Christian Love in Action!

Thursday, June 27, 2024

2 Kgs 24:8-17; Mt 7:21-29

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to focus on the ethical side of religion. 

Jesus nullifies the mere profession of faith when faith itself is not actionable. 

However, we cannot overlook the nuance in Jesus’ argument. 

By calling his followers to be doers of faith, Jesus is not secularizing faith, nor is he doing away with religiosity. Rather, Jesus underlines the disconnect between faith and life as unhealthy. In other words, if faith and life are compartmentalized, such understanding is wrong. 

Jesus emphasizes that faith and life enhance each other in a more fulfilling manner. 

Hence, Jesus is not asking us to abandon faith altogether but highlights that Christian life is rooted in faith. For a Christian, faith becomes the springboard. 

Once, Mother Teresa was asked if she did not think that the destitution she was trying to cope with in Calcutta required a government agency disposing of vastly greater resources of money and manpower than her Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity did or could. She agreed that the involvement of government agencies would certainly better the humanitarian service. However, she did not forget to speak of the distinction between the service rendered by government agencies and her order. What she and the sisters had to offer was something else: Christian love. Mother Teresa was fond of saying that ‘Welfare is for a purpose – an admirable and necessary one – whereas Christian love is for a person. The one is about numbers; the other is about a man who was also God. Herein lies the essential difference between the welfare services and the service of Christ.’ 

The Gospel passage reiterates that Christian life is about manifesting Christian love. 

For Jesus, a life that does not represent Christ in action is not Christian. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar