, and you will have everything later!”

I think they’re quite encouraging words if you don’t have some of those things. God

is our greatest treasure. Serve Him, and later, all will be yours.

So our faith at times may seem detailed, and even complicated. But if we love God

above all else, and love our neighbour as part of that, all the rest will fall ultimately

into place.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk