Sunday Inbox Inspirations
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A
February 12, 2023
Faith as Relationship
This past week, the more I looked at today’s gospel, the more just one word came to me, the word relationship.
The reason is this. Basically, we can look at faith in one of two ways.
One way is to see faith as a list of doctrines that we believe and of commandments that we obey. The other way is to see faith as a relationship.
No question, faith includes doctrines – our understanding of who God is, as in our Profession of Faith. And faith also includes commandments – like the Ten Commandments.
But underneath all of this, theologians today hold that faith is a relationship. It is fundamentally and primarily a relationship with God.
Jesus and Relationship
God, especially through Jesus, initiates this relationship. And I see three components in this.
First, God wants to be with us.
Jesus tells is that he is with us always, until the end of time. He assures us that he remains with us through the Holy Spirit who abides within us.
Second, God speaks with us.
The entire Bible is God talking to us and God does this especially through Jesus. In fact, Jesus continues to talk with us every time we read or listen to the gospel.
And third, God cares for us and loves us.
The Scripture tells us that God is love – it’s that simple. Jesus repeatedly shows his care and love for people and continues to care for us and love us in many ways, including right here in the Eucharist.
So, 1) Jesus is with us, 2) Jesus speaks to us, and 3) Jesus loves us. That’s God’s side of the relationship.
And now, we are to respond by choosing 1) to be with Jesus, 2) to speak to him in our prayer, and 3) to love him by the way we live. This last way is where today’s gospel comes in.
Jesus gives us three examples of what it means to love him by living up to our side of the relationship. He is very clear that he doesn’t want us to see faith in him as just obeying commandments.
Instead, Jesus wants us to put our heart into it all and live out the spirit of the commandments. This will be doing our part of loving Jesus in this relationship.
We and Relationship
So, in his first example, Jesus wants us to be peaceable persons. He reminds us of the commandment not to kill anyone.
But he tells us not even to act out of a destructive anger. He wants us to get inside ourselves at the real cause of external violence – at the vengeance or hostility that can lie within us.
He wants us to get hold of these feelings and live out of our peaceful relationship with him. He wants us to be peaceable persons.
And then, Jesus wants us to be faithful persons. He reminds us of the commandment against adultery.
But he tells us not even to be lusting after someone who is not our wife or husband. Again, he wants us to get inside ourselves at the unchecked tendencies that can cause infidelity.
He wants us to live out of the faithful relationship that he has with us and give our best to one another in marriage. He wants us to be faithful persons.
And finally in today’s passage, Jesus wants us to be truthful persons. He reminds us of the practice of his day of taking oaths as a way to assure the truth of what someone was saying.
But he tells us that this isn’t necessary. He says that this may lead to the practice that things said without an oath may not be true.
He wants us to live out of the relationship with him where he tells us the truth about himself and the heavenly Father and about ourselves and how we are to live. He wants us to be truthful persons.
Conclusion
So, faith as relationship with God and with Jesus Christ.
That’s what I see as the basis for Jesus’ calling us to more – to live not just the literal wording, but the real spirit of the commandments.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
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