Sunday Gospel Reflection - Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 2019

February 24^th 2019.  Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.” 

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel passage this week, Jesus talks about a kind of love that seems impossible. We are to love our enemies, pray for those who hate us, respond well to those who treat us badly, give freely to those who take from us. Is Jesus speaking in the abstract? Surely he doesn’t intend us to be able to love in that way? But, if we think about it, isn’t that exactly the kind of love that we seek in people around us? We want people to be patient with us, to not respond badly to our bad behaviour. Too often we make justice, not love, the basis of our actions. We seek justice for ourselves. We defend our space and our rights. We refuse to give something to someone unless he gives something similar to me. And if someone behaves badly towards us, we think we are justified in behaving badly in return. But a person who is fixated with justice in this way is not a pleasant person to be with. How can a mother raise her child if she seeks justice for every fault that the child commits? How can two spouses stay together all their lives if they are not willing to forgive and overlook each other’s faults? The love that Jesus is talking about is not an abstract, impossible love. Rather it is the very king of pardoning and forgiving love that we all need desperately every day. The person that defends his space and seeks justice will end up being isolated and alone. It is justice that is the abstract and impossible quantity in the end! It is forgiving love that creates real community. And Jesus is the one who shows us how to love in this way. He forgives us when we crucify him and abandon him. He returns our bad treatment with love. Let us make the way that Jesus treats us our model of how to treat others.

The love Jesus speaks about in the Gospel seems impossible, but it is the very love that each one of us seeks!

The Gospel passage for this seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time seem exaggerated. It speaks of love for enemies, acceptance of the most awful treatment from others. How can we treat this text in any way other than an abstract model of behaviour that is not really practical? Let us begin by looking at a phrase that is really key in this passage: “Do onto others as you would have them do onto you”. We read Jesus words regarding turning the other cheek to those who strike us, praying for those who mistreat us, giving to those who steal from us, etc., but if we think about it, this is the very kind of person that we would like to be with! This is the love that we seek. We want to be forgiven when we make a mistake, we want others to have patience with us, to not judge us, to give us another chance, to understand us, to not reply to our bad behaviour with similar bad behaviour. This is the father that we would hope to have, a father with a heart of love; this is the spouse we would hope to find; this is the love that a woman would long to find in the heart of her husband, someone who still loves her even when she is hard to bear. This is the kind of love that we wish to find in the people around us, those we work with, those we go to for help or advice.

The “exaggerated” love that Jesus talks about is actually essential in all relationships

So if this Gospel seems to you exaggerated, then why is it that our hearts long for exactly this type of love? Consider for a moment the opposite to this Gospel. Imagine you are listening to Vatican Radio and you hear the complete contrary. Imagine that Jesus says: “Hate your enemies, take revenge on them. Curse those who curse you. Mistreat those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on the cheek, strike him back! If your tunic is taken, go and burn that person’s house. Free yourself from those who make demands on you, send them away.” This kind of reaction is a simple form of self-defence. And isn’t it true that we spend our lives defending our space, asserting our rights and upholding our precious dignity? Such a person has placed a single principle at the basis of their existence: justice. Justice concerns itself with what ought to be done, the balance between rights and obligations. A person fixated with justice for himself spends his life making calculations of this sort. To have a person like that in your midst can be a source of great discontentment. A mother of this sort will have difficulty raising a child. How can the child grow serenely if all these accounts have to be satisfied? If your brother is of this sort and will not give you a millimetre more than you give him, what kind of fraternal relationship is that? What seems to be an “exaggerated” Gospel from Jesus is in reality the only way to be with other people! Love for enemies is the basis for love between people in general. Love is not optional. It is necessary for our lives. How can we raise a child without forgiving him? How can two spouses stay together for the rest of their lives without showing mercy to each other when they are unbearable? How can we keep a friendship together without pardon? Nobody would be able to live in a society that does not forgive! Each one of us needs desperately to be pardoned.

The world of justice and rights is the world of solitude and isolation. It is love alone, not justice, that forms community

How wrong we all are to think that justice is possible for us! Nobody on earth is on this level. Justice is important and must be striven after in many areas, but the reality is that it is an impossible abstraction. In the end, it is justice that is hyperbole and love that is the ultimate reality. The only way to live is to be with people who welcome us and make allowances for us. The world of rights is the world of complete solitude. The world of being preoccupied with my rights and my spaces is a world of being cut off from others, of hearts that are distant from each other. This passage from the Gospel speaks of something essential for our lives. We need the kind of love that Jesus is speaking of here. In fact, without any doubt, Jesus is describing himself in this text. He is the one who loved his enemies: he is the one who did good to us who hated him. He is the one who blessed us while we crucified him. He prayed for us while he was dying on the cross. He is the one who did not respond symmetrically to our evil. We sometimes think that relationships should be symmetrical, but you are you, and the other person is himself! If the other person is angry, then that does not mean that you have to respond with anger! If the other is behaving badly, then why do you have to behave badly as well? It is absolutely not true that our behaviour has to correspond with that of others.

Let us look to Christ. He loved us while we were still his enemies. Let us imitate him and love others around us even when it is difficult.

This Gospel might seem paradoxical but it is our lives that are paradoxical. We want to live in spaces that are respected, but in reality it is impossible to live in that way. We live by being open, by entering into communion. We need to welcome others and also to be welcomed by them. If we do good only to those who do good to us, then how many relationships will be be able to salvage? Sooner or later we would all disappoint each other. If we loved only those who loved us, then we would not be able to stand even in front of the mirror. We don’t even know how to love ourselves, let alone love others. If we do not have patience with our own defects, then how can we have patience with the defects of others? In the end, all of this depends on our relationship with Christ. Every day let us look to how he has patience with us. If we can see that we are enemies of his who are nevertheless loved by him, then we too can learn to love our own enemies. Let us allow ourselves to be illuminated by our own relationship with Christ. May this text enlighten our own necessity for love. Without love, one cannot live. Without communion, one cannot go on.