THE POWER OF LOVE

HOMILY FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

R1: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

R2: 1Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30

Theme: THE POWER OF LOVE

The word love has been bastardised in our world today. For instance, if I approach any person in this church now either man or woman and tell the person these three words, ‘I love you’ the person will be thrown into confusion if not total embarrassment. The major confusion will be which type of love is he talking about? Is it Agape; Christian and authentic love? Filia; brotherly or fraternal love? Eros; sexual or erotic love?

Beloved in Christ, the love that we want to talk about today is more in connection with Agape and Filia and has little or nothing to do with Eros and its many negative attributes.

The readings of today reveal to us the power of love. It is this power of love that motivated and sustained Jeremiah in the first reading. Jeremiah had one of the most bitter prophetic carers in the bible. He loved his people and did his best to bring their stubborn hearts back to the covenant with God.

However, as Jeremiah attempted to warn his people, they persecuted him ferociously leading to so much suffering that he faced in his prophetic mission. But God in his divine love was open to him right from the beginning when he was called. It was clear to him that he would suffer very much, suffering my dear friends in Christ, is not an abomination as so many of us think.

In the same vein with Jeremiah the prophet, Jesus in the beginning of his earthly public ministry loved his people and the environment here he grew up. He loved his friends, playmates, classmates, and village very dearly. Little wonder he brought them the best thing in his life, the good news. It is rightly said that charity begins at home. It is in this sense that Jesus wanted them to hear this good news first and that was why he went to the local synagogue and ‘unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it is written: "the spirit of the lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty the captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the lord’s year of favour." With this solemn programme outlined by Jesus, he meant well for those he loved so dearly. And they praised him all over the country side and beyond.

However, the praise of his people did not last long. Not quite long that Jesus had won the approval and astonishment of his people by the gracious words that came from his lips that they turned against him in reward. They did not gain much from him. They even intended according today’s passage to throw him down from the cliffs. But miraculously ‘he walked away’. The worst thing that can happen to us, happened to them. They lost sight of Jesus with all the good tidings he brought for them.

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have no love for God and neighbour are losers and those who have no faith in God and in their fellow human beings will always lack favour from God. Love is the most important gift. Let us never allow Jesus to walk away from us. It will be very disastrous if we end up doing so.

Let us bear in mind that those we love so much, those we care so much for are often time those who make life difficult and miserable for us. Those from our family circle, our best friends and colleagues are those who betray us often. Why? It is because of envy, jealousy, hatred and over familiarity. (onye ima ga eme gi aru...)

 However, let the pains and sufferings we encounter in loving and caring for others not stop us from fulfilling our mission to love.

In the second reading, St. Paul gave us list of what love is and what it is not.

Love is patient; charity demands that we bear with serenity the defects of others.

Love is kind. Love demands us to do good to everyone we meet whether Anglophone or Francophone. Let us be generous.

Love is not jealous. It does not begrudge the talents and good things of others. Many sins against charity flow from jealousy Such as murder, adultery, stealing etc. Jealousy is often the cause of collapse of friendships, marriages, fraternal bonds etc. Jealousy is the mother of hatred.

Love is not pompous; instead love is self-effacing. It is not inflated with its own importance. 

Love is never rude; rather it is tactful, polite, and very gracious.

Love is not self seeking; is not selfish or self centred. Looking only for my own benefits 

Love those not record offences; it does not calculate how many times he or she has offended and is still offending.  Love does not keep dairies of offences. If you are keeping any offence dairy please go and burn it after this mass.

Love is not prone to anger; it is rather concerned about the other. It does not go into self centred burst of temper.

Love does not rejoice over hardship of others, rather it rejoices with those who are happy and console those in hardship.

Love does not do an unhealthy competition.

Love is full of forbearance; it is trusting and believing the best of others. It is full of hope. It realises that despite our imperfections, God is not yet finished with us. Love has power to endure and it conquers defects. 

Let us therefore do our best to follow these concrete and practical ways of love and make our world a better place for you and for me.

Prayer:

Having betrayed this precious and divine gift of love in so many ways either by thoughts, words, actions and inactions, let us ask God of love for mercy to give of the grace to love and be loved. Amen.

Reflection by:

REV. FR. REMIGIUS ONYEDIKACHI SMMM