Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
“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.” Lk. 6:27
Is there anything more difficult than to “love your enemies”?
Is there anything more challenging than to “pray for those who mistreat you”?
Is there anything more questionable than giving “to the one who asks of you,” and “from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back?”
In this famous and daring gospel passage Jesus presents 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 imitating and incarnating 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 well-known 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 …”
Today’s Gospel 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 further and makes perhaps the most radical challenge of all, arguably the most significant and important directive that Jesus ever gave us:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies and pray for those who mistreat you.”
To be sure, when Jesus speaks of love of enemies, he is not talking about affectionate feelings, romantic love, or even necessarily about “friending” them on Facebook.
Rather Jesus is talking about “a radically human relationship of positive concern for the enemy as a person,” as 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 threshold in our society. We need to break the cycle – the cycle of vengeance and violence within our own families, with an estranged sibling or parent, with your spouse or child, with the person at work or the neighbor next door.
Christians, followers of the teachings of Jesus, are called to love to the challenging extent our heavenly Father loves us.
In other words, we – you and I – are called to do something utterly astounding:
Reflect and imitate the character of our God.
Together let’s allow Jesus’ message to permeate our hearts so deeply that it helps “the way of the world” believe that we really can replace violence with peacemaking, pride with humility, greed with generosity, vengeance with compassion.
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
2/21/19
