Let the Word of Christ Dwell in you Richly

September 13, 2007

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church

“…over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts.” Colossians 3:14-15

“Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36

Piety

The waves may rise higher and the storm grow fiercer, but we are not afraid of drowning, for we stand on rock. Let the sea rage; it cannot destroy the rock. Let the waves rise; they cannot sink Jesus’ boat. Let the world be turned upside down.

St. John Chrysostom

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/091307.shtml

“Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18

Christ changes everything, turning upside down even the very meaning of the words used in the Hebrew Bible. In Leviticus, “to love your neighbor” meant loving your fellow countrymen. Easier said -- or written in this case -- than done in our xenophobic, intolerant and even racist times. Jesus turns the tables on this sentiment when we get to the Synoptic Gospels. As we learn further in the footnotes to Matthew:

There is no Old Testament commandment demanding hatred of one's enemy, but the “neighbor” of the love commandment was understood as one's fellow countryman.” In the Hebrew Bible and other historical sources, hatred of evil persons is assumed to be right. Not any longer when Jesus comes along. Jesus extends the love commandment to the enemy and the persecutor. His disciples, as children of God, must imitate the example of their Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad.[1]

Jesus does not stop with the new meaning. He wants us to imitate the Father as the model, no one else. He wants us to reflect perfection. He goes on to make the analogy between our conduct toward each other and God’s conduct toward the one so acting. We are to reflect the mercy of the Father like our lives are a mirror reflecting back to Him.

Jesus wants us to reflect the “perfection” of God the Father who is perfect in his forgiveness.

Action

What an amazing Gospel reading for the week Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus testify before Congress on how the war is going. Their prescription for making the situation get better is to continue to do the same thing that we have been doing with new, fresh troops.

However, what course of action might we want to take? What does this set of readings mean in our current day? Let the peace of Christ control your soul.

“Over all these, put on love, the bond of perfection.”

I realize that the readership and web visitors of Your Daily Tripod include people with views across the wide spectrum of Catholic teaching on war and peace and every other subject. So tackling the War in Iraq might not be an especially popular topic. However, what is amazing about this letter to the Colossians is how gentle St. Paul is when he teaches here, as opposed to the more strident views he wrote in the letter to the Romans and elsewhere. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Imagine the word of God getting a present instead of giving it one. What would you give to the word of God in exchange for it dwelling in you richly? Would you give it more of a surge of force or a surge of prayer?

“Over all these, put on love, the bond of perfection.”

How can we reflect perfection in our lives when it comes to the subject of an unpopular war that is costing the nation billions and billions of dollars? What is Jesus teaching us about today? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

Be perfect as my father is perfect in forgiveness. Jesus is looking for consistency in our actions. “Every tree is known by its fruit.” You can’t pick a date or fig off an orange or a lemon tree. You can’t pick a grape from an olive tree.

It all comes back around to listening to the word and acting upon it consistently , not as hypocrites. We can only do that when we, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

Go outside and water a weed. Why? Because we have had a drought and because God gives to a cheerful giver.

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[1] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew5.htm#foot27