6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
Who is a child of God? What makes one a child of God? A child of God is one who obeys and keeps God’s commandments. Happy indeed are those who choose to accept and keep the commandments of God, because heaven is theirs! This is a fact because doing the will of God is what will assure us the kingdom of heaven. To emphasize and reiterate this message, we are reminded by today’s first reading from the Book of Sirach, Chapter 15, Verse 15 to 20, that, “if you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are you a child of God? If you answered “yes,” do you obey and keep His commandments because by doing so, you will be saved? Do you truly trust in Him so as to live forever with Him in heaven? Keeping the commandments of God means doing that which is right and avoiding that which is wrong. We are called as children of God to love God, to trust in Him, to have faith in Him, to follow Him and to keep His commandments. Jesus re-echoes this same message in today’s gospel reading from the gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 17 to 37, when He said, “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” So why do we still fall short of what we are called to do? Why do we choose evil over good, death over life, folly over wisdom and ignorance over knowledge as emphasized by today’s first reading from the Book of Sirach? Remember the words we heard in the first reading, “Immense is the wisdom of the Lord; He is mighty in power, and all-seeing, the eyes of God are on those who fear him; He understands man’s every deed,” so why have we failed to keep His commandments and even reject His teachings? We live in a world that denies God, his commandments and his teachings and we have joined the queue instead of being faithful to God. We are reminded to keep God’s commandments, trust in Him, then we will live. Loyalty and true service to God is what is required of us as children of God. This has to begin from our hearts and not just external practices. Why? Because keeping God’s commandments shows we love Him, we appreciate Him, we obey Him, we are loyal to Him, we are faithful to Him and we are dedicated to Him, and we will inherit His kingdom in heaven. So my dear friends, let us love God better today by keeping His commandments, because whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven, like Jesus said.
