Only to Him We are Accountable

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Thursday of 31st Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, and the Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, November 4th, 2021
Texts: Romans 14:7-12; Ps. 27: 1.4.13- 14; Luke 15: 1-10
Servants and workers of lower ranks in a workplace could easily relate with today's first reading: they work for their bosses. Whatever they do, they have in mind what their bosses want and they work to fulfil that. For us Christians, Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives. It is this point thst St. Paul underscores in today's first reading: "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s." This means in life and in death we belong to the Lord. The question to ask today is this: whom do I live my life for? Perhaps, I live for myself. Perhaps, I live for my family. Perhaps, I live for others. As Christians we are to live for God. If we live for ourselves, we will become selfish. If we live for others, we will lose our identities and become unhappy. We will become unhappy because we cannot please man. When we live for God, we find self-fulfilment and satisfaction in serving others. When we live for God we cannot but also live for others. When we live for God, we also live for others, not to please man but God.
Just as servants and workers of low rank are accountable to their bosses whom they work for, St. Paul goes further to remind us that we are accountable to Jesus Christ whom we live for. We are accountable to Jesus Christ, not to anyone. St. Paul makes us to realise that we are not to judge anyone, for they are not accountable to us. We can now see how it is wrong to judge others; it is a kind of usurpation of authority and position. Let us stop judging one another. He says, "Why do you pass judgement on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of God".
We are to be like Jesus Christ who went about rescuing sinners instead of judging them. We are not sent to judge but to preach repentance, forgiveness of sins, resurrection and win converts; we are to bring sinners back to God. In Jesus Christ we see how much God loves sinners  and want to save them; God does not want anyone to be condemned but to be saved.

Lord, Jesus Christ, help us to always live for you and to avoid judging our neighbours.  Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke