The Like Button

Seeking praise only from the Heavenly Father

03/31/2022

Jn 5:31-47 Jesus said to the Jews: “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?

Do you know what the “like button” is on Facebook and other social media? It is a way to show your approval or support for someone’s post, say a picture or a homily! You click on a little icon of a “thumbs up” and show that you like that particular post. I hate to admit this but I am probably as addicted as anyone else to the like button. How so? Well, after I post one of my homilies on Facebook, I love to see how many “likes” I get for it. And then, what is even worse, I look to see how many “likes” other priests get when they post their homilies on Facebook. Why did they get more “likes” than me??

In 2009 a person actually lost their job for clicking on the like button. Did you hear about this? Sheriff B. J. Roberts of Hampton, Virginia fired his deputy sheriff Daniel Carter Jr. for clicking “like” on a post by Jim Adams who was also running for sheriff that year. What a great idea! I think I will fire any church employees who “likes” a homily posted by other priests. A federal judge ruled that the deputy sheriff had a constitutional right of freedom of speech to like something or someone on Facebook. But you can see how deep into our hearts the simple click of a like button can reach.

In the gospel today Jesus teaches that he does not live by the like button. He declares: “I do not accept human praise.” That single line is worth our meditation for the rest of our lives. Instead of human praise, Jesus’ only desire is to be liked and loved by his heavenly Father. The only Person Jesus wants to see click “like” on what he says and does is God the Father. By contrast, he explains that the people of his generation desperately seek human approval and adulation.

And the people of Jesus’ generation, in this respect, are very similar to the people of our own generation (indeed like every generation): we live by the like button. As a result, when Jesus did not click the like button on their behavior – like when he excoriates the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23 – like the offended Sheriff, they “fire” Jesus. That is, they have him crucified. Even while hanging dying on the Cross, Jesus did not hold people’s likes or dislikes against them, saying: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

My friends, how much do you live by the like button? Oh, I do not simply mean on social media but in every day life? You may not have tried to fire an employee because they clicked “like” on a post by a rival. But we very easily hold hurts in our hearts. We fail to forgive other people who do not “like” what we do or what we say. In other words, we very much “accept human praise,” which is exactly what Jesus did not do.

Instead of seeking human praise, therefore, try to live in a way that God the Father would like. That is, there is only one click of the like button a Christian should care about, and that is when God clicks like on our post, that is, on our life. And if you want to see striking examples of such people, just read the lives of the saints: St. Teresa of Calcutta, Pope St. John Paul II, St. Oscar Romero, the archbishop of El Salvador, who was murdered while celebrating Mass in a Carmelite convent.

The saints did not care if people pushed the like button on their behavior, and quite often, people pushed a dislike button on their behavior by persecuting and killing them. But the saints only wanted “one like,” just like Jesus did. And that is the only "like" any Christian should care about too: to please our heavenly Father, even if the rest of the world should try to fire us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!