Scripture Readings: First Book of Samuel 26: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 15:45-49; Gospel According to Saint Luke 6:27-38
The Gospel text for this Sunday contains very practical advice for all who follow Christ: first and foremost, do to others what you would have them do to you. That includes love of one’s enemies, doing good to adversaries and giving to all without counting the cost. That is a tall order, to say the least, but it is an expectation of followers of Jesus, what Servant of God Catherine Doherty called “the Gospel without compromise.”
The heart of it all is contained in the final phrases of Jesus in today’s Gospel passage: “Be compassionate as your Father in compassionate.” Out of the question? Beyond human capability? If it were, then why would Jesus have commanded it?
When Jesus pronounced challenging words of love of enemies to his first disciples, they must have been startled. “You must be kidding,” they might have said in modern parlance. That is because religious custom of the times contained the “law of retaliation,” (in Latin “lex talionis”), the teaching of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” meaning punishment is dished out in equal measure to a crime committed, a teaching contained in the Book of Exodus, chapter 21, verse 24. In other words, do evil when evil is done to you.
Rather than the law of retaliation, though, Jesus required of his followers something very different, namely, readiness to bear ill-treatment and injury without standing on rights. That implies willingness not to return evil for evil, and in fact overcoming evil by doing good.
This notion calls to mind the idea of the Carmelite mystic Saint John of the Cross, which he expressed this way: where you do not find love, put love, and there you will find love. It’s the application to daily life of Jesus’ teaching from the Gospel we hear today.
How often we might all be faced with situations where love or peace is lacking and our tendency is to react in kind, rather than respond with love and peace. The response of Jesus to such situations could be expressed as: take a deep breath, don’t shout back when you are being shouted at; don’t retaliate for injustice that has been handed out to you. That can take tremendous effort and calm, only possible by the grace of God and a firm commitment to follow the teaching of Christ.
Jesus takes the “Golden Rule,” as we call it today, originally found in the Old Testament Book of Tobit, chapter 4, verse 15, “What you hate, do not do to anyone,” and expresses it in a positive light: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” This is not a self-serving stance, a hope that I will get good things from others if I do good to them. Rather, it is a selfless approach, rooted in knowing how we like to be treated and extending such to others, friend a foe alike, for the love of God, and for no ulterior motive.
Jesus desires that his disciples always do good to others, not just by refraining from doing harm to others. The command of Jesus has no limits, “always do good to everyone,” the Lord is teaching.
Christian love is creative, meaning it is life-giving, dynamic, offered willing and joyfully. Love is shown in deeds, not merely in words. Actions speak louder than words, as they say. Our actions are a sign that the committed follower of Jesus is a child of God, rooted in one’s baptismal commitment, which we renew each year at the Easter Vigil Mass.
Mercy is one of the most characteristic attributes of God. God never ceases to show loving kindness and compassion to all, at all times. Ready to forgive, God comes to the rescue of all who know their need of God. As children of our heavenly Father, we are expected to forgive one another (an essential tenant of the Our Father), and to unite ourselves with those who are in need, without limitations.
The Book of Sirach states: “The compassion of human beings is for their neighbors, but the compassion of the Lord is for every living thing” (Sirach 18:13). For this reason, Jesus stresses that we must be compassionate as our Father is compassionate.
Jesus concludes in the Gospel text today that if we give, pardon will be given to us. The result of good action is a divine reward. This idea flows form the fact that God does not remain indifferent to good action.
In this Sunday’s exhortation to love one’s enemies, Jesus wants his followers to be people of compassion and to show real interest in their welfare. The motivation for such an attitude and behavior is that fact that the disciple of Jesus is a child of the Father who loves all. As a consequence, we must strive to extend that same love to all our brothers and sisters. And when we fail to do so, we must never give up, but resolve to keep on doing our best.
Abbot Christian Leisy, OSB