God’s love for us is unconditional, which frees us to act out of peace
The two great commandments tell us to love God with all our mind, soul, heart and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When Jesus is asked who our neighbor is, He tells us the story of the Good Samaritan. The Scripture readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time give us a chance to remind ourselves how we as Christians can live in the world in a prophetic way and fulfill the commandments that Jesus has asked us to live.
Our ability to love God and our neighbor is linked to our own relationship with God. We’re told clearly in Scripture that God initiates a relationship with us and His love is unconditional. Instead of seeing God as a terrorizing judge or a fickle deity, we can experience a relationship with God that is consistent and unchanging. Love comes our way over and over. God’s attitude toward us never changes, no matter our decisions or actions. God always loves us. If we understand the meaning of those words and allow His unconditional love to enter out hearts and minds, we could be the freest people on Earth. We would be acting less out of fear and anxiety and more out of freedom and peace.
Most of us have had the experience of being loved, so we know that when someone loves us, it has a freeing effect on our minds and hearts. When we experience love, we want to love the one who loves us in return. Imagine living a moral life based on love rather than fear. A moral life based on love would allow us to more readily follow what the Scriptures this weekend tell us to do.
If we are loved and forgiven so readily by God, we wouldn’t count how many times we have to forgive another until we are permitted to hold a grudge. If unconditional love from God touches our minds and hearts, we wouldn’t separate people as neighbors or strangers, or friends or enemies. There would be so much less hatred and fear if we were living securely in the love of God. If we believe that our choices and actions could change God’s love for us, our life becomes insecure and fragile. God’s love for us is not up for negotiation. Our choice is made from a lack of love and the consequences that follow are what we must live with, not a changing degree of love from God.
If the Scripture readings this weekend challenge each of us to change our habits of hatred and unforgiveness, we might want to start by looking at our relationship with God. Do we show gratitude for the many times that God has forgiven us for our own sinfulness and hatefulness toward others? Have we noticed how generously God has showered gifts and blessings upon us? Do we somehow feel that we’re entitled to that because we’re such great people? Is our life a grace and blessing given to us, or is it something we earned and we can do whatever we want with it?
We live in a time of so much hatred and division. We are being tempted to judge one group of human beings as worthy of being alive, while another group of people is worthy of being erased. We are led to believe that somehow the country we live in or the language we speak or the religion that we practice makes us better than people who live life differently. Is that the way that Jesus encourages us to live in the Scriptures this weekend? If we notice someone trying to change the generosity of our forgiveness for a frequent habit of holding grudges, remember what He has taught us. Remember how God has treated us. Act now. Live prophetically!
