The Gospel of Jesus Christ

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Monday, 27th Week in Ordinary Time Year II, October 5th, 2020

Texts: Gal. 1:6-12; Ps. 111:1-2.7-10; Luke 10:25-37

Today's first reading reminds us that there is a tendency to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is perverted when it is preached to please man. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel that comes to us through Jesus Christ himself and proclaimed by man; he, not man, is the source of the gospel. In the first reading, Paul says, "For I did not receive it from man, nor was taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 

The gospel is about Jesus Christ, not man. The gospel is not meant to justify man's action or to disapprove it, but aims at reconciling men with God and with one another. Hence, in today's gospel reading, Jesus Christ approves the teacher's answer, which goes thus: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."  Paul says, at another place, "He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. His purpose he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph. 1:8-10).

The gospel is about the vision of God for man, not about man's ambition and aspiration. Any gospel that is about man's ambition and aspiration is the perversion of the gospel, and thus we are to reject it. The gospel teaches us how to love God wholeheartedly and our neighbours as ourselves. It teaches us that to love God is to keep his commandments. It teaches us that to love our neighbours is to care for them, to meet them at the points of their needs, to show concerns for them.

Lord Jesus Christ, save us from perverted gospel, and lead us by your spirit to live and preach a true gospel. Amen.

Rev. Fr. Andrew Olowomuke