Homily OF the fifth Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 98:1-4
Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-10
Gospel: John 15:9-17
The second reading today is very important. John says, in this is the love of God made manifest; that God sent His only son into the world, so that we might live through him. John is telling us that the way God shows to humanity that He loves us is twofold; firstly, the Incarnation, He sent His own son so that we might live through Him. Secondly, The Passion, that is, having His son suffer to expiate for our sins.
John does not remain at the metaphysical level of speculation of the being of God. He brings it down and relates it to salvation history. God has revealed this mystery by sending His son in the Incarnation and by having Him die for our sins. St Thomas Aquinas developed this idea in his Summa Theologia in his discussion of love. His definition of discussion on love is foundational in understanding what it means to say that God is love and how the Incarnation and the Passion of Christ reveal God’s love. In Question 20, part I, article 2, St Thomas teaches that to love a person is to wish that person good. Some translations say, ‘to choose the good for another. That is exactly what God did for us in the Incarnation and in the Passion of Christ. St Thomas raised a question on whether the Incarnation was necessary, whether God could have revealed Himself some other way. He also raised a question whether the passion of Christ was necessary for our salvation or whether God could have saved humanity some other way.
In both cases, Thomas responds, of course, God could have revealed Himself and saved humanity some other ways than the Incarnation and the passion. God is all powerful, He can do anything. The reason He chose to save the world through the Incarnation and passion of Christ is because both of these mysteries best and most fully reveal the love of God for humanity. He says, “It sems that it was not necessary for the reparation of the human race that the Word of God should become incarnate … For God of His omnipotent power could have restored human nature in many ways….” St. Augustine writing on the Trinity, said, “Nothing was so necessary for raising our hope as to show us how deeply God loved us. And what could afford us a stronger proof of this than that the son of God should become a partner with us of human nature? Elsewhere, he asks, “what greater cause is there of the Lord’s coming than to show Gods love for us?”
The point here is that God could have simply declared us all forgiven and saved, but God does not just want to save us from hell, He wants to unite us with Himself and bring us into the divine life of the Trinity which is a relationship of love. So, God loved us so much that He became one of us. What St. John is telling us is that the Incarnation should move us to love God out of gratitude for the love He showed us. This is what salvation is all about. It is not about not going to hell, is about loving God.
In the Gospel, Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us. To do this, we need to abide in His love. It is only when we are united with Him that this becomes possible. We allow Him to love in and through us. We begin to go out of our way to will what is best for the other, we begin to give ourselves totally for the good of others. That is what God did for us in Christ Jesus and that is what He is asking us to do.
Happy Sunday
Fr Chidi Onwuka MSSCC