“Striving Together in the Love of God”
February 23, 2014
The 7th Sunday of the Christian Season of Epiphany
Leviticus 19: 1-2; 9-18/Psalm 71: 16-24/ I Corinthians 3: 10-11; 16-23/
Matthew 5: 38 - 48
His Excellency
The Most Reverend Ariel Cornelio P. Santos D.D.
Auxiliary Bishop and Locum Tenens
of the
Archdiocese of Manila
the
National Church in the Philippines
and the
Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
Jesus, in the gospel today, continues the Sermon on the Mount which is very appropriate for the Season of Epiphany as we celebrate the Seventh Sunday. It is teaching us to continue to live in the kingdom of God and manifest the nature of God, His character, and who He is to the world. The Sermon on the Mount was given to the disciples. In Leviticus 19, the commandments were spoken to the congregation of the sons of Israel. In other words, it is the Church. The letter to the Corinthians was written to the Church. These instructions are for us, God’s people. In the past few Sundays, Jesus taught the Beatitudes at the Sermon on the Mount that we should love one another, not put down each other; how that we are the salt and the light; and how that we are to be at peace with all men especially among the brethren.
We are called to holiness. God's people are to be holy for He is holy. He said, “You shall be holy because I, the Lord, your God am holy. If I am to be your God, and I am holy, you are to be holy.” Jesus said in the gospel, “You are to be perfect (holy), even as your heavenly Father is perfect (holy).” He is our God and our Father; He is holy; therefore, we, too, are to be holy because what we are is the image and likeness of our God. We are the temple of His very Spirit because His Spirit dwells in us. He breathed His Spirit into us, therefore, giving us His nature and mind and causing us to walk according to His nature and His likeness.
Adam was the son of God; the very first person in human kind. He was God’s icon. In the Greek, eikon, means a copy which contains the original. It not just a mere copy; not just a similarity or a resemblance or facsimile; it is something that looks like the original and yet contains the original. We are not God. We were created in the image and likeness of God.
We contain God in us. His Spirit dwells in us. When He created us in His image and likeness, He breathed His Spirit into us making us containers of Him. He dwells in us. We are icon which, in English, is short of the original meaning. We have icons all around the Church that we see as images or reminders. We are more than these icons; we are eikons because we have God in us. The very breath of God we breathe.
The temple of God is holy and that is what you are. The word ‘that’ doesn’t talk about the temple. “You are a temple of God and that temple of God is holy.” That, not being the temple, being holy, is what we are. We already are holy because God made us holy; but, we are to become holy. We are to actualize and live out that holiness. We are made holy and sons of God by grace. We become sons of God by works and deeds and by living out our nature which God gave to us. We already are and we continue to become. Walking in holiness is becoming of the children of God. Disobedience, rebellion against God’s commands is unbecoming of the children of God.
St.Paul told the Ephesians, “Be imitators of God as beloved children.” Having God as our Father, we are to be holy. John 1:12 says that Jesus came to His very own, but His very own rejected Him, but as many have received Him and believed in Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who would walk according to His ways. We are sons of God and we are to be holy.
The Old Testament gives us several instructions how to live holy lives and how to deal with our brothers, even strangers. It begins, "Let the needy, the poor, glean in your vineyard." Gleaning means that when you harvest, you don’t harvest all the way. You leave something for those who don’t have lands and plantation so that they may share with your blessings. This is the poor. In the urban setting, we are to share our blessings with those who are not so privileged as we. We never forget them. We pray for God not to forget the needy. We, like God, must not forget the needy either.
When we make our Offertory Proclamation, we say, “When we have paid our tithe and given our alms,” this is letting the needy glean and we share our blessings with them. We confess this every Sunday, but do we remember the needy among us? Then we say, “When we have paid our tithe and given our alms,” after meeting that requirement, “now, we will say I have fulfilled my obligation. I have removed from my house all the holy and the sacred portion and have given them in obedience to Your commands. Then, now, look down from heaven and now, we ask for your blessing.” The blessing comes after the obedience. The Sabbath rest comes after the obedience of work. Otherwise, we are not entitled to it. We also don’t neglect the stranger.
