LOVE CAN’T BE BOUGHT

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Hos 6:3-6; Ps 50:1, 8, 12-13, 14-15 (23b);

Rom 4:18-25; Matt 9:9-13

“[I]t is love that I desire, not sacrifice” (Hos 6:6)

“Money can’t buy love” was the title of a recent advice column from a New York psychiatrist who was advising a middle-aged man who wanted tips on how to win a woman’s love. He relayed that his present economic circumstances had changed and he was no longer able to afford expensive gifts to try to lure a mate. The psychiatrist observed that his approach of trying to buy love has more to do with power and control than with nurturing an authentic, intimate, loving relationship. She advised that he would need to change his whole approach, and be motivated by a desire to really get to know the other and let himself be known and loved in return. Then he could open himself to the possibility of true love, which cannot be acquired with money.

Today’s readings similarly ask us to shift our approach toward the One who is wooing us into the most intimate of love relationships. In the first reading, God complains that the devotion of the whole people, from north (Ephraim) to south (Judah), is fleeting. Like the morning dew, it is superficial and evaporates quickly, not like the divine love that comes like the deeply saturating spring rain. What God desires from Israel is hesed, “mercy” or “loving kindness,” and “knowledge” (yādă) of God, not sacrifice or holocausts. God pleads for love from the people that corresponds to that offered by the Holy One. Hesed is one of the words that most often describes God’s love for Israel in the Old Testament. It is usually coupled with emeth, “constancy,” “faithfulness,” “truthfulness.” The word yādă connotes not only intellectual knowledge, but is often used for intimate relationships, and is even used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse. In contrast, sacrificial offerings can reflect an attitude of trying to buy divine favor: if I offer this sacrifice to God, then God will grant me what I desire (e.g., forgiveness, concrete signs of blessing, such as a good harvest, etc.). Hosea tries to direct the people to God’s very self as the object of desire, and dislodges the notion that God’s love can be earned or bought through their offerings.

In the gospel, Jesus echoes this same message, quoting Hosea’s words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” when he is criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners. He then says that he did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Jesus is not denigrating righteousness. In fact, in Matthew’s Gospel, righteousness is a major theme and Jesus blesses those who hunger and thirst for it (5:6). He tells his disciples that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (5:20). He desires all to be “righteous,” that is, in right relation with God, self, others, and the cosmos. His mission is to help those who are struggling most to find the path to righteousness. Like Hosea, he invites those who think they are righteous because they keep the law and offer the prescribed sacrifices to move to a deeper level of relationship, based on divine mercy. The measure of righteousness is the extent to which one emulates Jesus’ love by accompanying those who are most in need of a divine physician.

Paul makes a similar argument to the Romans: righteousness cannot be earned through works but only through faith, as in the case of Abraham, who was said to be righteous (Gen 15:6), although he lived before the law was given. Righteousness, as Paul outlines it, is a free gift of God, accomplished by Christ. All we have to do is believe (Rom 3:23-26). Belief, however, is not simply intellectual assent, but works itself out through deeds of loving kindness (Gal 5:6).

In the advice column, the psychiatrist assured the man who wanted to know how to buy love that even though he was fifty-three years old, it was still possible for him to change. Hosea says the same to Israel, as does Jesus: it is never too late to let go of a sacrificial mentality and let the springs of divine mercy wash over us, overflowing in our expressions of faithful love toward God and neighbor.

PRAYING WITH SCRIPTURE

1. Talk to Jesus about the ways you find yourself trying to buy God’s love. What does he say in response?

2. As you pray, let God’s love, like the spring rain, saturate you through and through.

3. Do you think of yourself as mostly righteous or sinful? Ask Jesus what he desires for you.