Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
“You have heard that it was said … but I say to you ….” Mt. 5:38
Is there anything more difficult than to “love your enemies”?
Is there anything more challenging than to “pray for those who persecute you”?
Is there anything that strikes us as more questionable than giving “to the one who asks of you,” and not “turning our back on one who wants to borrow”?
In this famous and daring gospel passage Jesus presents us with two starkly different ways of viewing life and living life.
On one hand, we are presented with the “business as usual,” conventional, “way of the world” approach.
On the other hand, we are offered a totally different way to approach life – the wisdom of the un-conventional, the wisdom of the Gospel, the wisdom of mimicking the boundless love and mercy of the Father towards each of us.
The first way, the way of the world, follows the teaching implied in the phrase “You have heard that it was said.” The second way follows the wisdom of “but I say to you” – the teaching of the One who poured himself out in a total gift of love; the wisdom of the One who not only pointed to a different way of seeing and living, but who laid out the pattern, and showed us the way with every step and every breath of his adult life.
The choice between the two reminds me of Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken,” about the two choices, the two roads open to him in life – the same roads open to each of us:
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth …”
The gospel today, and over the last few Sundays, presents two similar choices: the choice of what the “way of the world” tells us, or the choice of being like our God.
The “way of the world” tells us: “Happy are those who enjoy power, because they will be in charge and lord it over others.” Jesus says: “Happy are the humble, because they will inherit the earth.”
The “way of the world” tells us: “Happy are those who can sit in judgment over others, because they can boss people around and feel important and superior.” Jesus says: “Happy are the people who show mercy, because they will receive mercy.”
The “way of the world” tells us: “Happy are people who can dominate their opponents, because they are winners.” Jesus says “Happy are those who beat their swords into plowshares, who make peace, because they will be called God’s children.”
“You have heard that it was said … but I say to you.”
And, as if this were not enough, the gospel today goes a step further and makes perhaps the most radical challenge of all, arguably the most significant and important directive that Jesus ever gives us:
“You have heard that it was said ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil …. You have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
To be sure, when Jesus speaks of love of enemies, he is not talking about affectionate feelings, passionate love, or even necessarily about “friending” them on Facebook.
What Jesus is talking about is “a radically human relationship of positive concern for the enemy as a person,” as the scripture scholar Douglas Hare puts it.
Dr. Hare goes on to say: “It’s not enough to denounce terrorism. It’s not enough to show our horror and repulsion at every attack on human life. We have to work day by day to build a different society, uprooting ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ and cultivating instead an attitude of reconciliation that is difficult but not impossible to achieve.”
In other words, we need to change “the way of the world.” We need to change our 21st century culture. We need to raise the bar in our society. We need to break the cycle.
We need to break the cycle of vengeance and violence within our own families, with an estranged sibling or parent, with your spouse or child. We need to break the cycle with the person at work or the neighbor next door.
Christians, followers of the teachings of Jesus, are called to love to the extent our heavenly Father loves us. We are called to reflect and mimic the character of our God.
Let’s together allow Jesus’ message to permeate our hearts so deeply that it helps “the way of the world” believe that we can replace violence with peacemaking.
Robert Frost’s poem concludes:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
We all have a choice before us: the culture of the “way of the world,” or the culture of Jesus and the Gospel – the road less traveled.
Which road will you take? That will make all the difference.
Ted Wolgamot, Psy.D.
11809194.1
2/16/17