I ask us this: when was the last time we gave our witness to a stranger? To somebody who doesn’t share our membership in our Church? 1985? When we were on fire? Is the fire gone? Do we evangelize? Do we lead people to Christ? Do we even acknowledge to them that we are followers of Christ in the first place?
Facebook people, what do you post? Justin Beiber? Vhong Navarro? What do you let people know about you? That you are updated with current events? What do you know? Who do you know? Who do you follow? To the stranger, who are you? Don't neglect them. Do we still witness? Do we still lead people to Christ? Do our lives witness to the glory and the character and the power of our God? These are questions maybe because we have neglected this one very important part of being Christians, that we are salt and light.
Leviticus 19 continues, "Thou shall not steal, not lie. Do not oppress anyone. Do not withhold good from those it was due. Do not curse. Do not be against the poor and be partial to the rich. Do not slander. Do not have any hatred in your heart. Do not avenge yourself and do not bear grudges against anyone.” We are to be at peace with all men especially with our very own brothers. One family; children of one God should not have grudges.
Why don’t you make this a resolution now that we are approaching Lent? For this week, why don’t you look for somebody that you have a hard time getting along with and make an effort to say, “I don’t know you that much, but you are my brother or my sister, so take me by the hand and let us strive together in God’s love.” We are one family, and we are to be a holy people.
Jesus instructed to leave our offering at the Altar, fix your problem with your brother, then, come back. Don’t stay out, but come back. Then, make your offering. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger or your conflict. Leviticus 19 ends with, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do we have two standards? Do we have love for self and a lower standard for our love of neighbor? When you shop for yourself, how long do you take? How high is your standard for your own needs? When you look for a gift for somebody, like a bride and a groom, do you take one minute to shop for them or do you go to their bridal registry and you look for the cheapest gift on the list? This is double standard. Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We all are guilty of this because we love ourselves, but we are being commanded to be holy.
Holiness means loving your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus was asked by a Scribe, “What is the greatest commandment?” He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with your one hundred percent. The second is like it.” Love God with all your heart, your soul and your mind, and the second like it: you are to love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” In another gospel, He was asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” They were looking for the one time act to obtain or secure eternal life.
Holiness is not a one-time act. Love is not a one-time act. Love is a commitment. Read 1Corinthians 13. Love endures; it is patient. Patience is not one-time; endurance is not one-time. Love is when you have walked with someone, endured them, loved them, laughed with them, cried with them for twenty years, thirty years, fifty years and even seventy years till death do you part. Who are you to love? Your brother and your neighbor. In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked, “Who proved to be a neighbor to the victim of the robbers?” It was the Samaritan. He said, “Go and do the same.” Do we only love our friends, our family? Do we love all men with the same love – good or evil; friend or enemy? Love God and your neighbor as yourself.
We have always thought that giving our tithe is a symbol or our proof of our submission and our love of God. I say now that we don’t only give our tithe as a proof of our love, but we also give of our offerings and our alms as a proof of our love for neighbor. The Second Commandment is like unto the first: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. I know who are faithful givers of your tithe and you are fulfilling the first Commandment. I am reminding you of the second Commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.
St. Paul told the Corinthians, “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. We have misinterpreted this. We believe that an individual is the temple of God. When God says, “He who touches you, touches the apple of My eye,” we say that we are talking about, “Me, myself, so don’t mess with me. I am the only child of God. I don’t care if you are also a child of God. You don’t touch me, but God will destroy you.” Let me propose a different angle to this: if any man destroys the holiness of the temple of God, God will be against him. The temple of God is holy. If you work against the nature of that temple, the strength of that temple, which is holiness, then, God might just get you out of the way because His temple is to be holy and He preserves it. Jesus drove away those would defile the temple, defile the holiness of the temple. He wasn’t talking about the people; He was dealing with the preservation of the holiness of the temple. It was to be a House of prayer, of love and of holiness.
