Reflecting Jesus's Love For Us
Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B
Glory of Resurrected Jesus - Guido Reni
Following Christ costs our entire life. If we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, then our moral conduct must reflect the faith that we profess in Him. The freedom of being Jesus’s follower entails that we live morally good lives. I want to make a distinction here: we are not called to be without mistake, but we are, in fact, called by Christ to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (cf. Matt 5:8). This is HOW we reflect Jesus’s love for us.
When Peter was in Joppa, God was already working in the life of a man named Cornelius and the lives of his entire household. Pursuant to their profession of faith in Christ, their entire lives underwent a spiritual and moral transformation. This is what leads Peter to profess: “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). No, God is no respecter of persons. He opens to all of us eternal life in His Covenant family. He wants everyone to accept this invitation, and a sign of accepting this invitation is a deep moral transformation of life.
We must remember that accepting God’s invitation means choosing to live lives that reflect our membership of His covenant family. If we expect our earthly children to seek to avoid actions that hurt their parents and to do the things that please them, how much more so should we expect ourselves to live out God’s family commandments? This is why we often see that a person who has encountered Jesus Christ experiences a moral conversion of the way they live, as well as a spiritual conversion. The two are inseparable.
As far as the East is from the West, the Father extends His loving arms to invite all mankind into His covenant family. This is why the Scriptures say that “all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God” (Psalm 98:3b). But we must know that one of the greatest ways that all nations will see His victorious love is in and through our life and actions. The way we live our lives can either be the best or the worst witness to the Christian life! We cannot say we love God if we don’t live out our love for Him in our daily lives!
Spouses understand this well. Whether they are near or far, husband and bride must act as married people in covenant. A husband doesn’t cease to be a husband just because his bride isn’t around. If anything, he DEMONSTRATES his love for his bride by being faithful to her at all times. Our whole lives MUST reflect our love for God! Why? Because our Father in Heaven never ceases to demonstrate His love for us in all the areas of our life! “Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).
The way we demonstrate our love for God is simple. Jesus gives us the blueprint: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10a). A little later, he says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14).
The entire end of the Christian life is to be in faithful, covenantal, loving friendship with Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls! If that is the case, then my brothers and sisters, we must reform our lives to be true reflections of that. How do we start? Simple: with prayer. At least, let’s begin there. Let’s pray that Christ, in His grace, will continue to purify and transform our whole lives day by day until we become perfect reflections of His love to the world.
Deus Benedicat