God's Perfect Love Drives Out Fear

Homily for Wednesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

St. Luke’s Gospel follows some of the criticisms of the Pharisees that also appear in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Both of them use the words “Woe to you…” in pointing out their hypocrisy.  These words carry the connotation of judgment and reckoning which we all must expect when our mortal bodies die, and we find ourselves standing before God at the time of judgment.

St. Luke raises issues such a tithing and seeking places of honor because of their self-imposed importance in the community. Jesus compares the Pharisees to unseen tombs over which unsuspecting people walk. This comparison may lose its force with us. However, for the Jewish people of Jesus’ time, it must be read in conjunction with the admonition about coming into contact with a corpse which would result in ritual impurity and an inability to be with others in family and worship. Tombs were often white-washed in order to help them avoid contact.

Jesus does not criticize them for their attention to these details, but he reminds them that there are much more important issues about which they need to pay attention.

St. Paul also speaks of judgment and God’s righteous anger and wrath. These readings must be understood in light of the whole of Scripture which consistently proclaims that “God is love.” It is this divine love that moves Jesus and St. Paul to correct their contemporaries whose self-righteousness blinds them to the foundational commandment to love God and neighbor.

As we approach the Eucharistic table, may we behold not a God to be feared, but a Savior whose love invites transformation. His cross and this sacrament demonstrate that God’s perfect love drives our all fear.