The temple is the church, not one individual. The letter to the Corinthians was written to a church, a group of people. It was not written to the first Corinthians convert or the second Corinthians that was baptized. It was to a church, a congregation of the sons of Israel, the disciples on the temple of the Mount. The temple is holy, that is, what you are corporately when you love one another, when you strive together in the love of God. Individualism shows us that we have yet to love our neighbor as ourselves. We still look inward and we need to understand that it is not just a duty but our nature. You are holy and you are to become holy by loving your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus says, “Don’t retaliate. Don't do an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. Leave vengeance to Me.” If a bus cuts you in front of you, don’t do the same. St. Paul said, “If somebody wronged you, why not rather be wronged? Why go to a civil court? Why go to a Gentile civil court to sue your own brother in church?” He is short of saying, “Isn’t that ridiculous? Isn’t that very against the nature of the church of God, the temple of God which is holy? Which is what you are? Don’t resist an evil.” Jesus said, “If anyone slaps on the cheek, turn the other also. If anyone takes your shirt, give him your coat also. Do not turn away from those who want to borrow from you.” Does Jesus literally mean we encourage crime? If somebody steals from us, what do we do? We become careful the next time. We take measures so that it doesn’t happen again. What did Jesus mean when He said these things? He means that we are to be ready to forgive if somebody does that again to us. We are to be in readiness to forgive seventy times seven.
Love endures. Love is patient. Can you prove patience by one forgiving once? This is not endurance. If you live with somebody who is disorderly everyday and you live with them for thirty or forty years, this is endurance. When dealing with children, you need to be patient because you love them and you are ready to forgive. This is the meaning of love. Don’t hate. Jesus said, “Pray even for your persecutors because they know not what they do.” It is added to our responsibility to know what to do.
In Christian Training Center, we have this term, “Imprecatory Prayer,” which only means that it is a prayer for vengeance for God to remember that people have offended us and have wronged us and for God to take action. When we have sinned and offended God and made a mistake, we pray and say, “God, have mercy on me.” When others do something against us and offends us, we pray, “Justice for them, mercy for me. Lord, they did this, You take care of them.” But when we confess our sin to God, we say, “Lord, I did this, have mercy on me.” Do we say, “Have mercy on them?” No! We say, “Do justice. Avenge my being offended. They did not smile at me. They did not greet me.”
Jesus is saying, “If he slaps you on the left cheek, I don’t care. Go further. Go the extra mile and be ready to forgive them.” This is because you are to be the sons of God. St. Paul says, “Bless. Do not curse. Overcome evil with good. Do not retaliate with the same thing. Do not repay evil for evil.” Having said all of these, Jesus said, “These are so that you maybe sons of God.” Aren’t we already? Yes, we are, but this is so that we may prove and may become sons of God because He Himself causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. If you love your friends only, you are no different than the Gentiles. If you invite your friends only to your parties, you are no different than the world. If you give gifts to those whom you know will give back to you, then you are no different than a sinner.
You are to be different; holy; set apart. Have a different and higher standard which is God’s love. You are to be perfect as your Father is perfect. God initiates. Hence, the resolution, while we were yet sinners, while we were yet enemies, while we did not know Him yet, He reached down to us and loved us. We are to be like that because this is holiness and perfection.
It is a process. Theosis or deification only means that we are on a journey toward perfection, toward the full stature of Christ. St. Paul says, “Not that I have become perfect, but this is what I do. I press on toward the goal of the upward call of Christ.” Christ’s perfect Man; holy Man. We are to press on toward that goal. I remind you that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. In my translation, He will be faithful to perfect it.
My friends, this is the way it is in the kingdom of God.
LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION
WITH
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND
VENERABLE PRIMATE
OF THE PHILIPPINES
THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED
MATTHEW 28:16-20+MARK 16:15-18
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