Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 15th, 2017

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 15th, 2017

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (St. Matthew 22:34 ff)

In this Twenty-Second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, the Pharisees are listening once again to what Our Lord has to say.  Now, bear in mind that St. Matthew tells us first that the Pharisees had heard that Our Lord had put the Sadducees to silence.  Thus, the Pharisees more than likely took this as a challenge.  In other words,  "We can do much better than the Sadducees.  We will take care of this this one once and for all!"   St. Matthew continues on that one of the Pharisees was a lawyer and tempting Our Lord asked Him: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Now, this was an easy question for Our Lord to answer because every devout Jew would have been known how to answer this question.  This is because Our Blessed Saviour is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, which again every devout Jew would have known as the "Shema," which we could describe as the essential or most basic creed of Judaism.  And then Our Lord also quotes Leviticus 19:18 when He says:  "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  Keep in mind that by linking the two verses together He was making the point that we show love for God by the way in which we show love to others.  In other words, Our Lord would ask "How can you say that you love God up in Heaven if you can not even show love to those around you?"  It is a fair question, honestly.  How many times do we hear about tragedies or fights or situations where people are being cruel to others.  In recent memory, we are still questioning why so many people were killed in Las Vegas.  For that matter, why are so many people shot on the streets of Chicago?  Or New York?  Or Memphis?  Or any city that we can think of.  Why is there murder and crime and rape and theft and . . .  . ??????????  Why are there so many examples throughout the world of people hating one another?  If we look back to what Our Lord stated . . . specifically when He quoted Leviticus 19:18 . . . . the answer may be "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  The bottom line is that there is such lack of love in the world because there is a lack of love in regards to God.  Love for others will only increase when we begin to focus more on loving God and desiring to serve God.  Hatred of others . . . whether it results in murder . . . . or jealousy . . .  or theft . . . or gossiping . . . . When we show hatred towards others, it is because we have a lack of love for God.  We must always remind ourselves that we are made in the image of God.  Does this mean that God looks like us?  No, God is certainly not physical in that sense.  So when we speak about being made in the image of God, it is referring to the fact that God is love.  It is when we show love that we reflect the image of God within us.  When we hate others.  When we we are jealous of others.  When we despise others.  This means that we are not reflecting the love of God as we ought.   God calls us to show His face to the world around us.  We do this not only by what we say . .  . but also by how we act . . .  and how we show love to others around us.  Let us reflect the love of God to those around us.  Or should I say let each of us be a better reflection of God to those around us.

St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Please join us.