“Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions” Edward Coke. Many a times what we want is not knowledge rather certainty. If we have a choice between certainty and hope, we will certainly choose certainty every time. Buying a house, choosing a partner, developing a friendship, and most of our life-choices are based on certainty. We avoid doing anything that is not certain; we try to avoid saying anything that is not certain. But there is a certain opium-effect in the things that are not certain too, such as spreading rumors, possessing an attitude that motivates us – ‘why not’, ‘let us find out’ that violates laws and peace in a society.
Prophets are one set of people who could never be certain on most of the convictions for which they lived for. They were never certain of their life: they were chased, beaten, killed or termed as false prophets. They were never certain of their prophecy: it may be true, could be true, doubtful, a lie or opposing to the will of God. They were never certain of their vocation: cursed God, asked God to leave them alone or ran away from their vocation. What were they certain of? They were certain of the love-story between God and people. They knew for sure that their uncertainty on all these things is related to God’s love for his people.
Someone jokingly said that there are 2 things certain: death and taxes. Can anyone be certain of love, life and vocation? By looking at the divorce rate, abortion, greed, carefree and careless societies we are certain that we cannot be certain of love, life and vocation. We even witness people trying to buy certainty in the modern world. If you stay in our marriage, I will give you this much money. Human love can never be perfect since there is earth and God’s spirit mixed together in creating us. There is a pull towards God and a pull towards hell constantly defining us. God promises us in the 1st reading: ‘They will fight against you but not prevail over you’.
Our love can have depth only if it constantly finds meaning in God’s love. Every sharing of love in the family springs from God’s love. I very well remember on my ordination day, in the ceremony, the Archbishop asking me the question on my commitment; the answer was ‘I am, with the help of God’. The wedding vows you take are always accompanied by God’s help and care.
Would you be interested in buying a car with wonderful design, color, brand and other paraphernalia without an engine? A house without a roof? Every created thing on earth has a definite function to support our well-being. What makes us human beings is not our ability to dominate, rule, kill or being selfish rather our ability to love. The lesson that Paul teaches us today is the journey of Love in our lives. Child loves according to its ability and knowledge and a grown-up loves according to his/her ability and knowledge.
A little kid playing with her Barbie doll is normal that she wants to imitate her mother by pretending to be the mother though unknowingly. And the society accepts that and approves that and certifies that it is normal. If a grown-up does the same, we bring in all kinds of abnormal psychology onto him/her and term them as psychologically challenged. If we apply the same arguments here: a little kid knows little about love and makes a lot of mistakes as a kid, as a teen, as a young adult but as an adult we cannot be termed as charitably challenged!!! It will be a shame on our faith, hope and Christian dignity that Christians are called CHARITABLY CHALLENGED! Don’t we want to be certain of God’s love or Is God’s love is one-sided? God’s love remains, what about my love?
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