Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments
are liars, and the truth is not in them.
But whoever keeps his word,
the love of God is truly perfected in him.
My father was pretty permissive with my sister and me when we were growing up. He was, as they say today, more spiritual than religious. He was, above all else, a man of his word. He valued integrity and truth and would not countenance lying. I remember vividly his telling me that he could tolerate all sorts of behavior, staying out late, even drinking one more drink than I should have, but he was absolutely adamant about our telling the truth to him. If he ever caught me in a lie, beware!
My father lived in the core of his being the beautiful truth that we hear this Easter Season in our second reading from the First Letter of John. To say that we love God but fail to live the truth of his Gospel makes us consummate hypocrites.
Our God who is full of mercy and forgiveness embraces the brokenness of humanity. He knows our sins and failings before we know them ourselves. Like the prodigal father, overflowing in mercy, he readily embraces the prodigal daughter or son, who acknowledges their foolishness in thinking they can find ultimate love and fulfillment outside of the truth of his word.
It is for those, however, who self-righteously think that they are the arbiter of all truth and who hard heartedly disregard God’s commandments to ‘love first,’ ‘forgive first’ and exercise ‘mercy first,’ that the harshest judgements await.
A wise spiritual director once said that the problem with the Good News is that it is just too good to be true. But, it is true for those who are willing to let the power of its transforming grace make us new.
That, my friends, is the truth.