HOMILY SUNDAY 7-C
Let the Law of Love and Forgiveness Reign
(1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-25; Psalm 103; 1 Cor 15:45-50; Lk 6:27-38)
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A magnetic cartoon on a friend’s refrigerator caught my attention one day. It pictured a man holding a banner that read: “Who Would Jesus bomb?”
It is time that we let the Law of Love reign supreme in our Church and in our lives and break the cycle of violence in our world.
Every day, in the media, we are reminded of that oldest of all realities, a persistent and terrible cycle of violence in the world. From threats of terrorism, to suicide bombers in the Middle East, to tension between Israel and Palestine, to Russia and the Ukraine, and even on the home front, conflict between protestors and the government, local and domestic violence all in response or retaliation for previous violence – it is all too familiar. What seems to rule is the law of retaliation. What can change this sorry state of affairs?
The answer is before us, if only we would believe it and act on it. We are given a hint of it in the first reading, in which David could have resorted to violence against his enemy, King Saul who was intent upon killing him. David, however, had grown in spiritual knowledge and maturity since the day he resorted to violence to kill Goliath. He trusted in the Lord and used his creativity to find a new way to guarantee his safety, taking the king’s spear and water jug then showing him mercy, asking only for mercy in return. David’s life was spared without violence, and he became a portent of the true, non-violent king of Israel who would come after him, Jesus of Nazareth.
In the Gospel today, we hear Jesus hammer home this new way of life, point after point. He spoke of a new commandment, and gave us a new world view, not only in his teaching, but in his ministry, and especially through his death on the Cross. Today, the Gospel provides us with the core, the essence of his revolution of love.
The message is crystal clear: love your enemies; forgive those who hurt you, live the Golden Rule and do not judge. There it is in a nutshell – the new paradigm, the new world view, a revolution of love. Love your enemies; forgive those who hurt you; do to others as you would have them do to you, and do not judge. That is all we need do.
But how does one love one’s enemies? It is clear. Do good to those who hurt us. Bless them. Speak well of them. And above all, learn to forgive them the hurt that they are doing. That action alone is what breaks the cycle of violence in the world.
To forgive someone is not to be compliant or a push-over, nor is it to condone the evil that is being done. It is simply lifting the situation to a whole new level, the level of the Beatitudes, the level of the Spirit of Jesus.
The best way to forgive someone is to take in that negative energy and instead of responding in kind, to hold it in prayer, to share the powerful emotions involved with trusted others, and then to share those powerful emotions with the one who hurt us with love, without any retaliation or revenge. That is pure forgiveness. That is unconditional love of enemies.
What happens is that those who respond this way to evil become just like Jesus on the Cross. On the Cross, Jesus was forgiving those who were killing him. It is to become just like our mother Mary at the foot of the cross, who was not screaming out to stop what was happening to Jesus. No, she was the strong biblical woman of faith, taking in all that negative energy aimed at her Son, holding it in prayer, and trusting that somehow God would draw good out of that desperate situation, which God did through the resurrection.
When we act like Jesus, like God, we get to feel like Jesus, like God. On the cross, Jesus was at peace because he knew he was doing the Father’s will. When we act like Jesus, our dignity returns, our self-esteem grows, our innocence is restored, our sense of peace and well-being is restored, because we are just like Him, and it doesn’t get any better than that.
The Gospel wraps up the teaching of this new way of life with the call to not judge another person. What a challenge that is, yet also what a beautiful way to love others. So often we see only the outside: the dress; the manner of acting and speaking, the troublesome behaviour. How true the saying the only way to understand another is to walk a mile in their shoes. If only we knew where they were coming from, what their story is, our attitude would change. That then is the best way we can be like our heavenly Father, and love those who are hurting us. We must try to get to know them, to understand them. When we understand the other person, the forgiveness will be there.
Psychologists tell us we have two reactions to perceived hurt: fight or flight. Jesus adds a third, and that is forgiveness. To forgive, however, takes very, very strong faith: faith in love; faith in Jesus, faith in the power of the Spirit. One person who had been abused by her father told me that for her forgiveness was a million miles away. That is the challenge – to eliminate that distance of millions of miles through faith and forgiveness.
The passage in Matthew 18 where Jesus tells Peter to forgive not seven times but seventy times seven times (all perfect numbers for the Israelites) basically is teaching us we are never finished with trying to forgive, even if we must forgive over and over again. Certainly, we can also take steps to assure our safety and the safety of our loved ones, but the bottom line is that our task as followers of Jesus is to become forgiveness, as he is the incarnated forgiveness, mercy and compassion of the Father. That we must do even if it takes us to the cross, as it did him.
The Eucharist makes present here and now on this altar, that tremendous unconditional love of his enemies that Jesus demonstrated on the Cross.
May our celebration help us to move from any lingering violence in our own lives, to letting the law of love reign and break the cycle of violence in our world.
