"Enduring Love”
Monday: Fourteenth Week of the Year: July 4, 2016
Year II: Hosea 2:16-22; Psalm 145:2-9; Matthew 9:18-26
The Responsorial
Psalm focuses our hope on God’s heart: “The
Lord is kind and merciful” (Psalm 145).
This week we begin the prophet Hosea. In
Hosea 2: 16-22 God reveals that his
love for his people is spousal love:
the love of the bridegroom for his bride. Above all it is faithful love: when his spouse is untrue, God will not let her go:
I am going to
lure her and lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart. There she
will respond to me as she did when she was young!
When God revealed his inmost self to
Moses, his identifying characteristic was “steadfast love and faithfulness,”
which we translate as “kindness and fidelity,” “grace and truth,” or just
“enduring love.” These words are “a virtual definition of God,” and no images
express them better than the images of God as Father and as Spouse.1
What is unique about God is that his
love never ends. He never gives up on us. The worse we are, the more he pursues
us. The more unfaithful we are to him, the more faithful he is to us. This is
the message of Hosea. It is the message of hope that should characterize all
Christian ministry.
If we really know God we will relate to
him as Spouse. “On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband.’” To
bring people to this is the goal of Christian ministry.
Matthew
9:18-26
shows us three characteristics of Jesus that should inspire and guide all
Christian ministers. First, the official’s request shows that something about
Jesus made people believe he wanted to
help. That was his first priority. To turn people away because they are in
violation of some Church law is to make the law an idol. Christian ministers
always find a way to help, even if it means bending the rules just short of the
breaking point. The first and over-riding rule of all pastoral ministry is
“Feed my sheep!” This law about loving others matches the absolute monotheism
of the First Commandment. No “idols” must distract us from love.2
Secondly, Jesus was approachable. The woman in the crowd had the courage to reach out
and touch him. So far as we know, Jesus never turned anyone away for not
respecting his time-schedule or because they approached him when it was
inconvenient! What makes us inaccessible may be something we have made into an
idol in our lives.
Finally, Jesus never gave up on people or underestimated what they were capable
of. The crowd laughed at him when he said, “The little girl is not dead.” But
because Jesus believed in the power of God, he brought her to life. To yield to
discouragement is to elevate obstacles into idols.
Initiative:
Give God’s life: Be a “priest in the Priest.” Let your faith give
you hope that works
miracles through love.
Footnotes:
1See Exodus 33:12
to 34:6 and the Jerome Biblical
Commentary on John 1:14.
2John 21:15-17.
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