Pastor's Letter 20230219 - 19 February 2023 - Forgiving Our Enemies

Father Michael · February 19, 2023

February 19^th, 2023

7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Message from Father ^_†Michael

Today’s Theme: “Forgiving Our Enemies”

Reflections on Today’s Scripture

(Leviticus 19: 1-2:18) Holiness is not just for a few…the whole of Israel was called.

Public worship of a people is, at its best, supposed to give expression to the life of that people. Leviticus gives us rubrics, rituals and legalese for the life of the Jewish community, as it had evolved by the sixth century B.C. God’s holiness was considered the basis for the human response to God, in ethical, moral behavior. Similarly, “love of neighbor” is presented at the end of a list of social improprieties to be avoided. The term was expanded by Jesus to include “all people,” irrespective of their tribal or familial allegiance.

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(1 Corinthians 3:16-23) The Christian is a sacred “place,” in which love is free to “blossom.”

^†Paul treats Christians as “buildings,” when he refers to them as “temples” of God. In doing so, he reinforces that the “foundation” is Jesus Christ, Himself, in an effort to reinforce, within his Corinthian congregation, their true “roots, and beliefs.” Elaborating on the metaphor, he asks, “Are you not aware you are the temple of God?” and later, applies it to the individual Christian, as well. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit made them, collectively, a “Holy Temple,” to reinforce their community and joint basis in Jesus Christ, regardless of how anyone came to become part of the group.

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(Matthew 5: 38-48) Christian ethical standards can be traced back to ancient times, and shown to us, in action, in the life and times of Jesus.

Jesus’ fulfillment of the law, as was the subject of last week’s Gospel, continues today, using the metaphor of common custom, “lending.” (One was required to pledge some collateral when given a “loan,” and most often, it was their most valuable possession—their cloak. Since it also served as blanket, bed, raincoat and so on, it was given to the lender during the day, and returned to the borrower at night.) Rather than advocating “lending,” Jesus says “to give” to the one who begs, and exact no pledge (as was permitted by law for centuries.) Non-affiliation, and even hatred of those outside one’s own community, was also the norm, in Jesus’ time, but He extended the narrow concept of neighbor to include even one’s enemies. In times where even persecution of a person’s family was also common, Jesus urged His followers to consider enemies, also, as “neighbors,” and give generously to them, regardless of “tribal or familial allegiance” (First Reading,) as evidence of their higher fealty to God.

A Better Way

When Jesus said, “Offer the wicked man no resistance,” He was not telling us to be passive in the face of physical danger or abuse. We are not allowed to have hatred in our hearts for anything, not even our enemies.

Hatred is a very dangerous emotion. It must be handled with great respect, and kept for a cause such as intolerance or injustice, not for any individual. This was the key to success for Nelson Mandela.

Mandela spent more than 27 years in South African prisons. When he was finally released, he had every reason to feel bitter, and to come out vowing to get revenge on those who unjustly deprived him of his freedom. Instead, he emerged smiling, and sought reconciliation with the leaders of the regime that had put him in prison. In doing so, he became the cornerstone of a new South Africa.

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, (1994,) he wrote:

“I knew people expected me to harbor anger against whites. But I had none. In prison, my anger decreased but my hatred for the system grew. I wanted South Africa to see that I loved even my enemies, while I hated the system that turned us against one another. I saw my mission as one of preaching reconciliation, of healing the old wounds, and building a new South Africa.”

When we hate we expend far more energy than in any other emotion. We must save our strength or better things Hate drives out everything else, and corrodes and warps the soul.

Hatred poisons the heart, whereas, love purifies it. We are called to love our enemies, not for their sake, but for ours…because love is more beautiful than hate. The greatest gift we possess is the gift of love. There is one that can utterly destroy love—hatred.

Hatred can destroy any of us—it is all-consuming. It creates a legacy of bitterness, hostility and resentment. Christ’s way is better—it is not a soft way, but a hard one—and it calls for great strength and toughness. The person who is truly non-violent, who is incapable of violence, is a person who is fearless.

G. K. Chesterton once wrote, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found hard and left untried.” More than any other, the exhortation to love one’s enemies has been left untried….

When Jesus talked about “the enemy,” He did not necessarily refer to something as an enemy in war. He was talking about someone who is close to us—someone in our family, our community, our neighborhood or work-place—who makes life difficult for us—people whom we seek to avoid “at all costs,” whom we find “hard to forgive,” and who awaken in us feelings of unease, fear and anger, which can easily turn into hatred.

An enemy can arouse hatred in us. When we discover our capacity to hate and harm, it is very humbling. At the same time, this can be a good thing, as it puts us “in touch” with our own poverty. Then, we discover, perhaps, that the enemy is not outside us, but inside us…. The problem is not with the other person, but in ourselves. It is only when we recognize and look at the world of shadows, the chaos within us, that we can begin to travel towards freedom. Only the truth can set us free….

Love Our Enemies?

This is one of the most revolutionary things ever suggested. All revolutionaries in history have preached that enemies must be destroyed! Most of us find it difficult to love our friends, let alone our enemies. Enemies may be those who have done something evil to us, but oftentimes, they simply bring out the worst in us.

Enemies expose a side of us we usually manage to keep hidden from our friends—a dark side we wish they didn’t know about us. Then, when ugly things stir inside us, we resent whoever is the cause…they become an enemy.

We should remember that to love one’s enemies, first of all, doesn’t mean to do them “good.” Rather it means to allow them to be “different,” to be “themselves,” and not try to turn them into copies of ourselves, in order that we may love them. We are not expected to “feel love” for an enemy. Love is not a feeling, but an act of will. We can decide to love someone even though we don’t have “feelings of love” for that person. But, to love an enemy goes against our basic human nature. Only with God’s help can we expect to love in the way Christ asks of us.

Our enemies are typically not those who hate us, but those whom we hate. Jesus recommended, “Love your enemy,” as a radical rejection of violence. Returning love or hate is one of the most difficult things we can do. It’s a very high ideal, and a very difficult one, but one that makes sense.

As Christians, we are on the side of non-violence. However, this is not an option for weakness and passivity. Opting for non-violence means to believe more strongly in the power of truth, justice and love than in the power of war, weapons and hatred. We must try to respond to the worst with our best.

May God Richly Bless You!