SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)
Your Enemy Is Your Neighbor
On seeing so much evil in the world, especially when that evil affects us deeply, is our reaction not anger and perhaps revenge? The message of today is this: do not let evil force you to fight it with its own weapons of evil. Fight it with the weapons of God himself: mercy, forgiveness, even love of the evildoer and prayer for the ones who have hurt you. Let us ask that in this we may follow Jesus; then we will surely be his disciples.
Reading 1 Lv 19:1-2, 17-18
God spoke to Moses: “Speak to the congregation of Israel. Tell them, Be holy because I, God, your God, am holy.
“Don’t secretly hate your neighbor. If you have something against him, get it out into the open; otherwise you are an accomplice in his guilt.
18 “Don’t seek revenge or carry a grudge against any of your people.
“Love your neighbor as yourself. I am God.
Reading 2 1 Cor 3:16-23
You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, arethe temple.
Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being relevant. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the hype of the hipsters.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.
I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
Gospel Mt 5:38-48
“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Prayer
God our Father,
in your Son Jesus Christ
you have shown us your tenderness
and accepted us, sinful people,
as your sons and daughters.
Share your heart with us,
make us merciful and understanding people,
that we may learn from the way you have treated us
to accept everyone without conditions,
to forgive and forget all hurts,
so that we become more like you.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Reflection:
19 February 2023
Matthew 5:38-48
Children of God
In the Bible, there are texts which warn the people not to repay evil (Pro 24:29). It is recommended to love the enemy. “When you see the donkey of a man who hates you falling under its load, do not pass by but help him” (Ex 23:5). Appealing to them, some rabbis argued that the commandment: “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18) had to be extended to the enemy, but the common opinion restricted it to members of the Jewish people.
In this religious context, the dual commandment of Jesus, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”is the pinnacle of Christian ethics. It is the requirement of gratuitous and unconditional love. Jesus wants his disciples to love one another without expecting anything in return and that this love reaches even those who do evil.
The second command – to pray- is offered as a means to obtain all the necessary graces to practice love for “those who persecute us,” for those who make life impossible for us. Our prayers, raised to the Lord, purifies our mind and heart from the thoughts and feelings dictated by the logic of this world and helps us to see evil with the eyes of God. As God has no enemies, nor shall we!
Jesus invites us to behave ourselves as children of God. He asks the disciples to imitate the heavenly Father who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. There shall not be any discrimination or violence against those who oppose us. People should recognise us as “children of God” through our acts of love towards those who hate us or even those who do not deserve it.
A disciple wholeheartedly wishes Shalom, the wishes for peace and all good even for those who hate him. He forgets the wrong done and commits himself to making this possible.
“Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection, according to the Jewish law was ‘the exact observance of the precepts of the Torah’. But, for the Christians, it is the boundless love as that of the Father. Perfect is one who lacks nothing, who has integrity, whose heart is not divided between God and the idols. The availability to give everything, not keeping anything for oneself, to put ourselves totally at the service of people—including the enemy—takes us in the footsteps of Christ. It leads to the perfection of the Father who gives his all and does not exclude anyone from his love.