Who is the author of today’s gospel? That’s right; it is Luke. And do you remember the chapter? The sixth chapter. Now, go back to last week’s gospel and who is the author? And what chapter is it? Yes, our gospel this morning is a continuation of last week’s gospel.
Let’s admit it: the sixth chapter of Luke seems extreme, irrational and illogical. It seems dumbfounding and crazy, unreasonable and ridiculous.
The teaching of the of the beatitudes that we heard in last week’s gospel and the teaching of the commandment to love our enemies that we heard this week seem very disconcerting and disturbing to our human way of thinking.
I don’t believe it is a natural or basic instinct to hate our enemy. We are taught to confront, defeat and even destroy those we consider our enemies. I remember when I was three years old, and my brother, who was a year older, made fun of me because I was sucking my finger. I didn’t like it, so I pushed him to the floor. He got up and pushed me back. I pushed him back, and it continued until our dad broke it up. We then got the lecture about not fighting and, instead, loving one another.
Loving your enemies is an extremely hard message to hear. The message introduced by Jesus was to abandon the Old Testament concept of “an eye for an eye” for the New Testament commandment of “love your enemies.”
Our first reading from Samuel clearly illustrates loving your enemy. It is the story of 3,000 of King Saul’s soldiers in pursuit of David, the popular and gifted young musician. The story goes back to when David slayed Goliath and David became the hero.
King Saul developed intense jealousy towards David to the point where Saul chased David to kill him. Somehow David managed to sneak into Saul’s heavily guarded tent. Now David had the opportunity to kill Saul. But David didn’t! He spared his enemy. He did to Saul what he would want done to himself and applied what is called the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”
Unfortunately, we often forget the Golden Rule.
The story is told of the monk who tried to free a scorpion caught in the tangled roots of a plant. Every time the monk reached out to free the scorpion; it stung him. Exasperated, a man watching this said to the monk, “You crazy old man. Can’t you see that the scorpion will keep stinging you if you keep on trying to free it?”
In reply, the monk said, “Just because it is the scorpion’s nature to sting, why should I deny my nature to save it?”
An animal trapped will lash out at those in close proximity, even those trying to help.
Jesus gives us the motive as to why we are to love and forgive our enemies:
Be merciful as your Father is merciful.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Jesus challenges us to be merciful just as God is merciful. In loving our enemies we follow the example of God, who is kind to all, including the ungrateful and the wicked.
By loving our enemies, we can break the vicious cycle of violence and retaliation.
The story is told of two brothers who lived on adjoining farms, separated by only a creek. They had a falling-out that turned into an ongoing grudge, followed by ignoring each other for years.
One day a carpenter knocked on the older brother’s door. He was looking for a job. “Yes, I have some work for you. Can you build an 8-foot fence?”
“Sure, I can do that,” said the carpenter.
“Good,” said the older brother. “I don’t ever want to see my brother again, and I want the fence done when I return from vacation.”
When the older brother returned from vacation, he was shocked. There was no fence at all. The carpenter had built was a bridge stretching from his side of the creek to the younger brother’s property. On the other side, the younger brother was waiting for his older brother with outstretched hands of forgiveness.
What Jesus asks of those of us who claim to be his followers is much higher than our basic and natural instincts. This is where I wrestle with my own faults and failures every day. Not only am I to love my enemies but I am also supposed to do good to those who hate me and bless those who curse me. On top of that, Jesus wants me to pray for those who mistreat me.
When I pray for people with whom I disagree, I am tempted to pray that they have a quick, natural and happy death, but that is not what God is asking of me.
Instead, I make my best effort to pray that they will have a change of heart and I will stop judging them.
I invite you to do the same.
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