Whatever
You Do, Do It In Love
Homily
for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost (23 August 2015)
1
Corinthians 16:13-24
Matthew 21:33-42
“Whatever you do, do it in
love.” This is how St Paul begins the
last paragraphs of his First Letter to the Corinthians. The letter is full of teaching, of reminders,
of advice—even of scolding. But at the
end he sums it up this way: “Whatever
you do, do it in love.”
This is the basic rule for
Christian life. It hardly seems like it
should be necessary to repeat it, but if we look at our own lives we begin to
see why St Paul had to say it again. We
do things for many reasons, but a lot of the time love doesn’t seem to be one
of those reasons.
Today’s Gospel reading
shows us one of those other reasons—and also shows us the consequences of not
acting in love. The vine-dressers who
lease the landowner’s vineyard do what they do—cheat the owner, abuse his
agents, even kill his son—because of greed.
Their desire for possessions and profits has terrible consequences not
only for their victims, but also ultimately for themselves—they will be put to
death for their crimes.
But everything would have
been different if they had acted in love.
They wouldn’t have made as much money as fast, but no one would have
died, and they could have enjoyed a long and productive relationship with the
landowner.
Greed is probably the most
common motivation for our actions, but we also do a lot of things out of
pride. We have to get our own way—or we
feel that we have to pay back someone who has offended or insulted us. And we can’t seem to see the consequences of
our prideful actions. All we can see is
the immediate satisfaction of getting what we want or of getting even with
someone who has insulted or offended us.
So we have greed and pride
as common motivations for our actions.
Unfortunately, we also often act in fear. Sometimes we are afraid of the unknown, so we
are unwilling to move ahead in faith because the desired result cannot be
guaranteed. Sometimes we are afraid of
punishment or disapproval or of what “people” will think, and so we fail to do
what is right or good. We don’t want to
stand out or to oppose what “everybody” is doing, even if we know it is wrong.
In the Gospel reading
today, Jesus points to the meaning of His parable about the wicked tenants by
quoting Psalm 118: “The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes.” This
quotation shows that God’s motive is always love for His creation, and that
even our wicked actions can be turned to God’s purpose.
But how much more
wonderful it is to cooperate with God from the beginning, to do everything in
love so that we do not have to be afraid, so that we don’t have to worry about
our wounded pride, so that we can accept God’s good gifts without being greedy
or selfish.
God’s love is the model
for our love. It is the basis for everything
God does—creating us in His image and likeness, giving us intelligence and free
will, correcting us when we go wrong, accepting our repentance, sacrificing His
only Son to take away our sins, sending His Holy Spirit to guide and protect
us, and raising us up to eternal life with Him.
So let us also do
everything in love—as God does—and let us give thanks and praise and glory to
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever and unto the
ages of ages. Amen.
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