LOVE OUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR OUR PERSECUTORS
To love our enemies and pray for our persecutors is the Christian calling, we all receive from a merciful and lovely God who urges us to make effort and struggle toward perfection. Hence, today, the challenge in the readings is for us, “to be holy as he the Lord is holy” Lev. 19:2 or “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” Mt. 5:48.
OUR THEME
Indeed, the readings of this Sunday present us with the characteristic of Christian love and ethics in life. The Christian ethic always asks us to grow in empathy, sympathy and compassion. A unique way of conduct that should distinguish the Christian from other men and women of our age and time.
This is because Mercy is God’s primary characteristic. We too must be compassionate as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. God’s merciful goodness appears most clearly in the life and death of Jesus Christ. God’s compassion for sinful and unhappy humanity is the model of our compassion.
Especially, since the world is full of wars and violent confrontations and peaceful means of solving interpersonal and intercommunal difficulties are one of the greatest needs of our age.
The fact is that there is human brokenness in human interpersonal relationships. Where the principle of: “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” dominate and determine how we treat each other in the family, group, community, society, the world and even in the Church.
Therefore, Jesus invites us to a non-violent way of loving, praying and doing good towards those who hate, despise and hurt us. Hence, the way is open to Christians to start to learn more about non-violent means of solving conflicts and becomes peacemakers.
FIRST READING: LEVITICUS. 19:1-2, 17-18
The first reading, taken from the book of Leviticus, teaches us that we should be holy because it is the command given to us by God through Moses: “Be holy, for I the Lord, your God, am Holy.” It also shows us the way to share in God’s holiness: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
It is not enough to love others like ourselves, not be vengeful, and not bear grudges against others in the secret of our hearts.
SECOND READING: 1CORINTHIANS 3:16-23
St. Paul gives us an additional reason to be holy. We are to keep our bodies and souls holy because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in us.
Hence, he invites us to fight the spirit of the world: individualism which has not only dominated many but is also dominating everything even spiritual life and Christendom. The Christian life is communitarian in communion with others, whereas the Church is all in all with Christ in the Godhead.
THE GOSPEL: 1CORINTHIANS 3:16-23
In the Gospel passage, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us four ways of becoming holy as God is holy. We need to become holy:
(1) The first way is to abstain from all forms of retaliation. For Jesus, retaliation, or even limited vengeance, has no place in the Christian life, even though graceful acceptance of an offence requires great strength, discipline of character, and strength by God’s grace. (
(2) The second way of becoming holy as God is Holy is to take the offence gracefully and love the offender. Jesus illustrates this in three images: “turning the other cheek, freely giving the tunic and adding the cloak to it, and walking the extra mile.”
(3) The third way of sharing in God’s Holiness is by unconditionally and whole-heartedly forgiving the offender without planning revenge in any form. This means not only loving one’s neighbours but also forgiving those enemies who hurt us and seem wilful to cause us suffering, hardship and unhappiness.
(4) The fourth way of becoming holy as God is Holy is to seal our determination to forgive our enemies by sincerely praying for their spiritual and physical welfare and for the grace they need for their conversion and renewal of life.
Thus, today’s Scripture readings challenge us to become holy as our God is Holy by loving, forgiving and blessing others, even our enemies with graceful and magnanimous love, as our Holy God does for us.
This is the call to perfection doing extraordinary things simply and commonly: Mt. 5:38-48
1. Enduring longsuffering in a non-violent way:
2. Strikes on the cheek,
3. Being taken advantage of or being exploited.
4. Loving enemies and praying for those who persecuted us,
5. Giving without counting the cost and
6. Being human and friendly to all.
The Christian life is living extraordinarily doing what is humanly impossible but divinely possibilities through the grace and mercy of God who invites us to strive toward perfection.
EYE FOR EYE, TOOTH FOR TOOTH
These laws of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth are brutal in Israel. They are quoted as amongst the bloodthirsty, savage, and merciless laws of the Old Testament. However, before we begin to criticize how God could give these laws to Moses, certain things must be noted.
The “Lex Talionis,” the law of tit for tat, was so far from being a savage and bloodthirsty law. It is one of mercy and limitation to vengeance.
It is administered by a court judge and not an individual. It is not executed but the monetary value of the injury, pain, healing, loss of time, and indignity suffered. It is not the entirety of the Old Testament law.
AGAPE LOVE OF YOUR ENEMIES
Hence, for Christians, Jesus purifies the old law of limited vengeance and introduces the new spirit of non-resentment and non-retaliation. This revolutionary teaching of Christ invites and challenges us to love our enemies. That is, by a non-violent or non-resistant way of doing good, blessing and praying for them.
What does Jesus mean by loving our enemies? To appreciate Jesus’ invitation or challenge to love. It will be proper to examine the concept of love in the Greek language which is rich in synonyms. There are four different words for love according to the Greeks:
STORAGE: affective love of family – parents for children and children for parents.
EROS: passion or affective love of a man for a woman or a woman for a man.
PHILIA: a genuine love or affection for a person or a friend due to closeness or nearness.
AGAPE: unconditional and unmerited love for a person despite individual goodness or wickedness.
Jesus, in the Gospel, laid it out clearly and distinctively the Christian life is a calling to love not just our admirers but also our haters.
When Jesus challenges us to love and pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. It is a call to love unconditionally or unmerited.
Thus, a Christian man or woman should reflect in his or her life the merciful image of God. That is, the unfailing love, forgiveness, sacrificial, and benevolence love of God towards those who hate, persecute or dislike him by loving and praying for them.
The truth is that it is hard and challenging the word and teaching of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of today. It makes us realise that only with God’s grace can we love, do good, bless, and pray for our enemies.
Those who hate, abuse or harm us. Our sincere prayer, therefore, is for the Lord through the Spirit of Love to help us be like Him in loving and praying for our haters, persecutors and evildoers.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, how hard it is to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors: who hurt, lie, stab, betray, gossip, judge, mock, bully, abuse, or take advantage of us. Yet, this is the way to Christian perfection, internal peace and tranquillity of conscience as well as a living testimony. Help us always to go the extraordinary length, effort, mile and struggle to live out in our daily life the Gospel demand to love. Amen
