“I am the Lord”! So what? So “you have to love your neighbor as yourself” This is God’s law given through Moses. We are not level up with God to ask why and ‘so what’! The reason is, God is God and he doesn’t need our consensus to give his Law! He is not a democrat! Of course, we the democrats with a fair amount of knowledge about our rights and entitlements do not like this kind of argument, though they ‘may be’ right and valid.

We are not very comfortable with Jesus when he tells us to show the other when you get a strike on your right cheek; to give the cloak also to the one who snatches away your coat; to go two miles when forced to go one; to love your enemy, and so on. Over and above or underlying all the
entitlement of God on us and the demands of Jesus, we have a reason: God does exactly these and much more to each of us, not once a day but
infinite times. Because of his doing this to us and because of his infinite mercy, compassion and love towards us we happen to live, move and have
our being.

The demand of Jesus is because he wanted to share his family, which is the Holy Trinity, with us; or he wanted to incorporate us into that family; he wants to make us the sons and daughters of God for which he came down and became man, and when we are so we have to behave like a member of this family, his family, and appropriate and live its dignity. Hence God’s command of love and Jesus’ demand for it are in order that we may be perfect like the Father who is perfect. God is content with nothing but perfection. And God is aware that we by ourselves are incapable of attaining such perfection.

That is the reason he loves us with an infinite love, forgives us without any limit and condition and is trying to gather us into himself. If at all we ponder on St. Paul’s submission to us today, we will be better tuned to this awesome God and Father. Paul tells us,

“Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise” (1 Corinthians 3:18).

Hence if someone from this age thinks that you are fools, take it easy, and say “Amen”!

Fr. George