20 February 2022
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the beginning, our first parents were tempted to eat of the forbidden tree with the promise that they would “…be like gods…” (Genesis 3:5); they soon discovered this to be a lie. For St. Paul would later write of Jesus the great truth that they failed to understand about being like God: “…though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself…” (Philippians 2:6-7). Being God, in other words, is not about power, is not about gaining something: it is about self-emptying. It is about giving of self: it is about love. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him,” (1 John 4:16).
In our Gospel today Jesus teaches us how to be like God precisely by teaching us how God goes about loving us. Love your enemies? Yes, because “…God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us…Indeed, if, while we were still enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life,” (Romans 5:8, 10). Do good to those who hate you? We put His Son to death and, in exchange, He offers us eternal life. We use His name in vain, even using it as a curse; He always speaks our name in love and respect. We mistreat Him; He sustains our being and blesses us constantly. We whip and scourge His Son; “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34). Go through our Gospel and continue this: you will quickly realize that God, in His Son, has modeled for us all that He asks us to do that we might become more like Him, that we might live out His great commandment: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another,” (John 13:34).