20190224
THE
DIVINE AND HUMAN LOGIC OF LOVING OUR ENEMIES
24 FEBRUARY,
2019, Sunday, 7th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Do not lift your hand against the Lord's
anointed
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Saul set off and went down to the
wilderness of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand men chosen from Israel to
search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
In
the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found
Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his
head, with Abner and the troops lying round him.
Then
Abishai said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let
me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I will not need
to strike him twice.’ David answered Abishai, ‘Do not kill him, for who can
lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt? The Lord forbid
that I should raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed! But now take the spear
beside his head and the pitcher of water and let us go away.’ David took the
spear and the pitcher of water from beside Saul’s head, and they made off. No
one saw, no one knew, no one woke up; they were all asleep, for a deep sleep
from the Lord had fallen on them.
David
crossed to the other side and halted on the top of the mountain a long way off;
there was a wide space between them. He called out, ‘Here is the king’s spear.
Let one of the soldiers come across and take it. The Lord repays everyone for
his uprightness and loyalty. Today the Lord put you in my power, but I would
not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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The Lord is compassion
and love.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy
name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his
blessings.
The Lord is compassion
and love.
It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your
ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and
compassion.
The Lord is compassion
and love.
The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in
mercy.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our
faults.
The Lord is compassion
and love.
As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our
sins.
As a father has compassion on his sons,
the Lord has pity on those who
fear him.
The Lord is compassion
and love.
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Second reading
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The first Adam became a living soul; the
last Adam, a life-giving spirit
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The first man, Adam, as scripture says,
became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. That
is, first the one with the soul, not the spirit, and after that, the one with
the spirit. The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the
second man is from heaven. As this earthly man was, so are we on earth; and as
the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. And we, who have been modelled on the
earthly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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Jn13:34
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved
you,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Love your enemies
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Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this
to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who
slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak
from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not
ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would
like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you
expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who
do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And
if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect?
Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your
enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great
reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the
ungrateful and the wicked.
‘Be
compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not
be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves;
grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you:
a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured
into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be
given back.’
THE DIVINE AND
HUMAN LOGIC OF LOVING OUR ENEMIES
“Love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat
you badly.” This
is indeed a tall order from our Lord. It is significant to note that
Jesus is not simply commanding us to forgive our enemies. This itself is
already a very difficult task for those of us who have been badly hurt,
especially in marital, office and personal relationships. But Jesus is
asking us to go even further by loving our enemies. Isn’t He asking too
much? On the personal level, how can we continue to love one who has done
wrong to us? Or harder still, how can we love our enemy who hates us?
How then can we love our
enemies? We must consider the basis for Jesus’ invitation to love our
enemies. Firstly, it is based on our identity and calling to share in the
nature of God’s love.
As St Paul tells us, we are created with a living soul and a life-giving
spirit; “The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second
man is from heaven.” We are created to share in the love of God. Unless
we love like God, we cannot be called his sons and we cannot find fulfillment
as well. Hence, Jesus said, “You will have a great reward, and you will
be sons of the Most High.”
Secondly, what is the
nature of the love of God? It is an inclusive love for saints and even
for sinners. As Jesus tells
us, God “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” So the love of God is
given not only to those who are good to him but also to the wicked.
Indeed, the love of God is even greater for sinners because they need more of
God’s grace. Thus, Jesus exhorts us, “Be compassionate as your Father is
compassionate.” It is the compassion of God that makes Him forgive us and
reach out to us. This is what we mean by grace. God is good
to all, just and unjust.
The love of God is a love that is freely given
without conditions. If we feel smug thinking that we have lived out
the Christian life just because we have loved our family members, friends and
those who have been good to us, it is but only a pagan love. To treat
others as we would like them to treat us is universally taught in all
religions, including Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam. But as Jesus
remarked, “If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners
love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what
thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those
from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to
sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do
good, and lend without any hope of return.”
Christian love therefore
is a selfless love.
