Homily: June 22, 2023 Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time (Jealous God)

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 "For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God."

Is God jealous?

In Exodus 20:5, God says, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God."

Isn’t jealousy a negative emotion? Why is God jealous? What is this jealousy?

The Oxford dictionary first defines that being jealous is “feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages”.

So, jealousy is envy, that would be a sin.

But wait, the Oxford dictionary also defines the same emotion as being “fiercely protective of one's rights or possessions”.

So, here it seems jealousy is also synonymous with protectiveness and defensive.

Well, God is all mighty, there is no one for Him to be envious of. But truly, we are God’s creation, we belong to Him, and rightly, He should be protective and defensive in wanting to keep us for Himself because He knows that is where we are safe and happy.

There are so many passages in the Bible to declare that we are God's beloved possessions. 

St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, said that Christ Jesus has made us His own. He wants us to belong only to Him. That is the jealousy of God.

But God’s possessiveness does not lead to unruly control of us, instead He loves His creation so much that He gives us full freedom to decide for ourselves who we want to belong to. And that is the agape love of God.

Today's gospel makes it very clear that Jesus gave us the freedom to address His Father as our Father too. A good father knows everything his child needs and will do all he can to provide. Our heavenly Father is the perfect father.

He possesses us, not for His sake, which is selfish but for our sake, which is selfless. He loves us and He lets us choose.

To experience this freedom, love, and providence of God, we should choose to let Him be the master of our life. We should pray only to fulfill His will in our life, to let God possess us fully so that we will truly taste the eternal joy and peace that He wants us to enjoy.

As we pray the Our Father, may we truly mean the words, that His will be done. For He is a jealous God, His will is to protect us and keep us for His own, that we may live forever in His love. Amen.


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