As God’s children, we have many blessings. As Adam’s descendants we’ve accumulated many problems—all self created. God has always kept his laws simple for us. “Love me, love your neighbor.” But as today’s readings remind us, we always manage to complicate things.
In the first reading some who fashioned themselves to be the rightful interpreters of God’s laws made a big deal about circumcision. Leave it to man to focus on what goes on below his belt rather than in his soul. The apostles sought to disabuse everybody of these false prophets by reminding them what’s important: don’t partake in anything honoring false idols and avoid unlawful marriage. Wouldn’t those guys be shocked by what’s going on today?
Today we honor all kinds of false idols created by man, many of them pornographic. We’re also sanctifying man-made marriages between man and man and woman and woman. It shows we’re still driven more by what’s in our pants than in our souls.
In today’s gospel, Jesus says “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling.” Why would God want to dwell in a pigsty? As long as we fill our souls with the idolatry of this earth there’ll be no room for God. It’s kind of like those hoarders we hear about who fill their houses with accumulations of things they can’t bear to discard. A TV show about them calls this being “Buried Alive.”
Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel that he told us he’d be coming back. We better get rid of our junk first and make some room for him.