This is a delicate topic. We have been used to thinking that we do
good things to win the love of
someone else. In a way we say
that morality is done in order to please God. God might be angry if we do not
do good things. God wants to see that we do good things. Moral life is designed for the satisfaction of God.
This is not biblical and it is not within
the context of Revelation. God took the initiative to create us, to liberate us
and to introduce us to divine life (thanks to Jesus Christ). In other words,
the love and the "good things" done to us by God came first and moral living is our response. The love of God is primary; moral
life is our way of saying thanks.
Well, it is not easy to digest this, I
suppose. The world is so tough. There is so much darkness in social living. How
can we speak of God loving us first? Is the Christian moral faith an illusion,
a dream, a kind of "lotus eating" gesture?
Well, let us look at Jesus. He came to
announce the Good News--that we belong to the Father. He loved his disciples
and said that they should love each other as
Jesus loved them. In Jesus we
see also the initiative of love coming initially from God. Discipleship and
hence moral living is a
response.
During the time of Jesus, life in
Palestine was quite dark. It was the period of the Roman Empire. People were
heavily taxed for Rome. The Jewish nation was tired and fed up being always
under a foreign reign. Then among the Jews themselves there were
inconsistencies in social life. There was the elitism of people who claimed to
have mastered the "purity" rites. There was the marginalization of
the poor and little ones. There was the weight of religious practices--such as
the Sabbath observance. The Temple was quite a burden--starting with the
taxation of Herod the Great.
It was never that easy during the time of
Jesus. It was dark too. Yet Jesus came to preach about the love of God and
Jesus called for discipleship so that there be disciples who will continue his
ministry of preaching the Kingdom.
Jesus knew that the love of the Father was
primary and discipleship was a response. So if, today, we wonder about the
reality of the Christian faith, we can look at Jesus. The reason why a disciple
of Christ works for justice, struggles against corruption and promiscuity in
society is not to win God's love. No. The reason is because the love of God is
true and real the dark
elements in society should not have the domination over people. Moral
living is a way of "witnessing" to the truth about God's
love--confirmed in the Resurrection of Jesus. The love of God comes first. Then
we respond and say that, indeed, we live as victors over sin and darkness and
we do not want sin and darkness to govern us. The love of God precedes our
moral life.
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