Loving the Lord in Word and Deed!

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Isaiah 26: 1-6; Matthew 7:21,24-27

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains the compatibility between word and deed. 

There goes an anecdote: ‘When asked, a speaker explained Christian love through an interesting comparison. ‘Imagine Bernard Shaw and a person with a mental illness on a raft that will only hold one of them. In worldly terms, the obvious course would be for Shaw to pitch the other into the sea and save himself to write more plays for the edification of mankind. Christianly speaking, jumping off and leaving the person with a mental illness in possession of the raft would give an added glory to human life itself of greater worth than all the plays that ever have been, or will be, written.’

Following Jesus happens in two realms: manifesting our faith in word and manifesting it in action. 

Emphasizing faith-based action, Jesus cautions us against being Christians for namesakes. If a Christian’s faith does not culminate in action, then the faith is not justified. 

Only with faith shown in action, can we be the change agents in society. 

St. Augustine said, ‘God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.’

Should we not repay God’s love by loving others in God’s name? 

If Christian faith is about the person of Jesus, Christian love is for a person in Jesus’ name.

Let us pray that we may proudly manifest Christian love for our neighbors, as we prepare ourselves to welcome the Lord. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar