WHOEVER LOVES FATHER OR MOTHER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME.
GOD FIRST
GOD FIRST
INTRODUCTION: FAMILY FIRST
There is a company with the name: Family First. It is because of family first that many Filipinos go abroad and work. But if we put God into the picture, then Family First must give way to God First.
When the scribes and Pharisees asked, “Which is the greatest commandment.” Jesus responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
God is to be loved over and above everyone and everything else. God first. When God tells Israel in the Old Testament that he is a jealous God, he is telling them that he permits no rival. He and he alone must occupy the first place.
Thomas More was a man who gave God first place over King Henry VIII of England and in so doing lost his life on earth but found it again in heaven. The king with the support of the majority of Bishops of England petitioned the Pope to allow him to divorce Queen Katherine of Aragon. The Pope replied with “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” The king broke away from Rome and established the Anglican church. With the blessing of the Anglican church, he divorced Queen Katherine and married Anne Boleyn. In April 1534, More refused to swear to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. The Oath of Supremacy recognized Henry the VIII as head of the Church of England. For that he was charged with treason and imprisoned at the Tower of London. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. At the scaffold, he declared: “I am the King’s good servant. But God’s first.”
We often think of idolatry as worshipping idols. And being modern and educated, we would think that adoring graven images as if they were gods is something that happens only among the ignorant and superstitious.
But idolatry can take on subtle forms. For instance, to allow someone or something to take precedence over God is a form of idolatry.
Not to go to Mass on Sunday because of laziness is a form of idolatry. I become the idol because I put my laziness ahead of God. I grab the first place from God.
Corruption is a form of idolatry. I put money in the first place. I refuse to listen to God who tells me to be honest.
Not giving time to prayer is a form a idolatry, too. Other people and other things become more important than God so much so that I no longer have time for God. God is no longer first.
GOD FIRST
Thomas More was a man who gave God first place over King Henry VIII of England and in so doing lost his life on earth but found it again in heaven. The king with the support of the majority of Bishops of England petitioned the Pope to allow him to divorce Queen Katherine of Aragon. The Pope replied with “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” The king broke away from Rome and established the Anglican church. With the blessing of the Anglican church, he divorced Queen Katherine and married Anne Boleyn. In April 1534, More refused to swear to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy. The Oath of Supremacy recognized Henry the VIII as head of the Church of England. For that he was charged with treason and imprisoned at the Tower of London. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. At the scaffold, he declared: “I am the King’s good servant. But God’s first.”
JESUS FIRST
When Jesus told his disciples that he, Jesus, takes precedence over mother, father, son or daughter, even over their very self, he in fact is declaring himself to be God. Consequently, when choices have to be made, the choice will have to be Jesus Christ.
Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John and an early church leader whose life ended when he refused to betray Jesus Christ. Asked one last time to reject his Christ, the old man replied, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I speak evil of my King who saved me?”
For choosing Jesus, he was burned alive.
For choosing Jesus, he was burned alive.
IDOLATRY
But idolatry can take on subtle forms. For instance, to allow someone or something to take precedence over God is a form of idolatry.
Not to go to Mass on Sunday because of laziness is a form of idolatry. I become the idol because I put my laziness ahead of God. I grab the first place from God.
Corruption is a form of idolatry. I put money in the first place. I refuse to listen to God who tells me to be honest.
Not giving time to prayer is a form a idolatry, too. Other people and other things become more important than God so much so that I no longer have time for God. God is no longer first.
CONCLUSION
"I am a Christian, and this I profess until the hour of my death and for God I shall give my life. Although I did not come to Japan to be a martyr, nevertheless as a Christian and for God I shall give my life." St. Lorenzo Ruiz.
Perhaps none of us will ever be called to die for Jesus Christ. But as John Paul II said when he canonized Lorenzo Ruiz: “The call to die for the faith is a call for some. But the call to live the faith is a call for all.” May our lives always show that God occupies the first place in our lives.
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