It does not seek for one’s advantage or benefits. It is given without
conditions and therefore it does not distinguish the good people from the evil
ones. It is given to those who cannot repay us. In fact, if they
could repay us, we would have only exchanged our gifts but have not truly
given. True love is given without any hope of receiving any payments.
Isn’t this the way, God loves us? Indeed, what makes Christians different
from others is that we treat others not as they deserve but as God wishes them
to be treated.
If we find that the
divine way of loving like God is too daunting for us, then we can complement this
path via the way of man.
In other words, we must now speak about the logic of loving our enemies.
Negatively, by not forgiving, by withholding love, we make ourselves prisoners
of our enemies. Indeed, by focusing on our enemies, we give them enormous power
over us. The sight of them makes us fearful and suspicious. So by
not loving our enemies, we can never find peace and true freedom. At any
rate, how we see our enemies is how we see ourselves. In fact, what we
see and how we see is who we are. Hence, the warning of Jesus is
pertinent, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not
condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will
be pardoned.” In the way we look at others or our enemies, it would be the
way we will look at ourselves. So the lack of forgiveness and the lack of
love of our enemies only reveal how small our heart is and how narrow is our
mind.
Positively, Jesus is telling us that to the
extent we forgive our enemies, to that extent we are liberated from misery; and
to that extent we love our enemies, to that extent we share in the heart of
God’s love. This is truly the enlightened way to live our
lives. When we are for-giving instead of for receiving, we naturally
receive what we give. When we give love, we conquer our enemies.
When we give hatred, we harden our hearts in resentment. So the only way to
defeat one’s enemy is with love; for violence begets more violence and hate
only fosters more hate.
Today, we are given
concrete examples of how people can love their enemies in spite of the hurts
they have suffered. David
is our model. Saul, as we know, had been trying to kill him a few
times. But instead of retaliating, he fled for safety from Saul.
And when he had the occasion to kill him, he refused. It was the love of
David that overcame Saul’s resentment against him. He came to realize
that God had truly chosen David to be his successor. Hence, in David, we
come to realize that even the most wicked, resentful and insecure of hearts can
be overcome by a patient, overwhelming and unconditional love. Even Saul
could not resist such faithful and magnanimous love from David. This is
the key to loving our enemies. By loving our enemies, we conquer them.
In the same way too, Jesus did not
simply talk about forgiving or loving our enemies. He showed
by His very life. He did not simply have mercy on His enemies but He
paid the price of His life, taking upon Himself by assuming the punishments
which His enemies deserved. He allowed His enemies to nail Him to the
cross. By taking upon Himself the sin and punishments of sinners, Jesus
revealed the depth of God’s mercy and love and His desire for the salvation of
everyone. In the eyes of Jesus, His enemies were wounded people, broken
and unable to love. Instead of seeking revenge, Jesus felt sorry for His
enemies. Jesus is the model of our heavenly man. He is the
life-giving spirit.
Yes, today we are
invited to see the face of Christ in our enemies in order to love them. Indeed, they need our forgiveness
and patience. The command to forgive and love our enemies seems
idealistic and impossible to live out. Only God can love in this manner.
But Jesus does not ask us to do the impossible unless He supplies us the
grace. The basis for love of enemy is a deeper relationship with
God. If we want to love like Jesus and David, we must deepen our faith in
God and our love for Him. Only when we have had a deep encounter with the
heart of God, can we share His heart of love. If David could love like
God, so forgiving, patient and generous, it was because David always prayed.
Hence, the Lord tells us
to pray for those
who treat us badly. In the final analysis, only prayer can give us the
capacity to love our enemies. By praying for those who hate us, we break
the power of revenge and release the power of love and forgiveness. With
prayer, God gives us the grace to conquer all our hurts, and frees us from all
fears, prejudices and hatred. When we contemplate on the cross of Jesus, we
too will be given that grace to return good for evil, kindness for
selfishness. With prayer and the love of God, what is impossible for the
earthly man is possible for the heavenly man who is united with the Spirit of
God. With prayer, Jesus who lives in our hearts will give us the transforming
power of His life.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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