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In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The words which our Saviour is addressing to us today are very simple, and very direct, but they are very deep also. They are so deep that in the context of a homily there is little space and time to address these words sufficiently. Our Saviour’s words to us today are directly connected to the words that we heard from the Apostle about offering our bodies as a sacrifice to the Lord. A few verses later, he adds an exhortation about keeping ourselves pure because we are members of each other, and members of the Body of Christ. Therefore, by doing so, we are supporting and strengthening each other at the same time that we are glorifying God.
This glorification of God and putting Him in first place in our lives, about which our Saviour is speaking us today, is what is important for us. Our Lord is simply restating what was written in the Old Testament : that we have to love God above everything else (see 5 Moses [Deuteronomy] 6:5). If we say that we are His followers, then He has to come first above everything. That is what I mean by the verb “have to”. It is not because we must. If we are going to follow God, who is Love, then logically, He would come first in our lives.
However, there is more to this than logic. What the Ten Commandments are saying is what the Saviour is saying in a very direct and personal way : The Lord must come first. Love of Him must come first. He says : “‘He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me’”. If a relative or any other person has become more beloved than the Lord, then that person has taken the place of the Lord in my life. In fact, if I love my brother, my sister, my mother, my father, my husband, my wife or whomever else more than the Lord, then that person has become an idol for me (we can be so blunt because the Lord is being so blunt). This is not to say that we cannot love someone else “to pieces”, but loving that person to pieces has to be in the context of loving God before all. He is the One who gives us the ability to love the other person to pieces in purity, in balance, and life-givingly (we could say). It is the Lord who gives us balance. It is the Lord who puts everything in the proper perspective, whereas we human beings have a strong tendency to live in a fog.
We human beings live in a fog because we are so pre-occupied with ourselves. In our fog, we hold on to this or that, without having confidence in the love of the Lord, about which He gives us no reason to doubt. Our doubting His constancy, His steadfastness towards us is not from Him. It is because we listen to whispering, doubting little words that come into our ears, into our hearts from one place or another from time-to-time. Loving the Lord above all things produces gifts, such as the ability to love other people in the correct way, and to give hospitality and to meet other people’s legitimate, real needs for good and righteous reasons (not for selfish reasons). For instance, as our Lord says to us : “‘Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water, in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward’”. The phrase “in the name of a disciple” means, in effect, that if anyone gives a cup of water because of being known to be a disciple of Christ, then Grace comes in return. We human beings are always looking for rewards. We do not generally do things unless there is something in it for us. Therefore, our Lord says, in effect : “If you do something good for another person, there is a blessing coming to you as a result”. However, this is not bargaining. It is simply the living, life-giving consequence of acting in the love of the Lord. The love of the Lord is such that when we empty ourselves in caring for others, the Lord multiplies the love that was given away. Not only is the love replenished so that more can be given, but the capacity to love is also increased. The Lord gives even more love than before. When love is properly exercised (one could say), the capacity to love is increased as life continues. The capacity deepens, broadens, and gets higher and deeper. The love of the Lord multiplies.
However, as the Lord says to us today, it is important that we keep everything in the right perspective, and that we remember the words that summarise the Ten Commandments : “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…and…your neighbour as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39). His words to us today are simply an application of that. Let us ask the same Lord who loves us silly, straying, confused human beings (His beloved sheep) to renew the Grace of the Holy Spirit in our hearts so that we will be better able today, tomorrow and the next day to live in accordance with His words. By living in accordance with His life-giving words and with His life-giving love, we will glorify Him, together with the unoriginate Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.