by Dymphna Morrissey

Created on: December 31, 2010

Does God love some people more than others?  It seems to be true.  Yet, why this is so is essentially a mystery.  What qualities of soul does one person possess over another that would make God love that person more?  There are some things about people that could go unrecognized for a lifetime that God sees.  There are qualities that the world dismisses which God holds in esteem.  Thus, God may love a person who is ignored or abused or insulted.  This is because the logic of God is not the logic of human beings.  Christ was ignored, abused, and insulted so it follows that those who suffer oppression at the hands of others are in the image of Christ and to be in the image of Christ means to be loved by Christ.

Some assume that God hates the poor, the suffering, and the sick, but the truth seems to be that the world hates the poor, the suffering, and the sick.  Since Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world”,  it seems that what the world hates, God does not necessarily hold in contempt.  In fact, much of what is said in the Gospel is diametrically opposed to the values of the world.

Saying that God loves some people more than others may quickly come across as smug.  We easily imagine how this can be used to justify one person’s position over another.  Yet, if the Gospel is diametrically opposed to the world, it would make perfect sense.  An example would be the homeless man sitting outside of a church, who is loved more by God than those who attend mass faithfully every Sunday.  This is a cliché many people use to condemn “church going hypocrites”, but they are still right in the sense that it contains the very deep and uncomfortable truth that even though the homeless guy is unappealing to you, he may still be loved by God more than you are in your Sunday best.  Similarly, someone who has AIDS we would think as not being favored by God, and as a result, being punished for their promiscuity.  Yet, who can say that God does not love him more?  The problem this poses for many people has to do with their lifestyle of drunken dissipation or sexual immorality.  The human explanation is that God is giving them a kick in the butt for their sins.  But Jesus loved Mary Magdalene, a prostitute, better than he loved Pontius Pilate, a respectable magistrate, and the prodigal son was still welcomed back with open arms while his dutiful brother watched on in envy.  While these are sins, society with its "hang-ups" assign them greater significance than its own sin of claiming they are unlovable.

When Jesus judges, he does not do it by comparing sin by sin because obviously Jesus never sinned, and doing this is another sin.  Thus, he will use a different criterion.

God may also love animals more than you.  Jesus loves the songs of birds and innocent and helpless creatures.  Perhaps he populates paradise with the sumptuous ducks we gluttonously devour as well as all the hares and inconvenient mice that suffer horribly in manmade snares.  In heaven, you might see Lazarus taking care of all the farm animals that the rich man feasted on in this life. 

It follows then that God loves whomever God wants to.  Just because we don’t love a person does not mean that God does not love that person.  In striving to do good, we should remember that great love covers a multitude of sins.   We should also keep in mind that God loves those who are perfect, but to be perfect only means to love.  And love, being a great mystery, escapes the human attempt at imposing standards of fairness and equitability.

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