"YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME."

Homily for May 19^th, 2014: Acts 14:5-18; John 14:21-26.

          “When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they cried out … ‘The gods have come down to us in human form.’” What called forth is outburst of enthusiasm, and the attempt to offer sacrifice, was Paul’s healing of a crippled man, lame from birth. For the Bible, and especially for the Old Testament, idolatry is the great sin: violation of the first of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other gods but me.”

          Idolatry is not very high on the sin list of most Catholics today. The false gods we worship are not statues – like the golden calf which God’s people made and worshiped while Moses was away atop Mt. Sinai. Today’s idols are things like pleasure, possessions, power, and honor: good in themselves, until we make them central in our lives. Then we inevitably experience frustration and disappointment, for we can never get enough. There is only One who can satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts, the Lord God.

          False gods are always our own constructs; and the demands they make on us are enslaving, not liberating. How different the God Jesus shows us in today’s gospel. “Whoever has my commandments and observes them, is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him end reveal myself to him.” What could be more liberating, what could cause us greater joy, than to know that we are loved unconditionally by the One who made us, using our parents as his instruments – and who made not only us but the world and all that is? He is Creator all – but he is more. He sent his Son to be our Redeemer – the one who “cancelled the bond [of indebtedness because of our sins] that stood against us,” as Paul writes, “snatching it up and nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14).

          This true God who loves us more than we can ever imagine is also the One who sends us his Holy Spirit “to teach you everything,” Jesus says in the final sentence of our gospel reading, “and remind you of all that I told you.” To Him, therefore, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, as we renew our pledge of loyalty, knowing that he alone can satisfy the deepest desires of our hearts.