Acts 14:5-18
John 14:21-26
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see that the people of Lystra mistake Paul and Barnabas for Greek gods because of the healing of a man lame from birth, Paul tries to explain to them that it is God who has bestowed blessings upon them, even though they did not believe in Him.
Whereas, in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”The Lord puts this challenge before us today for us to show the extent that we love Him.
So I do not think that our love of Jesus affects whether God loves us or not. God loves us no matter what. What makes sense to me is that when we observe Jesus’ commandments, in loving God and loving our neighbor, Jesus reveals more and more of Himself to us. The more we strive to love as Jesus loves, the more Jesus reveals to us how much He loves us and how much He loves the world, which better enables us to follow Him.
The more God is all in all for us, the more we reveal His love in Jesus Christ, and the more the world hears the Good News.
Fr Joseph Osho
