Our Christian faith was known as "the Way" before it was known as Christianity (Acts 9:2; 11:26). It is a journey on which we are invited, not a system of thought and behaviour that we set up for ourselves. The initiative is God's, who "first loved us" (1 John 4:19). As Leo the Great (440 AD - 461) said, "Jesus is the hand of God's mercy stretched out to us." "You did not choose me but I chose you," Jesus said (John 15:16).
An invitation calls for a choice: acceptance or refusal. This is the theme of the readings at today's Mass. In the Old Testament reading, Joshua (whose name, incidentally, is the Hebrew form of Jesus) said to the people, "Choose today whom you wish to serve." The "gods beyond the river," no doubt, had their attractions; they probably demanded less and could be easily manipulated. Joshua's God was more demanding.
In the gospel reading Jesus asks his disciples to make a similar choice. For Peter there was no contest: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life." But later the same Peter would not be so clear-sighted in practice; at a crucial moment he dissociated himself emphatically from Jesus: "I do not know the man!" (Matthew 26:74). Later again, even after the Resurrection, he was trying to have it both ways, and Paul had to "oppose him to his face, because he stood self-condemned" (Galatians 2:11). Clearly, a profession of faith is more easily said than done.
Joshua had said, "God is a jealous God" (Joshua 24:19). What sense does it make to speak of the jealousy of God? It is a large theme in the Old Testament. In one place, ‘Jealousy’ is even said to be God’s name (Exodus 34:14). The human emotion of jealousy is usually so neurotic that we have to adjust it considerably before applying it to God. When human jealousy goes too far, it elicits weary and dull responses: “Of course I love you, dear.” If we don't understand God’s jealously we may get into the habit of saying the right things, but without sincerity, as in a stale marriage.
But there is right jealously. If parents saw their daughter getting into an intense friendship with an unprincipled ruffian, they would be very jealous indeed! This does not mean that they want to keep her locked up forever. They want her to meet people who will not use her as a plaything, but instead respect and love her. Their jealousy is an expression of their love. Likewise God, only infinitely more so.
God is absolute. This means that God is not prepared to be part of anything. A God who was less than absolute would only be a plaything for human beings. Likewise the demands of Jesus are absolute. They can be rejected, but they cannot be diluted. Why? Because that is the nature of love.
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