Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

What’s the Cost of Salvation?

Rev. Marcel E. Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Questions like “Who would be saved?” and “What must a person do to inherit eternal life?” have always followed the followers of Jesus Christ. During his earthly ministry, Jesus himself was asked a similar question by a rich young man: “Good, Teacher, what must I do inherit eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30). In answering that question, Jesus did call the young man’s attention to the obedience of the commandments: Be faithful to your spouse, respect the sanctity of human life, do not steal, do not bear false testimony, honor your father and mother. But when the rich young man told Jesus that he had kept all those rules since he was a boy, Jesus turned his attention to the unhealthy attachment he had to his wealth, urged him to go and sell off his wealth, give the money to the poor and then come and follow him. In the first reading taken from Acts of the Apostles, the Early Church was also confronted with a familiar question. Unfortunately, some of the Christians taught that “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). The apostles and the elders of the church had to intervene to correct the theological error with this declaration: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right” (Acts 15: 28-29).

Sisters and brothers, what is the cost of salvation? What does it cost and how much will it cost a person? Salvation is a gift of God. It is free, but not cheap. It will cost you and I something. What is it? Turn your attention to what Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). Folks, that’s eternal life! That's salvation! The visit of the Father and the Son is heaven. Anyone who loves Jesus will be loved by the Father and will also become a living tabernacle of the Trinity. Salvation will only cost us one thing: obedient love of the Son. There is no love without obedience. The cost of salvation is surrendering to Jesus and doing what he asks his followers to do. What must a person do to inherit eternal life? The answer is simple: submit to the lordship of Jesus.

Now, when Jesus says “Whoever loves me will keep my word...” does it mean that each time we sin we do not love him? Sin is a love of something else other than God. It’s a choice of something else other than Jesus. So, any time we deliberately commit sin, we love and choose something else other than Jesus and the Father. But if we love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will not want to put anything, no matter how small it is before him. Loving Jesus is not just an emotional feeling. It is deeper and greater than that. Obedience to him involves changing and reforming our lives and lifestyles, working on our personalities, bad habits, and characters, stretching ourselves to please him. Loving Jesus is putting him first, second and third before anything or anybody. Obedience to him requires making a daily effort to overcome any form of sin no matter how little it is. Galatians 5:24 says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

Meanwhile, as we go about the business of loving the Lord in this unsteady world, he has promised: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27). Jesus is the Prince of peace. His peace is perfect and uninterrupted. The kind of peace that the world gives is not perfect, and it is often interrupted. It mostly comes from the political leaders with vested interests. They cannot always be trusted to do the right thing, to promote peace and enact laws that would make peace and justice possible. Some of these leaders talk about peace, but their actions make its attainment virtually impossible. Some of them talk about peace, but frown at the mention of justice. The kind of peace they advocate flows from material and transient things. But Jesus’ peace comes from the Kingdom. It flows from the bosom of the Father and penetrates the heart of the believer, making his or her faith stronger and then dismantling every fear.  

We all know that the command to love and obey Jesus at all times is not an easy task. Anyone who tells you it is easy is probably not observing it. It is difficult! Jesus knows it is going to be a struggle, hence, he promised to send us the Holy Spirit: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”  If there is any attitude, behavior or habit you are still struggling to get rid of in order to perfect your union with Jesus and make the Father to declare from heaven, “This is my beloved son/daughter with whom I am well pleased,” why not ask the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, and Helper to help you?