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.
If we were actually able to love our enemies they would lose a lot of the power that they have over us. It would imply that they were no longer able to manipulate us with violence and threats. Such things would no longer necessarily represent loss or failure on our part. We could follow the example of Jesus who, in receiving violent abuse peacefully, exposed the lie at the root of violence, and ultimately transformed it into life and forgiveness.
The point we want to examine today is not so much about becoming a doormat or a punching bag for abuse. It is not loving to help to confirm someone and their deeply entrenched viciousness by supplying a willing victim. We're looking at a kind of love that can actually break the cycle. This is a love that can maintain compassion, kindness, humility, and gentleness toward others no matter how they behave toward us. This is important because although most of us think of ourselves as nice people, most of us also tend to have our limits, beyond which what you get back from us is something other than compassion and kindness. When asked about this, if we don't overthink it, we may answer that the person who pushed us too far proved they didn't deserve the normal rules of civility. This implies that we secretly believe that kindness is for the deserving only, gentleness only for those who are at least somewhat gentle in return. What does it even mean to be gentle in the face of aggression? What indeed! It is possible, in spite of how we may feel. And it can be quite wonderful in its effect. We can become evidence of the Lord's forgiveness, and instruments of his forgiveness to others.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
When we remove the terms and conditions that others have to follow to receive our own love we also at the same time free ourselves from the need to perform to earn God's favor. We know intellectually that we don't ultimately earn anything from him, that all is in fact grace. But if we ourselves refuse to become channels of mercy freely given we won't really even receive it ourselves. We'll always secretly believe it to be a nice fiction, one we repeat to ourselves while we continue to try to somehow do enough to merit God's grace. But when we love others freely it will be because God himself is loving them freely through us. And when this grace is flowing we can't help but have confidence in his love for us as well.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one Body.
And be thankful.
In order to be able to love our enemies we have to walk in peace to a degree that is supernatural. We need the peace of Christ to be in control or else our knee-jerk response to threats and violence will quickly cause us to deviate from the path of love. We want this peace to describe us. It is obviously desirable. So why do we often fall short of it?
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
In order to dwell in the peace of Christ we need the word of Christ to dwell in us. This means it needs to characterize our lives in a more thick and dense way than is typical of our engagement with it. We're often content to hear it at mass and then forget about it. Or, perhaps, if we're going for extra credit, mass, podcasts, and bible studies. But it still never seems to connect up with our actual real quotidian existence. It does not become so much a part of us that we sing it as a way to express our deepest desires. It is not a regular part of the advice we receive or give. But we need help. There is only so much we can do on our own. We need a community with which to sing, and that is not singing merely to avoid awkward silence, but is rather motivated by love and by prayer. We need a community who cares about us enough to admonish us with the word when we need to be admonished and who would welcome such wisdom and as we can offer in turn.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
It is actually not that easy to have lives so consistent with the Gospel that we feel that everything we do is worthy of doing in the name of Jesus. Sometimes that is because we doubt Jesus is actually OK with us enjoying our lives. Sometimes it is because we're doing things that we know are below our calling as Christians. But Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full (see John 10:10). Because of this we can trust that, even if our lives are not perfectly in conformity with him now, that it would be good for them to be so, that it is worthy of our desire.
Let everything that has breath
praise the LORD! Alleluia.
No comments:
Post a Comment