FROM ENEMY TO NEIGHBOR

June 15, Tuesday

Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 

      Paul tells us today that churches that are better off must help those that are poorer. Here he applies this when he asks the Church of Corinth, a church of pagan origin, to help the impoverished poorer church of Jerusalem.

       Jesus concludes part of his Sermon on the Mount with the words “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” A goal not easy to attain! Our love must go out to everyone; it must include even enemies and must imitate God’s love, who lets his sun shine on good and bad alike

 

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9

Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.

This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That’s what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too.

I’m not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians’ enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.

 

Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

 “In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

 

Prayer

Father in heaven, God of love,
in your Son Jesus Christ
you have shown us your tenderness
and accepted us, sinful people,
as your sons and daughters.
Share your heart with us,
make us merciful and understanding people,
that we may learn from the way you have treated us
to accept everyone without conditions,
to forget and forgive all hurts,
so that we can become more like you.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection

Identify your enemy!

To the mind of a Jew, to hate did not necessarily carry the idea of emotional separation, but could simply mean “to disconnect from”. Love, likewise, did not refer to an emotional connection but, rather, to a “deliberate choice for”. Thus, even in the book of Psalms, the “Prayer Book of Israel”, which nourished the prayer life of Jesus, and of his mother and Joseph, we can find profound expressions of love of God with equally profound expressions of hatred of God’s enemies.

Jesus, the new law-giver wants to set the record straight. This change starts with the practice of love that will put an end to all kinds of violence. “Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors.” This is the highest aspiration of Jesus: love for all, without conditions, just as the love of the “Heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and makes it rain on the just and the unjust.”

Jesus’ references to enemies and to persecutors clearly included the occupying Romans, their Herodian allies, and the religious leaders who collaborated with them. In the world of the disciples, they were not only the authorities of the Empire, but many of their own Jewish colleagues. Jesus wants his disciples to love these people who possess an ideology different from their own.

It is important to for us, the disciples of today, to identify our enemies: An enemy is anyone who makes our life difficult. But our faith in Jesus and our decision to follow him demands that we do mot align against anyone. Love is an energy that originates in God, and love can be understood only to the extent that we experience God. And Love can be practised only to the extent that we allow ourselves to be transformed by God.
Jesus showed his disciples a God who was against no one. With God there would be no “us” and “them”. The Gospel was written at a time where tax collectors and Gentiles were frequently categorised as sinners. But, Matthew wanted his community to show their help and concern, not only for their own community members but for everyone. If not, they would have been no different from their neighbours. Matthew recalls the mandate of Jesus to reach beyond themselves to respond to the needs of all.

Video available on Youtube: Identify your enemy!