Jesus is about love: for us and from us. This is the ultimate human truth: God’s love for us revealed in the crucified Christ. Our salivation is accepting this love by following Jesus.
In the Joy of the Gospel, Francis puts it this way: “All revealed truths derive from the same divine source and are to be believed with the same faith, yet some of them are more important for giving direct expression to the heart of the gospel. In this basic core, what shines forth is the beauty of the saving love of God manifest in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead.” (The Joy of the Gospel #36)
This mature acceptance of the gospel message invites us, first of all, to see in God’s love for us the demand to go forth from ourselves to seek the good of others. This priority of love for others is the foundation of all moral teaching flowing from the central gospel truth of Jesus Christ.
Only in Jesus of the Gospels can we find genuine righteousness in our Christian faith. There are always deceptions and cultural flaws pulling us to an easier route. It may be our twisting and distorting the demands of true fraternal charity or honest prayer. Neglecting the demands of justice or our clinging to our possessions or the power of the ego are like cancers constantly attacking our gospel commitment. There is also the pull of making religious practice a source of personal prestige, power and even control of others. These, and numerous other items and pressures, are constantly seeking to distort the gospel truth. We always need to return to Jesus for the light and the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or demanding. Jesus alone is the source of all true integrity in life.
In light of the experience of Covid-19, we all have the opportunity to respond a new to Jesus’ question. How we respond to what Jesus means to us is the key to our future. Our answer to Jesus holds both a treasure and a challenge for all of us.
I will be offering several reflections on this Jesus Question over the coming weeks.
