February 19th 2017. SEVENTH SUNDAY OF
ORDINARY TIME
Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48
Translated
from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Don Fabio’s reflection follows the
Gospel reading ...
(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel
Reflection)
GOSPEL Matthew 5:38-48
Jesus said to his disciples: 'You have
learnt how it was said:Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you:
offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the
right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would
have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to
go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone
wants to borrow, do not turn away.
'You have
learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I
say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in
this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to
rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest
men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any
credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your
greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the
pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
The Gospel
of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
Kieran’s
summary . . . This Gospel appears
to make impossible demands on us! We are asked to love our enemies, pray for
those who persecute us, offer no resistance when we are the victims of
injustice. In summary, we are asked to be holy as God is holy. But how are we expected
to become like God? Surely there is a huge chasm between us and God? Curiously,
sin is our attempt to
become like God. We usurp the place of God and try to make ourselves the masters
of our own destiny. This is the kind of “divinity” that we long for. We are not
so willing to behave in a manner that is typical of God, i.e., renunciation of
self out of love for the other. The serpent in Eden told Eve that she have the
“freedom” that would make her feel like God, but without any of the obedience or self-denial
that is part and parcel of the nature of the Son of God. We strive for the
independence and autonomy that makes us lords of our own lives, but our way of treating
others is completely different to the Lord’s way! If injustice is done to us,
we react violently. We demand the respect of others by shouting aloud and
asserting our rights. In this Gospel, Jesus points out a different way in which
we can uphold our dignity and become like God. No person has greater freedom than a
person who has the capacity to forgive others; no person is more autonomous
than one who is able to repay the insults of others with kindness. But how are
we to achieve this state of holiness or perfection? It is clear that we cannot
do it by ourselves! The key to the Gospel is the phrase, “Be perfect as your
Father in heaven is perfect.” The fact is that we have already experienced perfection in
our lives. We have experienced the perfect love, tenderness and mercy of God
towards us. This is the foundation
of our capacity to love and forgive others, even our enemies. If I am
unable to be merciful, it is because I have not contemplated and experienced
the mercy of God for me. Loving one’s enemies is not a matter of a steely
resolve of the will! Christianity is not simply a moral code! With my own will
and determination I can achieve nothing. It is only when we have the Holy
Spirit in our hearts, when we are filled with the contemplation of God’s love
and forgiveness, that we can hope to be loving and forgiving towards others.
The Gospel echoes the sentiments of the first reading, with one huge difference . . .
The first reading from the
Book of Leviticus is the perfect preparation for reading the Gospel this
Sunday. The first reading begins with the words of God to Moses: “Speak to the whole community of
the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am
holy’”. The Gospel ends with almost the same phrase: “Be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect”. It is clear that the notion of holiness includes the
notion of perfection within it - if one is holy then one is also perfect. But
there is also a huge difference between the phrases. The Old Testament text
tells us to be holy like God,
whilst Jesus exhorts us to be perfect like our Father. The God of the Old Testament is our master and Lord, but a
father is someone who has a relationship of intimacy with us.
Does this Gospel make impossible demands on us?
Does this Gospel make impossible demands on us?
The Gospel this Sunday takes us into one of the
highest and most paradoxical of Christian doctrines - love for one’s
enemies. “If anyone hits
you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law
and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone
orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. . . . . love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of
your Father in heaven”. All of these
descriptions concern injustices and hurts that are perpetrated on us by our
neighbour. Jewish law stipulated that a servant could only be ordered to carry
goods a certain distance for their master. The text refers to someone who
ignores the law and demands that we carry goods an inhuman distance. This
injustice, aggression, and violence is the very face of evil. And how are we to
respond to evil? With love. But how is it humanly possible to repay evil with
love? Surely this Gospel is making impossible demands on us!
Sin is the attempt to become like God by being masters of our own destiny. But we can really can become like God if we follow the way of love
There is a
qualitative difference between God and humanity, so how can we humans possibly
hope to be holy in the same way that God is holy? Sin is the effort by humanity
to cross this divide and become like God, the master of our own destiny. We try
to cross the chasm to God by illegitimate means, but, curiously, the distance
between us and God is nullified by another means entirely. The serpent tempted
Eve to do that which was forbidden and become like God. But we can become like God when we become
his children. The way to become holy as God is holy is the way of love. Sin is
the great usurper that tells us that we can become like God by focussing
entirely on ourselves. We can attain the esteem of others with violence and
aggression. If someone is disrespectful to us then sin tells us to react
violently and force other people to consider us. In this way - sin tells us -
our dignity is upheld. But the Gospel tells us that through love we attain a
dignity of a much higher sort than that which can be coerced from others, the
dignity of children of God. No person has greater freedom than a person who has
the capacity to forgive others; no person is more autonomous than he who is
able to repay the insults of others with kindness; no person is more liberated
from servitude than the person who is free from interior anger and bitterness.
But how are we to achieve this state of holiness or perfection?
I can live this life of perfection if I immerse myself in the perfect love, mercy and forgiveness that God has manifested towards me
The message
of this Gospel is not that
we must get our lives in order and start acting in the way that Jesus
describes. We are simply not capable of getting out of bed in the morning and
deciding that today we are going to love our enemies. The key to this Gospel is
the phrase, “Be perfect as your heavenly
Father is perfect.” The fact is that our heavenly Father has already
manifested this perfection in his
relationship with us. God has already done wonderful things for me. My
capacity to love my enemies, forgive those who offend me, pray for those who
persecute me, springs not from me but from my relationship with God. If I wish
to forgive my enemy, then it is not a
matter of steeling myself and focusing on the relationship between my enemy
and me; I must focus on how God has
treated me. The relationship that I have with others must be lived completely
in the light of my relationship with God. If I am impatient with others it is
because I have not contemplated and experienced the patience of God with me. If
I am not merciful towards others it is because I have not opened my heart to
the tenderness and mercy of the Lord towards me. It is in God that we discover
the solution to all of our conflicts, not in steely resolutions to “behave
better”. It is only in God that this kind of perfection can be lived.
Christianity is not a moral code. The source of Christian perfection is not located in lofty resolutions to do good, but in the perfect goodness and love that the Lord has bestowed on us
No comments:
Post a Comment