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Gospel: Matthew 5: 38-48
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one as well.
If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic,
hand over your cloak as well.
Should anyone press you into service for one mile,
go for two miles.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
“You have heard that it was 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,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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If you’ve ever played a video game, then you know there’s always a series of levels. The first level is the easiest and the final level is the hardest.
It may take multiple attempts, but if you succeed in beating the final level, then you’ve mastered the game.
If Christianity were likened to a video game, then today’s Gospel reveals the final level:
“Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.”
How wonderful in thought… how impossible in action. But if you can do this, then you’ve mastered Christianity.
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This may be the most difficult Gospel to preach on because of its realistic – and often very painful – application to our daily lives.
Think about what’s happened in Syria and Turkey. Building contractors cut corners for years, lowering the standards on building inspections in order to make a little extra profit. Now more than 46,000 people are dead.
Some of those buildings – if built to code – would not have collapsed. While justice is necessary, the Lord also teaches us to love and forgive those contractors who valued profit over human life.
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But, what exactly does it mean to “love” them? Or to “love” anyone who’s hurt us?
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The Greeks had four different words for “love.”
There’s family love, the type that a parent feels for a child.
Passionate love, the type that one spouse feels for another.
Affectionate love, the type that one feels for a friend. It’s from this Greek word, philia, that we get the name, Philadelphia, also known as, “the city of brotherly love.”
Then there’s agape, which means, “unconquerable benevolence; invincible goodwill.” It’s the highest form of love, which we share within our community. We are people of good will.
This is the love that Jesus commands us to have towards others, even our enemies.
It is not the sacrificial love that a parent has for a child; not the warm and fuzzy love that one spouse has for another; not the affectionate love we’d have for our closest friend.
It’s an unrelenting commitment to the well-being of others. Even when it hurts, we want what is best for them.
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In the context of our “enemies,” agape love seeks rehabilitation, instead of revenge; healing, instead of punishment.
Think of someone who’s living with an alcoholic spouse. Agape love prays for that person –for healing, sobriety, and restoration so that the relationship can continue. You cannot hate someone whom you pray for because prayer is an act of the heart.
Agape love leads us to patiently collaborate with hostile or angry co-workers, instead of further isolating them. It inspires us to befriend someone with opposing views or a different faith from our own.
It leads us to do whatever it takes for the sake of repentance; conversion; healing; the restoration of a relationship.
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Think of what Jesus did the day he entered the Temple in Jerusalem.
He saw the greedy practices of the money changers. So, he grabbed a whip, lashed it at them and turned their tables over.
How could Jesus turn tables over and still love the people standing behind them?
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He had an agape love for them.
In that moment, his love for them was neither affectionate, nor warm and fuzzy. He loathed the corrupt practices they were involved in; those moneychangers were profiting off of their religion, selling pigeons to pilgrims.
Jesus pointed out their sinful behavior so that they might repent and restore their relationship with God and their neighbor.
As we heard in our first reading, “You may have to reprove your fellow citizen, but take no revenge and cherish no grudge.”
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The moneychangers weren’t much different from the building contractors in Syria and Turkey, who looked for ways to make an extra buck, even at another person’s expense.
Still, Jesus “loved” them, prayed for them, and wanted them to repent, because he always held room in his heart for those who did.
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This is the final level of Christianity:
Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Desire only their good. Keep room for them in your heart.
Then you will be, “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
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