But What Kind of Love?

Homily for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 25, 2026

A student relates about a time her professor gave a pop quiz. She was a conscientious student and breezed through the questions. That is, until she read the last one: “What is the name of the woman who cleans this floor of the building?”

She knew the woman referred to in the question. She’d seen her many times. She was tall, dark-haired, probably in her 50s. But the student had to hand in her paper leaving the last question blank.

When another student complained and asked if the last question would count toward the grade, the professor replied, “Absolutely! In your careers you will meet many people. All of them are significant! They deserve your attention and care, even if all you can do is smile and say hello.”

It was an example the students never forgot. And, oh, the cleaning woman’s name was Dorothy. We may never remember all the names, but when do we ever have an excuse not to care?

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There was a book, later made into a movie, entitled Zorba the Greek. Zorba was a practical, earthy man. He loved to dance and celebrate and show care and concern for all the people that came into his life.

By contrast, the other main character, named Basil, is a cool, bookish Englishman, who inherits a mine on the Greek island of Crete. The main difference between these two characters is that Basil loves humanity, whereas Zorba loves people in the concrete, in the flesh.

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The word love has come to be used in multiple ways, in very different contexts. We love the smell of a new car, the taste of strawberry Pop tarts, the best friend we’ve had for many years, certain kinds of music and musicians, the person one has been married to for forty years, a stylish new sweater. We love all kinds of things, all over the place. So, the question I have is when Jesus invites us to love above all else, what kind of love is he talking about?

I would suggest that the evidence in the gospels shows that Jesus’ love is more like that of Zorba than that of Basil. Jesus loves people, the individuals he encounters every day. He doesn’t just love humanity in the abstract. An abstract love means you can keep a safe distance, not need to be inconvenienced, not really be involved in the messiness of life, not encounter a poor person face to face.

But Jesus practiced a real, down to earth, person to person, challenging kind of love. He touched lepers, he directly fed the poor, he healed individuals with all sorts of maladies and crises, he spent hours and hours listening to concrete problems, healing wounds and broken hearts. His was a humble love, starting at the bottom—symbolized by his washing of feet at the Last Supper. His was a demanding love, challenging his followers to go the extra mile, to forgive in an extravagant way, to love even enemies, to forgive rather than seek revenge.

One of the challenging passages of scripture includes the following in the first Letter of John: “If anyone says, ‘My love is fixed on God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. One who has no love for the brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20-21).

So, the love we’re talking about is not abstract, ethereal or mystical. It’s a meat and potatoes kind of love, a tough love, a love even of the unlovable. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians includes the following characteristics of love: “Love is patient; love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish. Love is never rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger; neither does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong but rejoices with the truth. There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, to its power to endure” (1Cor 13:4-7).

The love to which we are called is not abstract. It’s not a general love of humanity. Rather it is a love that is concrete, a love of people, a love that can hurt. A central symbol of this kind of love is embodied in the crucifix: Jesus taught that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. That’s how you love!