WHAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE?

Fr Luke A Veronis

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” This is a challenging question that Saint Paul poses in today’s Epistle Reading. “Who or what shall separate us from the love of Christ?” And then the Great Apostle answers with confidence and joy: “Nothing… neither death nor life, nor things to come nor things present… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What a bold proclamation. Nothing can separate us from the love of God! That’s the foundation of our faith.

And yet, if we’re honest, we need to seriously reflect on this question. Not because God’s love is fragile, but because our hearts are. We never want to be separated from God’s love, and yet we often live in ways that distance us from Him and His love.

Today’s Gospel gives us a very clear answer to Paul’s question, not about God’s love, but about our response to it. What separates us from the love of God? Today we hear clearly - pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness.

In the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, both men go up to the Temple to pray.  Outwardly, the Pharisee looks like the model, pious, religious believer. He fasts. He tithes. He follows the law. Yet, listen carefully to his prayer. It is not really a prayer at all but a speech about himself. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Thank God I’m like this sinner.”

His heart is full, but full of himself. And because his heart is already full, there’s no room left for God’s love and mercy.

The Tax-Collector, on the other hand, cannot even lift his eyes to heaven. He stands at a distance. His prayer is simple, honest, and painfully true: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” That is all. And Jesus tells us that this man went home justified, not the other. In other words, despite all his sins, his humility opens up his heart to receive God’s love.

Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say that the Pharisee was wrong about God’s commandments. He does not deny the importance of fasting, prayer, and spiritual discipline. What closes the Pharisee’s heart to Divine Love is not his obedience, but his lack of humility. His obedience became a weapon which he arrogantly used against others and this created a wall keeping out God’s love.

Saint Paul tells us today that nothing can separate us from God’s love, and that is absolutely true. God never stops loving us. His love is unconditional, faithful, and eternal. Yet, the hard truth the Gospel reveals is that we can close ourselves off from Divine Love. This is the only way in which we are stronger than God. Because He respects our freedom, we can use our freedom in ways that keep God out. Our pride and arrogance, a self-righteous attitude and lack of humility, will do precisely this.

Remember, God never withdraws. We retreat and build up barriers and walls.

When we become too full of ourselves, when we think too highly of our spiritual accomplishments, when we judge others from a place of arrogance, we shut the door of our heart. The love of God is still knocking yet we no longer respond to it.

That is why humility is not optional in the Christian life. A humble heart is essential and foundational. Without humility, even our virtues become distorted. Without humility, our faith becomes self-worship.

Jesus challenges us to “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” That is an impossible command, unless we understand it correctly. Perfection in our Orthodox Faith is not about flawless performance. It is about continual repentance in response to perfect love. It is about developing the spirit of divine mercy, divine humility.

This is why it’s lethal to our spiritual lives to compare ourselves to those we think are sinful. The Pharisee arrogantly compares himself downward. He chooses someone he believes is morally inferior so that he can feel righteous and superior. Yet, Jesus turns everything upside down and reveals that the one who appears furthest away from God may actually be the one closest to Him.

If we want a truthful mirror to look at ourselves, Jesus gives us one. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read it carefully: “Love your enemies… Do not judge… Be pure in heart… Forgive as you have been forgiven… Treat others the way you want to be treated… Be perfect as Your Father in heaven is perfect.”  Then ask yourself, not how others are doing, but how YOU are doing. Compare yourself not to the worst examples you can find, but to the saints we honor in the church every day. Compare yourself to Christ Himself.

Such a comparison will not lead to despair if it is done with humility. It will lead to sincere repentance. And repentance does not lead to shame or guilt, but it leads us to the path of freedom. Repentance reopens our hearts to God’s Divine Love.

Today, we begin what we call the Triodion period, which is the beginning of our preparation for our journey toward Great Lent. The Church specifically places this Gospel reading before us as a warning and as a gift. Pride can quietly undo everything. Humility can heal everything.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,” Jesus says, “but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

May we stand before God like the humble Tax-Collector, not pretending, not comparing, not deceiving ourselves and justifying ourselves. Instead, let us honestly open our hearts and cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.” With such a spirit of humility, we discover what Saint Paul proclaims so boldly when he says that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.