Jesus Defines Religion 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

October 23, 2011

A story is told of a woman who was rushing to attend an important event. After spending a great deal of her time making up her beauty, she was running late for the event. As result of that, she was over speeding trying to make up the lost time. As she drove desperately, she was also praying for a free road. On approaching each traffic light, she would pray that the traffic light will remain green, and when it is already red, she prayed it turns green before she comes close. As if her prayer was being answered, she was driving past every traffic light before it turned red. As she drove past each traffic light before it turns red, she would shout “Thank you Jesus.” Eventually one traffic light failed her; it turned red before she could drive past it, meaning she must stop. To make matter worst, there was a car before her, so she stopped and was anxiously waiting for the green light. She was so in a haste that as soon as the light turned green, she was ready to zoom off. Unfortunately the man in front of her was carried away and did not know it was time to move. He was apparently texting a message with his phone. The woman started yelling and hooting for him to move. Finally the man zoomed off as the traffic light turns yellow. Before she could move, the traffic light is in red again. She started cursing and cursing loudly and also hooting. This attracted a police officer coming from behind. Immediately she was pulled aside the road and was arrested for car theft. “You are under arrest” said the police officer. By the time she proved ownership of the car, almost half an hour has passed. The police officer convinced she actually owns the car, apologized to her for the delay and embarrassment. But the woman wanted to know why she was arrested in the first place and accused of stealing the car she was driving. The Officer responded, “You see, when I saw you yelling, cursing very loudly and hooting, while at the same time driving a car with a sticker at the back which says, “I love Jesus, he is my best friend” I concluded you stole the car you are driving. I am sorry about that.” The woman got it. Her action does not correspond with the words of the sticker she pasted at the back of her car. 

Christians have always had a problem of how to tell the world who they are. At some periods in history and still in some places in the world, Christians have put on uniforms that sell their identity to the world. Think of the various uniforms used by various societies of consecrated life, which distinguishes consecrated people from other Christians, and which also distinguishes a religious order from others. These religious garment called habits are still being used today. In Nigeria, there is a church called The Deeper Christian Life Ministry. The members of this church are easily identified by the way they dress. There are also times when we use badges, banners, pinups, signs etc to distinguish and show who we are. We are symbolic beings who use symbols to express our faith. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from non-believers around them. But his prescriptions go deeper than the externals. For Jesus, the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live. What marks us out is not what our banners, badges, pinups, stickers say, but how we  act especially when we are upset. Today, Jesus defines what religion is all about!

In today’s gospel taken from Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus, in answering the question posed to him by a scholar of the law defines religion. In his response to the question, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus lays down the complete definition of religion: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Love is the Christian identity. It is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. If we are not wearing the habit of love, then we are out. If we are not wearing love as a cloth, then we are out. Love is the essence of our religion; it is what defines our religion. Jesus defines the Christian religion as the love of God which is demonstrated in the love of others. Christianity is not only a faith believed, but also a faith lived and demonstrated. 

Every Christian claims to love God. And each Christian has external ways of showing it. But the problem is how this love for God is demonstrated. The same people who claim to love God will easily despise other people. But I am here to tell us that the love of neighbor forms the basis of Christian love. Those who want genuine relationship with God should understand that there is no authentic love for God without authentic love of others. Furthermore, there is no authentic search for relationship with God without a search for authentic relationship with others. Christian love is both horizontal and vertical at the same time. If one does not love others, he or she does not God. Period! As a matter of fact, authentic relationship with other persons points to an authentic relationship with God and demonstrates a genuine Christian spirituality. 

In today’s gospel, our Lord defines religion. And his definition of religion is love- love of God and love of the people of God. Jesus wants us to love God with all the emotion, with all the will, and with all the intellect. God should come first, second, and third in everything we do or plan to do. Everything we plan to do should be weighed on the scale of God. Loving the Lord with all your heart means allowing God to control and direct your emotions; loving God with all your soul means letting your will conform to the will of God; loving the Lord God with all your mind means letting your intellect be directed by God. Jesus wants us to surrender our emotions, our will and our intellect to God. Our emotion should feel God; our decisions should be in consonance with the will of God; our thoughts should think God. Simply put, feel God; will God, and think God!

Then this love of God should translate into the love of others. In John 13: 35, Jesus says to his disciples, “If you love one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Love makes God present among us. love enthrones the reign of God in our human family. It wipes tears from people’s eyes- tears of frustration, hunger, sickness and hopelessness. Love breaks the chain reaction of evil and replaces it with a chain reaction of good. Love weakens evil. Love makes the whole of creation new. Love removes mourning or sadness. Even in suffering, love from others brightens the burdens. 

The Lord wants us to love God with all we’ve got and to love our neighbor as well! According to Pope Benedict XVI, “The love of God and the love of neighbor have become one; in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God.”