Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Did your parents ever play favorites among your brothers and
sisters? Or did you ever play
favorites with your own kids? Most
siblings joke about just who mom or dad loved best. In my family, it wasn’t a joke: with one sibling so clearly
more intelligent, handsome, and charming than all the others, of course I was
their favorite. Just kidding!!!
A study done a few years ago revealed that parents playing
favorites isn’t really a joke. It
turns out that 70% of fathers and 74% of mothers admitted to purposely giving
preferential treatment to one of their children.
That’s kind of disturbing news, isn’t it?
But what if I were to tell you that God himself shows favoritism
among his children? But—you object—God loves us all, and he loves us all equally. True enough. But if you read the Scriptures closely, you begin to see
that God repeatedly shows special treatment to some folks. Consider our first reading this
Sunday. As God lays out laws for
his people, he singles out foreigners and strangers, widows and orphans, the
poor as people deserving of favored treatment and protection. God has a soft spot for outsiders and
the vulnerable, and he expects us to do the same. God wants us, like him, to show extra care and compassion to
those who need love the most—maybe even to those who deserve love the least.
Who in your life right now, who among your neighbors, is
poorest when it comes to experiencing love? And what are you going to do about it?
Now, what if I were to tell that God’s love no only plays
favorites, but that it’s insanely jealous. It’s true. God
tells us so point blank, just a couple of chapters earlier in Exodus, while
giving the Ten Commandments: “I, the Lord,
your God, am a jealous God” (Ex 20:5).
What is God jealous for?
Well, God is jealous for your love, your trust, and your company.
God is jealous for your love. He won’t be content just being one more item on the long
list of people and things you love.
God won’t even settle for being number 1. If there’s anything else on the your, God wants it to be
there because you love it for his sake.
Of course God expects us to love him more than our house or our
car. He expects us to love him more
than our country or the Church. He
even expects us to love him more than our spouse or our children. God is jealous for your love, and so he
asks for your whole heart.
God is jealous for you trust. In what sort of things do we put our trust? Maybe we put stock in our intelligence,
good looks, or charm—the things that made us the favorite son or daughter. Maybe we see strength in our family
name, our influence, or our wealth.
But all of those things can and do fail us. God wants us to leave no room for such idols, for such false
gods—demanding our undivided allegiance.
God is jealous for your trust, and so he asks for your full soul.
God is also jealous for your company. Have you ever tried to have a
conversation with someone who can’t take their eyes (or their thumbs) off of
their Smartphone? They might say
they’re still listening…but how much of their attention are you really
getting? Imagine how often God
must have that experience when he’s trying to communicate with us! God’s purpose in creating us—in
creating all things, actually—is to enter into an exclusive, intimate
relationship with you and me—one that starts now, and is meant to last
forever. God is jealous for your
company, and so he asks for your entire mind.
God’s looking for more than a little affection, more than an
emotional response from us; he’s looking for a deep and total commitment. The Lord has every right to expect from
us our all.
God’s love is jealous, and it plays favorites. And both of those details come to the
fore as Jesus reveals the two greatest commandments in God’s law: that we must
love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and love our neighbor as
ourselves. To keep these is our
highest obligation. In fact, we
can’t be genuinely observing any other of God’s laws if we are not first keeping
these two commands.
Now you know!
God plays favorites. So be
sure to love those whom God loves best: love your neighbors who need it
most. And God is insanely
jealous—jealous for your love, your trust, and your company. So give him what he desires more than
anything: all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind.
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