Love is a widespread word used worldwide, and it is expressed in different ways and has various meanings. It is sometimes seen as a sign of weakness, and most people show Love only when it is expedient. The Love of God for humanity is unique and challenging to understand, and the bible shows us how God’s Love for humanity is so selfless, just and unbreakable. The scriptures portray how God acts concerning his Love towards us, how we respond to the Love He shows us and the invitation to love God with all our being. Frederick M. Lehman explains the love of God wonderfully in his hymn ‘The Love of God’ with these words,
“The Love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The wandering child is reconciled by God’s beloved Son. The aching soul again made whole, and priceless pardon won.”
Our scripture readings today show the extent to which God went to show us His Love for you and me, admonishes us to fear Him, obey his commandments, love one another as He has loved us, and bear in mind that we did not choose ourselves he chose us and expects us to bear fruits, fruits that will last, when we do this we become his friends and whatever we ask will be granted us.
When Cornelius saw Peter, he went out to meet him and knelt at his feet as a sign of respect for Peter, but Peter asked him to stand up and went on to help him get up. Peter told Cornelius, “I am only a man after all”. My dear Christian friends, one of the essential facts about Love is humility and the acknowledgement of the fact that we are frail because we are human, that only God is perfect and that whatever we can do is just by the grace of God, which is made abundance because of the Love of God.
Peter addressed the people, making it clear that God does not have favourites, so anybody, regardless of race or nationality, who fears God and does what is right is acceptable in the sight of God. We only need to fear God and do what is right, what he has commanded us to do, and that is to Love one another. As evidence that God loves all does not show favouritism, the gifts of the Holy Spirit came upon all those present and listening, including the pagans, which amazed the Jews who came with Peter. This showed that the spirit of God is for all regardless of race, nationality, religion, etc. and that God’s Love is sufficient for all. We have to keep his commandments. The outpouring of the spirit moved the people gathered to proclaim the greatness of God. It is an encouragement to all of us to continue proclaiming the greatness of God without fail because that is what the Holy Spirit we received in baptism moves us to do.
The commandment is to love one another as God loved us by sending His only begotten Son to be sacrificed for the salvation of humanity. Love for one another is significant because it emanates from God, who begets anyone who loves and knows God. Every Christian must love because we cannot be Christians without love. After all, the God we claim to know is Love. Love must be shown to everybody, whether the person is a Christian, a stranger, rich, poor, etc. The Love of God must be shown to everybody because even when we were sinners, God sent Jesus Christ to come and die for us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us what is expected of someone who is loving:
“Love is patient and kind; Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
Jesus tells us to remain in His Love and to do this, we have to obey his commandments, which is to love one another as he has loved us. Christ first loved us by laying down his life for us. “ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). When we obey the commandment of God, we become his friends, and we begin to know him and his actions.
We must, therefore, know that God has chosen us to bear fruits that will last, and it begins by loving one another as he has loved us so that whatever we ask from God will be given to us. Let us remain in the Love of Christ by keeping his commandments. Let us love one another because God is Love. AMEN