A very nice lady walked up to me after Mass one time. She said she finally went to this church where people traditionally go before traveling abroad. She’d heard so much about it in the past. A very important journey was coming up, so she finally decided to pilgrimage from Parañaque, eastwards, & hear Mass at said church. When it was her turn to receive communion, the lay minister looked at her…& told her to step aside. “Bawal ang sleeveless dito.” “Fr. Arnel, look at this dress. This was what I wore.” Her dress was very classy. All of her chest & back were covered. The hem fell just at her knees. Wala nga lang manggas. “That’s the first & the last time I’m going to that church, Father.”
Jesus was a devout Jew. He knew all the rules. As young as 12, he was talking about the Torah w/ rabbis, one time, at the Temple, where he lost all sense of time, & went 2 days missing! The boy Jesus loved the Torah that much that young! But when he grew up, he started giving off the vibe that he was violating the rules left & right, 613 to be exact, pursuant to the major 10. Breached the official physical distance from the sick, disabled, lepers, loose women, tax collectors, possessed, the dead (& the sleeveless). Worse, he was seen touching them, engaging them, engaging their demons (!). What undefiled, God-fearing Jew would do all that w/ people beyond the pale & past salvation? So into the Law once-upon-a-time, so out of it now, what happened?
Well, the people that the rules commanded to step aside became Jesus’ friends. That was his mission, in the best way he knew the Father: to make these people his friends. No one has greater love, he said, than to offer one’s life for one’s friends. Did Jesus love friends more than Law? No. Because on the same breath, he said, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments & remain in his love.” He kept his Father’s commandments. He didn’t toss them out to put his own law in, no. In what looked like brazen law-breaking, Jesus was restoring the true spirit behind God’s Law, the original purpose for the Law, which was twofold: love God & love neighbor. The clearest sign of both? Laying your life down for them.
My students are tired of hearing me say that I feel very blessed to have been raised in a faith that loves a person, not just follow a book of laws; a kind, brave, loving, real person. We have a book, of course. But Scriptures aren’t just about rules, the what’s. They’re about Jesus of Nazareth, the Who. Through this real flesh-&-blood who, God revealed beyond reasonable doubt who he is, what he wants, & what he’s really like. If we still ever wonder who God is, what God wants, what God’s like, we’ve had the answer all this time. Jesus is who God is, what God wants, & what God is like, 100 percent, God’s complete mirror image, chip off the old block, the fullest revelation of the Father. Sure, we can argue, disagree, debate over the correct interpretation of Scriptures & the rules of our religion. But our final criterion is & must be a Person. And all our arguments & debates aside, our final guide question should be: what did Jesus do? Once we answer that question that should put an end to our doctrinal & moral altercations, we will realize that the highest value Jesus upheld was not who’s right about the law, but who in fact still loved. Love for people was always Jesus’ highest value. I dare say, love for people more than rules, principles, & personal projects.
When we find ourselves so attached to the what’s of our religion, we have got to check in case we’re already detached from the Who this religion is precisely all about. Often the pitfall of the lawful who slowly turn heartless: wanting always to be official, they turn officious. Will die Christian, Catholic, but will never be inconvenienced for the poor. Gunning passionately for salvation in heaven, but turning piously savage on earth.
Sana hindi mangyari sa atin ang nangyayari sa Israel at Hamas. Two contenders claiming God is on their side, proof-texted by books of laws & words of prophets. But the proof-text is a Person, some part of me sometimes wants to scream. And he ain’t your imam or your rabbi, or even Muhammad or Moses, w/ all due respect. The proof-text is Jesus of Nazareth…who happens to come from your neck of the woods, kalahi nyo’t kababayan ninyo!
In many wars today, global or personal, visible or invisible, we’re really willing to die for hate & w/ hatred. We often go wrong by hate, esp. when we think we’re doing it for love. That’s just absurd. Jesus assures us that we can rarely go wrong by love. But real love, per our Proof-text, is when we take the side of people & when we’re willing to lay down our lives for them, more than for ideology or orthodoxy.
Jesus took a side; the side esp. of those who were told to step aside. And they became his friends: the helpless, the homeless, the joyless, penniless, right-less, & why not, the sleeveless!
Homily delivered by Fr. Arnel Aquino, SJ
6th Sunday of Easter 2024
Cenacle Retreat House