30th Sunday in Ordinary Time October 25, 2026
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
What would it take for the people of Abbeville to riot? What would I have to say or do to make our community angry enough to run me out of town and threaten to kill me? Not that I expect such a thing, but whenever I look at the life of St. Paul, it makes me wonder what the modern-day equivalent of his ministry would be like. St. Paul was run out of town in Thessalonica – that’s why he wrote letters to them.
Our second reading is from the beginning of the 1st letter. It’s why he alludes to “receiving the word in great affliction” in this passage. He preached Jesus Christ there for a few weeks and convinced a lot of pagans to stop worshipping idols and become Christian. That angered the leaders and merchants because it affected their profit margins and political power, so they ran Paul and his buddies out of town. Paul, Sylvanus, and Timothy were lucky though. They were just visiting and they could leave. The newly baptized Christians who had lived in Thessalonica their whole lives? They suddenly became a hated minority in a pagan city; left without the leadership of Paul who made them Christian in the first place. That’s why St. Paul is so joyful in praising them. Despite only having a few weeks to learn about their faith before being persecuted, they stuck to it. St. Paul also reminds them that it is “Jesus who delivers us from the coming wrath.” He’s saying that, compared to judgment day, the wrath of a mob is nothing.
Now, Abbeville is not ancient Thessalonica, so simply telling people about Jesus won’t get me thrown out and it probably won’t cause others to persecute you. But you know what? The gospel is more than the news that Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s more than proclaiming that there is only one God and that idols are useless. The Gospel is not just doctrines and ideas; it is a way of life.
Jesus tells us the most important commandment for that way of life: love. “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind… love your neighbor as yourself.” St. Paul really loved God and he really really loved other people, including the Thessalonians. If he loved so much, how did he make them angry enough to make a mob and throw him out of town? How can love make people that angry?
Because of what love is. The leaders and merchants weren’t angry that Paul was sweet and affection and nice. They were angry that he acted on his love. Love’s definition is something I give you often and will continue to give you. Love is to will the good of the other. Not to like them, not feel anything about them, not to make them like you. It is to will – to choose and act on – what is truly good for them. When someone is caught up in a life of sin, what’s good for them is to be told about Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross and called to repentance.
If someone doesn’t want to repent, however, they might very well get angry or even violent when told the truth. So the Thessalonian leaders and business owners tried to kill Paul and his friends. But remember, the gospel is more than the news of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is also the call to build God’s kingdom in our own lives. I might not stir up an angry mob by preaching the basic truth that Jesus is the one, true God, but what about the rest of the gospel?
How, for example, would our community react if I preached about immigration? Or abortion? What about usury or divorce or care for the environment? As we enter into elections and votes on amendments, people are sometimes sensitive about involving religion in politics. “Keep your religion out of our government, Father.” Or “you worry about prayer and quit talking about politics.”
Y’all, I almost never get political up here. The reason for that is pretty simple: I don’t care about politics. I don’t trust politics. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about people and community and justice. Why do priests and bishops talk about politics? Because we are human beings who belong to the community. But also, the best among us talk about truth and love. Priests and bishops might not know the best way to write a specific law, but we do know what it means to serve Jesus Christ. It is to keep his greatest commandments: Love God and Love Neighbor.
And loving my neighbor means defending their human rights, regardless of who is in power. Loving my neighbor means wanting what’s good for them, even if it means losing an election. It means choosing what’s good for them even if it means losing donors or money. It means choosing what’s good for them even when that makes us the target of their wrath. We should love our country and be loyal citizens. And yet, we must be even more loyal to Jesus Christ the King.
And what does Christ the King say? Love your neighbor. But he doesn’t stay vague. He says, “you shall not molest or oppress an alien.” “Alien” means “immigrant.” Notice that “legal” or “illegal” is not in the description. I am so tired of people saying, “oh, so the Church wants open borders?” My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Church never said that. That’s a straw man fallacy and a damnably lazy way to avoid the hard work of actually thinking about a complicated issue.
Is it possible to deport an immigrant without “molesting” or “oppressing” them. Probably, yes. But it ain’t easy and it ain’t cheap. Government has the right and duty to protect borders and regulate immigration! But God is abundantly clear that you cannot disregard the humanity of the people involved. I’m a pastor and a principal; I know what it means to fire or expel someone. I also know that, just because they did something wrong doesn’t mean I can dehumanize them. Locking up an immigrant and refusing to let the Church bring them sacraments is not okay. Locking them up without a charge, without an explanation, and without a chance to contact loved ones is not okay.
Border enforcement is okay if done with justice and charity. Deportation is permissible if it’s done humanely. But turning a blind eye to the humanity of someone because they are technically “illegal” is just not going to fly when you stand before Jesus on judgment day. Even if you think someone should be deported, love them and be kind to them!
Immigration might be the more tense issue, but no less important is what the Lord says about widows and orphans, what he says about usury. How many of our elderly are at risk of losing their homes because of technicalities and unfair taxes? Sure, last week I said we’re supposed to pay taxes, but we’re also meant to advocate for changes when taxes are destroying lives. How many of the elderly and the poor are poisoned by a polluted environment and water system? How many of the poor are trapped in endless debt because predatory businesses sell stuff at inflated prices with excessive interest rates? How many orphans do we create by tolerating a culture of promiscuity?
If you and I ask these questions and others like them, if we refuse to turn a blind eye to injustice even when it’s from our allies, we just might lose a few earthly battles. But we’ll win the more important spiritual one. If we compromise, however, if we cooperate with evil for the sake of winning an earthly battle, it’s only a matter of time until you lose some other fight. Then we’ll die. And what will you have then except an unjust heart in the presence of the just God?
Loving our neighbors enough to challenge the sins and injustices of the rich and powerful might incur the wrath of an angry mob, but you’ll also incur the favor of “Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath” of final judgment.