30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A October 25, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“For they… openly declare… and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” Could be said of you? St. Paul is basically bragging that the Thessalonians’ service of God is so obvious that other Greek pagans are noticing and being drawn to the Gospel, to conversion. Would he say the same of the people in Jeanerette?
Well, if we want that to be the case, we have to imitate their example. Notice what Paul says and how he says it. They “turned to God from idols.” Turning away from idols is essential, but it must really start with turning toward God. And this process is made complete not just by turning, but when we serve the living and true God. Not just believe, not just acknowledge, not just talk about. To serve him.
Very few modern folk actually worship idols in the sense of statues that they think are gods or spirits. But I assure you idolatry is alive and well. The idols of wealth, of being a social media influencer, of politics. Donald Trump is an idol to some, Joe Biden to others. There is the idolatry of sports or good grades. Most common is the idol of ourselves. Human beings instinctively worship something – a non-worshiping human is not possible. We may not bow down and burn incense in front of these idols, but we worship them by time and energy we put into them, the priority we place on them. We can kind of evaluate out our priorities by comparing them to going to Mass. If we had to choose between ____ and going to Mass, which would we choose? Why?
Yet, putting a priority on that one hour – more like 45 minutes – is not all there is to it. We are called to serve the living God and to do so in a way that isn’t showing off but is also noticeable. How? Well, God told us how. The Jews had over 600 laws from God that told them what it meant to serve God. This scholar in the Gospel wants to test Jesus to see if he knows what it means to serve God and keep these laws. What is the greatest commandment? What is the one thing I have to do to turn away from idols and serve God?
Jesus, in typical fashion, answers with more than anyone expects. Not one command, but two. And he doesn’t make them up on the spot. He’s actually just quoting two passages from the Old Testament. This quick answer shows both that he knows scripture and that the truth the teaches is not contrary to what came before… to the fact that the truth about God has been there from the beginning, only gradually becoming revealed. And it should not surprise us that the answer is simple. Love.
But Jesus is not content to leave us with one ambiguous word. Whom to love? God and neighbor. How to love? With whole heart, mind, and soul and as ourselves. Now, the world thinks it knows about that second one, to love our neighbors, but it doesn’t. They think it’s about tolerance or being nice… until that neighbor crosses some constantly changing line. The world loves, until you sound racist, or transphobic, or judgmental. Then the righteous twitter mob rises up to rid you of reputation, employment, and if some had their way, even your life. The world loves you until you challenge their hypocrisy, point out the side-effects of their wastefulness, or ask to reform a broken system. Then the anger of the half-religious boils over to shout down cries for justice, to assert their rights to this or that freedom.
Yes, love does often include money and generosity. The first reading is clear that we should help out widows, orphans, and immigrants. Doesn’t matter if they’re pagan, illegal, LGBT, or weird, they remain human and in need of love. God promises “wrath” against those who refuse to help them. God doesn’t care how much money a person owes you, if you leave him naked and helpless just to collect your debts, God will side with him in the final act of Justice.
Love your neighbor as yourself covers all of this. But what is it to love ourselves? Well, it’s not supposed to be idolatry. That’s why it is the second commandment. The first sets the foundation for what love even means. Heart, Soul, and Mind
The heart is our will and our affections, it indicates what we choose to make important in life. To love God with our heart it to deliberately choose him over other things. Part of it really is to just “suck it up” and choose to do the right thing, even when the wrong thing seems harmless. Go to Mass when you don’t feel like it. Pray when you don’t feel like it. Volunteer for the parish when it’s inconvenient. The other part is to make the conscious effort to become emotionally invested in God and his design. This is done through beauty: art, music, stories, poetry, videos, dance dedicated to God’s glory, designed to lift your emotions to God instead of excite your passions and desires for pleasure. Reading scripture, especially the psalms. Encountering the lives of the saints in story and song… these are great places to start.
The soul is what keeps you alive. Give your life to God by being willing to follow his lead in choosing a vocation or career. Give your soul to God in prayer. Give it to him by preferring to die rather than sin against him. Give it to him by reading about people who have died for Christ – the martyrs – and asking for the grace to be able to do the same if you have to.
The mind is meant to know truth. Knowing scripture, knowing doctrines, knowing prayers, even knowing things like science, history and math come into play here. It is here that the love of self – and thus love of neighbor – is tested most. We must learn and act according to God’s design and not our own preferences. It’s the reason that we often deny ourselves. It’s why love of our LGBT neighbor includes calling them out of a sinful lifestyle. Even as we feed the hungry, we do not endorse gluttony. As we house the homeless, we call them to chastity. As we visit those in prison, we hold them accountable for their crimes.
To love God is required to love ourselves and our neighbor because only in God do human beings find what is best for them. It’s how we avoid idolatry of self or of neighbor. The brokenness of original sin means this love often requires suffering, but it is this willingness to suffer for God and neighbor that spreads the Gospel. That turns us, and those who see us, away from idols to the living God.