Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
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In the name of the Lover, the Beloved and Love ever flowing. Amen.
Love your enemy. Is today’s gospel good news? Let’s
explore.
Last week and this week, we are hearing the two parts
of the short but powerful “Sermon on the plain” in the gospel according to
Luke. Jesus is teaching a multitude of his disciples. Last week, we heard Luke’s
version of the Beatitudes: 4 blessings and 4 woes.
The fourth blessing might have talked about some of
our enemies. It goes like this:
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they
exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice
in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for
that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."
This blessing seems to say that having enemies is par for the course in the Kingdom of God.
But enemies might do worse than revile us. Are there
people who harm you, hurt you or make your life painful and difficult? Today,
Jesus is asking us to have mercy even on malevolent and on violent people. “Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36) Show compassion
even on those who have none for you.
Jesus is asking us to go beyond what comes easily in
human relations. We often resort to reciprocity in our relationships. We are
used to the ways of the world. We usually reciprocate love to those who love
us. That comes easily to us.
And we usually wish to reciprocate harm to those who
harm us. With any luck, most of the time, we refrain from acting on our wish
for revenge.
But isn’t revenge condoned in the Bible? Ater all,
it’s in the book of Leviticus, right? We find there the saying “fracture for
fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” (Leviticus 24:20) At the time,
that it was written, it was considered progressive. It was known throughout the
Near East as the law of retaliation.
Often in the time of Leviticus, retribution was
greater than the initial offense. For example, a killing to avenge an injury.
The law of retaliation emphasized justice and fairness (as understood at the
time). It ensured that the punishment matched the crime instead of escalating
the violence one or more levels up.
Jesus is turning this form of reciprocity upside down.
He is rejecting the law of retaliation. Not only are you not to avenge
yourself on your enemies, but you are to do good to them, to not judge them, to
pray for them and to forgive them.
Think of Jesus on the cross saying ‘Father, forgive
them; for they do not know what they are doing.’
By the way, our criminal justice system still focuses
on the law of retaliation. Think of our use of capital punishment. Jesus’
teaching points to the need for his followers to support restorative justice
instead.
In his teaching, Jesus goes one step further; you are
to offer no resistance to the evildoer. You are even to meekly endure more of the
evildoer’s violence. This is the hardest statement for me.
“If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other
also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your
shirt.” (Luke 6:29)
I believe this statement is Jesus’ hyperbole to insist
that we stick to non-violence and find it in our heart to forgive and to love.
A violent response to violence justifies the offender in their own violence and
sets the stage for an escalation of violence. We are to refrain from participating
in the spiraling of mutual violence.
I don’t read that verse as encouraging victims to
contribute to their own oppression. We are not called to facilitate our
oppressor’s violence. But Jesus uses hyperbole to insist on our sticking to utter
non-violence.
I believe the love of our enemies does not preclude
non-violent resistance.
So, if you can walk away from violence, do so. If you
need to resort to self-defense, that is your last resort.
If those who have dominion over you are abusive or
violent, choose non-violence resistance.
And in all cases, remember that Jesus wants you to
love your opponent and pray for them. This is challenging good news. But
breaking the escalating spiral of self-righteous violence is good news indeed.
But before we get to love for our enemies, isn’t there
an intermediary step? What about forgiveness? Or should we bypass forgiveness
and go to love regardless?
True forgiveness (rather than the performative kind)
and reconciliation are slow and lengthy processes. Jesus wants us to be
non-violent and loving even before we have had a chance to digest the violence
and the emotional response it elicits in us. This is tough.
But isn’t this the kind of Love that God offers;
immediate, relentless, unconditional, all-encompassing Love. We are called to
love as God loves. We are called to “be merciful just as your Father is
merciful.” (Luke 6:36)
Rain and sunshine fall on the wicked as well as the
holy. We are called to put no one beyond the boundaries of our love, not even
those who harm or wish to harm us. Our love is to be boundless just as God’s
love is.
This is relatively easy as long as we are among our well-meaning
peers. But what about those who differ from us? Is there a level of alterity,
of difference, beyond which we feel entitled to withhold love, to not love, to
be indifferent or spiteful?
In order to follow Jesus, we do well to question where
that boundary of otherness sits for ourselves. We are called to find that
boundary, to broach that boundary and to meet and truly know those who live
there.
With God’s help, we will find our common humanity and
with God’s grace, we will learn to extend our love to all those whom God calls
her children. In God, there are no alien, no “other.”
The golden rule sets an immeasurably high standard. “Do
to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31). Stop the tooth for a
tooth, an eye for an eye reciprocation. Seek to enable others to have the same
rights and privileges that you claim your own.
May it be that our country, and we ourselves, remember
the golden rule when we deal with those whom we deem other and whom we are
quick to judge.
May we pray for a decrease of our judgmentalism and an increase of our compassion even for those we deem our enemies.
Amen.
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