First Sunday after Pentecost. All Saints Sunday; Our Holy Father Metrophanes, Patriarch of Constantinople (312-37)
Hebrews 11:33-12:2; Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30.
Read Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
“You don’t really love me!” Whether by explicit statement or implied by emotional response, we all eventually receive the sting of these words. Many a parent can attest to that. It is so hard reaching out to others only to be rebuffed. Our love might not be received as such. Anticipating rejection, we may decline to draw near to others in the first place.
That is at the heart of today’s gospel reading. Jesus is not saying to not love your mother, father, son, daughter, or anyone else. In Matthew 15:1-6, Jesus upbraids the Pharisees for teaching that people can disobey God’s command to love parents by saying that they are giving to God instead. What Jesus is saying is that we or anyone else, even those dearest to us, are not the standard of truth and love – Jesus is. That concept of love in truth, defined in Jesus Christ, is clarifying. Without truth, “love” isn’t really love; true love is Jesus.
If someone we want to love defines truth differently than us, they might define our love as something less than that. Someone may need to see truth the way we do before they can see our love as love, but we are still called to love them whether they ever do or not. But this is a two-way street. While we may patiently persevere in love towards others who misunderstand truth, let us not forget that others are also doing that toward us. We not only need to grow in love toward those who have not grown in truth, we too are needing to grow in truth as others persist in growing in love toward us. Sometimes we even grow in truth through those who don’t think we really love them.