Love Them Freely

February 29, 2008

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

“I will love them freely.” Hosea 14:5

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12: 32-33

Piety

Christianity does not ask us to live in the shadow of the Cross but in the fire of its creative action.

-- Teilhard De Chardin

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/022908.shtml

Today we once again consider two alternate human responses to the Lord. What remains constant, no matter what our reaction, is that God loves us freely no matter what we do.

In Hosea, the prophet falls in love with a woman who turns out to be an adulteress. Her role in the narrative symbolized faithless Israel, according to the Introduction of this book in the New American Bible. The commentary goes on to teach that “just as Hosea could not give up his wife forever even when she played the harlot, Yahweh could not renounce Israel, who had been betrothed to him.” God would chastise, but he would always long to bring back the lover.

Earlier in the Hosea narrative, we hear the constancy in the voice of God rise above human emotions:

I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you. They shall follow the LORD, who roars like a lion; When he roars, his sons shall come frightened from the west, Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like sparrows, from the land of Assyria, like doves; And I will resettle them in their homes, says the LORD. Hosea 11:9-11

In Mark’s Gospel, we see another encounter with the Lord. Jesus quizzes the scribe about the commandments. Rather than rejecting these commands by his actions, the scribe shows that he understands the word of God and what it requires of him. Mark picks up where Hosea concludes: Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the LORD, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them. Hosea 14:10

Jesus confirms that with his reaction…noting that the scribe is not far from the Kingdom of God if he realizes (understands) and fulfills (lives out) the creative action required by these commandments.

Action

If God loves us freely no matter what, why should we be “good?” In the end, if God will forgive us, does it matter if we are good in this lifetime or not. Why not eat, drink and be merry? God won’t judge us if we live that way. However, He has another plan for us if we listen to Him and obey.

The human response is rooted in reciprocity. When people do something for us without our prompting, we feel compelled to respond to them kindly. God gives us His love freely (John 3:16). He asks nothing in return for that as a precondition. However, he does lay out a plan for how we can live with him for eternity should we so choose.

How does such reciprocity play out in your life? Do you do something good because someone else has done something good for you?

Yet another way to live is to “be perfect like the Father is perfect” by doing something good without being asked or required to do it. The Boy Scouts call that a “Good Turn.” They teach that a “Good Turn” is a volunteered kind act. Scouts are encouraged to watch for things that need to be done, and then do them without being asked. Doing a job which you are already supposed to do, even cheerfully, is not classed as doing a Good Turn. Performing the regular routine duties about the home is not a Good Turn.

The Good Turn is a bigger finer thing – the Good Turn is really a philosophy of living, of which Service to others becomes the key. A good Turn is a volunteered kind act or deed. If you can motivate a boy so that such actions become habitual, then you have made the Good Turn Philosophy work in his life. The popular movie “Pay it Forward” exemplified that idea a few years ago.

No one asked God to send His son to redeem our sins. So maybe we should just be good because being good helps us imitate God’s love for the world. Look around for two opportunities today to take part in the creative action required by the Cross:

1) Look for a chance to reciprocate a good deed. Consider a kindness someone offered to you. Do something good for them in return.

2) Do a Good Turn without being prompted. Pay something forward to someone else who has never done anything for you.