Homily on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Corinthians 6: 1-10; Luke 6: 31-36.
Loving those who hate us can be incredibly challenging. There are individuals who, for no apparent reason, seek to complicate our lives. Yet today’s Gospel calls us to love even those who oppose us. It’s easy to love our friends and family because we share a bond with them.
As Christians, however, we are called to embrace others, even when they speak the most vile things about us. By showing Christ to those who hate us, we encounter the Crucified Christ.
What did Christ do on the Holy Cross? Did He curse those who nailed Him to that dreadful instrument of torture? Did He condemn them to Hell? No, instead, He prayed for their forgiveness. As Christ teaches us in the Holy Gospel (Luke 6:32-36):
“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most -High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
There it is! From the mouth of our Holy Savior, we see that the law is built on the foundation of love. After all, Christ came to fulfill the ultimate act of love—His offering of Himself so that our fallen nature could be raised with Him, bringing life to us!
In the Western tradition, this love is beautifully symbolized by the pelican. In the Middle Ages, it was widely believed that the pelican fed its young from its own flesh, a poignant analogy for Christ offering Himself as our spiritual nourishment in the All-Holy Mystery of the Eucharist.
Love exists so that we might share it with all. Every person has the potential to become a child of God through Holy Baptism, and once baptized, each new creation is called to embody Christ’s love to everyone.
Saint Maximos the Confessor articulates this beautifully:
“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.”
He also notes:
“God, who is by nature good and dispassionate, loves all men equally as His handiwork. But He glorifies the virtuous man because in his will he is united to God. At the same time, in His goodness, He is merciful to the sinner, and by chastising him in this life, brings him back to the path of virtue. Similarly, a man of good and dispassionate judgment also loves all men equally. He loves the virtuous man because of his nature and the probity of his intention; and he loves the sinner, too, because of his nature and because, in his compassion, he pities him for foolish stumbling in darkness.”
This means that if we truly love God, we cannot help but share that love with others through the grace given to us by the All-Holy Spirit. We are called to be bearers of Christ’s love to all!
Christ’s command to love extends beyond our Church community; it calls us to enter the world and get our hands dirty. We are meant to genuinely befriend the broken, the lost, and the lame.
Christ reminds us that every action we take, or fail to take, is an action done to Him (Matthew 25: 40-45). While some view Christianity solely as a social justice movement, it is, in fact, a divine call built on the foundation of the One who is the cornerstone, rejected by many (Matthew 25: 40-45; Psalm 118: 22).
Yet it is within this derision and rejection that Christ reveals His almighty power. Saint Paul reminds us that to the world, the Crucified Lord may seem like a joke, yet we acknowledge His Crucifixion while looking to the source of our life—the resurrected Lord (1 Corinthians 1: 18).
Many may never believe because they cannot put their fingers in His wounds, yet this resurrected Lord—our brother, friend, and helper—is the source of our life (John 20: 25).
Regrettably, too many people are turned away from His Church due to the judgments of those who should know better! Did Christ go out of His way to impress the high society of His day? Did He command His followers to leave the Samaritan by the side of the road lest they be tainted by his ritual uncleanness? No, He reached out to the broken, the poor, and the lost, inviting them to follow Him that they may have life within them (John 10:10)!
It is true that some may refuse help—after all, they have free will, granted them by the All-Holy Trinity. Yet we are simply called to show love and deliver the invitation, letting them know they are welcome in Christ’s Kingdom if they come to Him in humility.
This is why it is tragic when the Church aligns itself with the government and becomes a symbol of national identity. In doing so, it loses its essence and ceases to be what Christ intended—a ship of salvation for all. We are called to be for everyone, not just a national club! Christ does not play favorites; He is for all. When He institutes the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, He says “for many,” knowing that not all will accept Him, but the invitation is still there should they choose to accept it.
Let us take this mission of Christ seriously. As Christians, we are called to make disciples of the whole world! This is the profound truth: God loves all people, to the extent that His own Son died for our sins so He might raise our fallen nature with Him on the third day (John 3: 16)! This is the message that must be shouted from the rooftops, awakening all from their spiritual slumber.
Let us pray this week that we may truly become Christ’s hands and feet in this world, embodying His love for the broken, the lost, and the spiritually hungry!
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