YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID … BUT I SAY TO YOU …

YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID … BUT I SAY TO YOU …

(A biblical reflection on THE 7th ORDINARY SUNDAY [YEAR A], 23 February 2020)

Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48 

First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2,17-18; Psalms: Psalm 103:1-4,10,12-13; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 

The Scripture Text

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have you cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise  on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:38-48 RSV)

In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus address Himself to the question of how His disciples should conduct themselves when they are faced with hurt and hatred. Jesus again develops the Law that He has received: “You have heard that it was said … But I say to you …” Jesus quotes the ancient law of retaliation, the lex talionis, which fixed the boundaries of vengeance. The Law stated: “When a man causes a disfigurement in his neighbour, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has disfigured a man, he shall be disfigured…….” (Leviticus 24:19 f).

This might sound a savage law but it was introduced as a legal practice to limit blood feuds between communities. In traditional tribal life if a man of one tribe injured a man of another tribe there could be outright war in which all the members of both tribes were involved. There were no limitations on the revenge the offended tribe would take against the family and tribe of the offender. The law of “an eye for an eye”  limited the retaliation to the penalty of the same injury. In its time, therefore, the law was merciful because it stopped whole families being wiped out.

Jesus, however, revokes this law saying that His disciples must not be provoked into taking retaliation for the wrongs done again them. The disciples must not allow another person’ hostility to be their cue for action, Their cue for response is taken from the nature of their discipleship, not from the wrong they have experienced.

Jesus confirms the ancient Law that you should love your neighbor, but rejects any interpretation of the Law that permits people to hate their enemy. This is a long way from the biblical advice on capturing the enemy’s town: “… and when the LORD  your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle , and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves; and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you…” (Deuteronomy 20:13 f). That policy of extermination shows how radical Jesus has departed for His own tradition.

The Law enjoined the Israelite to love his neighbor, but a neighbor was understood as a fellow Israelite. Jesus rejects this limitation of love: in asking His disciples to love their enemies He is lifting all limitations to love. No one is excluded from Christian love – not even the one who persecutes the disciple.

Jesus argues that the love His disciples give people is not related to the love they receive from others: it is not a social contract or a fair bargain. The disciple loves because that is what the nature of discipleship involves. A disciple is the son of the Father – and look at the Father’s graciousness He does not withhold the sun and the rain from those who oppose Him; likewise, the disciple must not withhold His love from those who oppose Him.

The love is offered not because Jesus thinks that it will change the enemy into something else: certainly, love might confuse him! Love is offered because that s what a disciple of the Kingdom should do. His script proceeds from who he is, not from what he receives from others.

Jesus does not believe that love transforms enemies into instant friends. Love didn’t solve all Jesus’ problems with His enemies. In the end He was the one who reached out to free others and was stung in the process. He was stung to death. But He stayed with His supreme value because that emerged from who He was as the Son of the Father. Love is His way and it stays His way no matter what appears on the agenda. Even the Scorpions.

(Adapted from Dennis McBride, C.SS.R., SEASON OF THE WORLD –Reflections on the Sunday  Readings, A Redemptorist Publication,1991/1993, pages 208-209).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, it is difficult for me to respond to hate with love but that is what Jesus, Your Son, is asking of me in today’s Gospel. If there is someone in my life I do hate, let the Holy Spirit guide me when I go out of my way this week to do something nice for that person. Praise the Holy Trinity, Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Jakarta, 21 February 2020 

A Christian Pilgrim

 

1 PETER 5:1-4

Jakarta, 22 February 2020 [Feast of THE SEE OF SAINT  PETER THE APOSTLE]

A Christian Pilgrim