Deeds of Love

Homily for Thursday of the Second Week in the Christmas Season

All four of the Gospels speak of the calling of the apostles in their opening chapters. However, the Gospel of St. John offers us an insight that is lost in the synoptic Gospels; namely, the fact that the men who eventually became the Twelve actually sought out Jesus rather than waiting for Jesus to call them. The stories are not mutually exclusive. It is obvious in the text of the synoptic Gospels that the first apostles already knew Jesus before he called them away from their fishing nets. The Gospel of St. John shows us that they learned about Jesus from each other as his fame began to spread. For instance, Andrew introduces his brother Simon to Jesus. St. John also records that Jesus immediately calls Simon by a new name, Peter.

Theologically speaking, St. John's Gospel tends to pick up the story line where the synoptic Gospels leave off. The Christian community which gave birth to this Gospel had far more time to reflect on the mystery of Jesus' life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection before ink was put to parchment. One of the telling differences is that in the synoptic Gospels, Jesus usually waits for a request before he heals or cures. In St. John's Gospel, Jesus initiates the action without waiting for such a request. The same can be said in the instance of the call of the disciples. They initiate the action without waiting for Jesus to call them. Obviously, they were open to a change in the path their lives were taking. They were hungering for something more than their former relationship with God was providing. Jesus answers that hunger.

Today, the first reading tells us that the way we came to know love was that God, in the person of Jesus, laid down his life for us. This tells us that love is seen in deeds, not simply in a profession by our lips. We must demonstrate the same love through our deeds, deeds of compassion, charity, kindness, and self-sacrifice.

In his encyclical letter about love, Pope Benedict XVI spoke extensively about the fact that we would learn to love God in the same way that we learned to love our human parents, a spouse, or a friend. Human love is not simply an emotion; it is about what we do for one another. Communication, spending time, and making sacrifices are all parts of human love and are also parts of divine love. This is exactly what Jesus means when he says that we must lay down our lives for one another.

Hunger for God is not uncommon. Satisfying that hunger can lead us to new and wonderful expressions of faith and action. As we mark this memorial today, we would do well to examine our own relationship with God and His Son Jesus. One never knows where such effort will lead us.