Sunday Reflections for 13th Sunday year A
Make your love hierarchical and concrete
1. ✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (10:37-42).
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.
‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.
‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.
‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’ (From today’s gospel)
2. Today’s readings focus on the need to make our love concrete and hierarchical. They dwell on the love and the reward that goes with every sacrifice made in love. The gospel begins in a way that may suggest that the 12 apostles of Christ should neglect showing love to the members of their family. A close reading of the text will however show that Jesus is teaching his apostles about the hierarchy of love. God is the highest being and must be loved above every other person. It is in loving God that man discovers how to truly love other, including the family members. Jesus is love itself and by loving him we cannot but love others correctly because in him we learn the standard for loving. The Jesus’ standard is: “Love one another as I have loved you.” If we cannot love as Jesus loved, we are not worthy of him. This is the hierarchy of love.
3. Love for Jesus is not only hierarchical, it must also be concrete. Today’s gospel focuses on one aspect of being concrete in love, namely being kind to the messengers of God. Jesus teaches that any act of love shown to his apostles should be considered as shown to him. He emphasized that even a glass of water given in support of the ministers of the gospel will never go unrewarded. ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’
4. This teaching on the reward for kindness shown to a disciple is proved right in the first reading(2Kg 4:8-16). A Shumenite woman met Prophet Elisha and invited him to come and eat in her house. She went further to convince her husband to build a house for the prophet. The husband must have been a good man to accept this proposal and the wife must have been a transparent and trustworthy wife for the husband not to think that the prophet will snatch his wife from him. We see how this act of kindness turned out to become a source of blessing for the family. The prophet from his own nearness to the family was able to see their need: they have no child and the man was advancing in age. Through the prophet the problem was solved. Jesus was clear about this when he said in today’s gospel: “‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.”
5. We must note that from the beginning of his earthly ministry after his baptism, Jesus never had any financial savings. He was supported financially by some women disciples who contributed their resources to take care of Jesus and his disciples (Lk8:3). Jesus would have commanded money from heaven whenever it was needed as he did when he asked Peter to catch a fish, open the mouth and take money from there to pay the temple tax, but he never did that. He wanted the mission to be supported because he knows that supporting the mission will offer people the opportunity to be rewarded by God. Today’s readings, therefore put two challenges before us:
First: Hierarchy of love:
God should be loved above all else. After God comes your family and then others. It is disheartening when we hear of men who neglect their family and celebrate their side chicks. This is a misplaced hierarchy. We still hear of women who prefer their phone or television programme to convivial family dialogue. A man had to break the hand of his child for writing on his car. He preferred his car to his son. That is absurd.
Second:Support for the ministers of God:
Like Jesus, those who spread the gospel need to be supported by those who profit from their ministry. It is good for them to have reasonable comfort in their life to be able to serve the people better. Besides, God has attached his blessings to any act of kindness shown to his ministers. The encounter between Abraham and the angels of God shows that welcoming the ministers of God can be an avenue for resolving a long time problem (Gen18:1-15).
6. Love is a divine gift that is in you. You need order in your manner of showing love. Put God first as your foundation of love and you will never love wrongly. Again, be kind to the ministers of God, not because they are good but because they are there for you and because God has promised to reward you for supporting his work. Befriend a minister of God today.
©Vita, 02/07/23
vanaehobi@yahoo.com
