Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Divine Love: Both Unconditional And Conditional

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

St. John Neumann Catholic Church, Eagan, MN

Sunday, May 5, 2024

The principle of gratia prima (also called the primacy of grace) is the most important teaching in the whole Bible. But what does that mean? It means God’s grace, God’s love comes first. In his letter to the Romans, the great St. Paul says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (5:8). In the epistle of St. John we read, “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In the Gospel of John, Jesus expresses the same idea, “It was not you who chose me, but I chose you.” If you think that you have to love God first before God can love us, you are going to get into a serious spiritual problem. If you think you can earn your salvation and walk your way into God’s heart, you will get lost. We would not even exist, if it were not because of God’s love. God did not create us because he needs something. No! God needs nothing. So, whatever exists outside of God exists simply because God desires some good for it. And that’s what love is. To desire or will the good of the other is what love is. That means the existence of everything from angels to ants is a sign of the love of pre-election. Love comes first. Love precedes our  will, our purpose and our very existence. We don’t need to deserve it or to merit it or earn it. And by the way, this very idea, this central truth is affirmed by every great figure in our theological and spiritual tradition. It is affirmed by St. Paul, St. Irenaeus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John Henry Newman and by the Fathers of the Vatican II. Look at it this way and see the connection. Imagine the dysfunction that will happen to a family where the children think they have to earn their parents love. Imagine what will happen in a family where the children, day after day, are convinced that they have to earn their parents love through some activity and excellence. Sadly this happens and when they do, the family bond is destroyed. If children think they have to earn their parents’ love, if parents make the children believe they have to earn their love, the family dynamics will definitely head south. It would become dysfunctional. Therefore, in human families and the family of God, love has unconditional quality to it. There is no “if’” involved. Love comes first.  

The point is that divine love is unconditional. But in order to get more out of this unconditional love of God, something has to happen. How? In his Last Supper Discourse the night before he died, Jesus sits down with his disciples and gives this magnificent speech: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you” (John 15:9). This is the love of pre-election. Love comes first. But then Jesus adds, “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:9-10). Didn’t I say that unconditional love has no if? But we just heard the word “if” “if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” Is God contradicting himself? Am I contradicting myself? Not at all. The biblical God is presented throughout the Bible as a God of unconditional love. But he is also presented throughout the Bible as giving his people lots of commandments, and some form of “if you keep my commandments and if you keep my covenant. etc.” 

The key question here now is: how do we make sense of this? How do we read together the love of pre-election, the unconditional love of God and this conditional love of God? Everything hinges on the word “remain” “meno” in Greek, which John uses frequently in his Gospel. God’s love is indeed given unconditionally as a grace. It is unmerited. However, remaining in that love requires keeping God’s commandments. God’s love can only remain in us and become our possession in the measure that we actively and consciously give it away. 

There are two ways that God’s love does not remain in us: first, if we resist it, and there are lots of people who are resisting the love of God. Someone is, over and over again showing affection to you, but you refuse to receive it. So, resisting God’s love is one problem. Second, you receive God’s love but then clings to it selfishly. If you resist God’s love or you receive it but then cling to it selfishly, it won’t work its way into your heart, mind and body. But if you accept God’s love, but then give it away as an active love, then you get more of it and become a delightful conduit of grace. In the Gospel Jesus says something that is in line with this biblical logic, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you” (John 15:12). That’s how it works. If you give away the divine love which is given to you as a pure unmerited gift, you will get more. The great St. Irenaeus said, “Your being increases in the measure that you give it away.” It does not decrease, rather it increases. It remains in you. This is the great Catholic doctrine of grace and cooperation with grace. We Catholics do not believe in the divorce between grace and law, as the Reformers like Martin Luther and Calvin promoted. They were right about the love of pre-election, but some of them drove a wedge between law and grace which is problematic and unnecessary. But in the Catholic Church we insist that keeping God’s commandments allow us to participate in the love that God freely gives. So, Divine love is both unconditional and conditional. 

God bless you!