You are Gods: Reclaim your Identity!
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
Believe it or not, it was prophesied in Psalm 82:6, the gospel of John 10:34 talks about it, and today, in our second reading, St. Paul confirms it—“You are Gods, all of you, children of the Most High” (Psalm 82:6). If last Sunday you thought that Jesus was commanding the impossible, that he was talking about keeping of commandments, you are very much mistaking. Jesus is talking about who you and I are: we are gods, as such, we should behave like gods, not like human beings—simple mortals. Our nature and status has been elevated, our citizenship transformed from earthly to heavenly, we should compete with angels, even though we still live on earth!
Fr. Anthony de Mello told a story about a hunter, who went into the forest to hunt. He came upon an eagle’s nest with eggs in it. The hunter picked the eggs and brought them home. He gave the eggs to his wife, who mixed them up with the eggs of an incubating hen. The unsuspecting hen hatched, what she thought were all her eggs, unknowing that she had both chicks and eaglets. One day, the brooding free-range hen was pasturing her chicks around the compound, when one of her chicks that was actually an eaglet, noticing some creatures like itself flying in the sky, said to the hen: “mom, look up, who are these guys flying up there?” The hen said to the supposed chick, “you belong down here, they belong up there, you just follow me!” The poor eaglet lived its life believing it was a hen, even though it was an eagle, for lack of knowledge. What a pity!
Yes, you must reclaim your identity and dignity. You are greater than the Pharisees, your destiny and status more elevated. If you don’t believe it, listen to our first reading: “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:1). God compares you and I to himself, no more no less! Are you still in doubt? Listen to Paul, in our second reading: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy” (I Corinthians 3:16-17). What other proof do you need to know that you are gods?
You know what? Holiness is what you and I are called to, not the avoidance of sin. Don’t get me wrong, you need to avoid sin, certainly, but you will find yourself committing sin, in your plan to avoid sin. On the contrary, seek “holiness”! What is the difference? “Holiness” is becoming who you are, claiming your identity as a child of God, a god, with a small letter “g”. Listen to the gospel say the same thing: “be children of your heavenly Father . . . be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). So, the IMITATION of God is what HOLINESS means, and that is the meaning of YOU ARE GODS!
Our homily today may sound idealistic, impossible and fantastic! Wait a minute! Take the example of your life, the things that you like doing or the goal you want to achieve; you see yourself spending so much time at it, without force or obligation from anyone. When I was a doctoral student in Ottawa, Canada, I studied alongside some Nigerian priest students. I remember a Nigerian priest friend of mine, who once said to me that I will go to purgatory because I wasn’t watching soccer/football matches! Poor me! For me, I felt sorry for those Nigerian students because they sometimes wake up at 4am CANADIAN time to watch European soccer/football leagues, while I enjoyed my early morning sleep. Even when it was examination period, some of them will go straight to the examination hall from the television room where they were watching soccer World Cup taking place in some country with 12 hours difference from ours. The love they had for football/soccer did not make they realize that they were sacrificing a lot in order to watch soccer/football matches!
Likewise, when you want to become like God, your mind is only focused on how to achieve your objective, and by straining to achieve your objective, by the same token, you forget about and abandon whatever militates against the attainment of your objective and dream—sin. Here is where we experience and feel the power of love. When we love, there is no obligation, we find an inner motivation to crave for what we love. In like manner, we abandon sin and do not remember to commit sin because all our energy is dedicated to becoming like God.
You see, becoming like God makes you realize that there is only one commandment—Love: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18), says our first reading. Through love, then, you realize that your neighbor is your brother/sister and fellow citizen, just like our first reading says. The thoughts of harming others disappear. The old law, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy” disappears because there will no longer be those considered as enemies; in fact, you pray for them.
Do not forget: our gospel reading gives us simple rules through which we know our citizenship—heavenly or earthly: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you . . . For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that?” If you’re still struggling with the forgiveness and love of your enemies, if you cannot pray for your enemies, when your love is partial, then your citizenship of heaven and identity as “god” is still very much in question.
This Sunday provides us with the knowledge that will help us to fly like the eagles that we are, not subdued and cowed down like the chickens we are told that we are—powerless sinners. Our world keeps telling us the bad story of what we do wrong, how it is “human to err,” without the encouragement that all is possible with God. Yet, the power of knowledge is the change it brings, the audacity it inspires and the challenge it enkindles in people. The choice is yours to make, either to listen to the untruth that celebrates your sins and human weakness or the determination to maximize the divine that is already in you. Indeed, “You are gods: Reclaim your Identity!”
Assignment for the week:
Kill the earthly in you, by attacking your vices this Lent!