The “Something More” of Jesus!!
(Homily 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. C)
In the course of human history, there have been numerous revolutions,
ranging from political, for instance the passage from Roman Empire to the Barbarian
Empire; social like the abolition of slavery; economic like the passage from
industrial revolution to electronic revolution, to religious and cultural
revolutions. However, experience so far
confirms that every revolution brings about a change in paradigm and in the
mode of life and the behavior of men and women. Above all these ephemeral
revolutions, there subsists a permanent
revolution in the history of mankind, and that is the Christian revolution.
This indeed, is an authentic and insuperable revolution, for it has been
realized and it continues to be realized with love. Truly, the story of love between God and man, taken to its dramatic and
existential conclusions by Jesus revolutionized and continues to revolutionize
the human history. He who loves participates in this existential continuous
revolution. It is with this interpretative key that we will understand
better the density of Jesus’ teaching on
“something more” of Christianity, orchestrated by love of the enemies and
generosity towards all, without ifs and buts, without frontiers. The pivot
around which revolves the central message of this Sunday is generosity. The
generosity of David towards Saul, who was persecuting him and was after his
life as demonstrated in the first reading. In the Gospel Jesus insists on the
generosity of a Christian towards all men and women, to the extent of loving
one’s enemies, in imitation of the heavenly Father. At last, St. Paul in the
second reading affirms the generosity of Christ, who as a life giving spirit
through his resurrection vested us with the image of the new man.
The passage of the first reading (1Sam.
26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23) proposes David as a sublime example. He could have
killed Saul in order to retaliate for all the evil he (Saul) did to him.
Instead, he spared him, he saved his life. He
demonstrated an incredible generosity and magnanimity of heart, that even Saul
admired his gesture. The first book of Samuel contains two versions of the
episode where David spared the life of King Saul, even after been haunted by
him. We see the other version in the 24th
Chapter (vv.1-22). In any case, the two versions differ in the detail and
narration of the event; however, both reflect one of the fascinating characters
of David, his magnanimity. Furthermore, in
the two versions we see what could be called the royal ideology, as a result of
which David didn’t want to put his hand against the Lord’s anointed. Be
that as it may, this magnanimity demonstrated by David which in no small way is
a manifestation of the density of
authentic forgiveness, makes the message of the first reading to interlace
into that of the Gospel, on Jesus’ invitation to forgive others, as God has
forgiven us. The Psalmist emphasizes on the kindness and mercy of God thus “It
is the Lord who forgives all your sins, who heals every one of your ills” (Ps.103:3), it really serves as a
response to the first reading and the Gospel.
The passage of the Gospel of St. Luke (Lk. 6:27-38) constitutes the apex of Christian perfection or perfectibility.
They are imperatives that at first sight might be considered utopic, or better
ideals reserved for a very few individuals. In truth, it is simply about
Christian ideals for whoever wants to be and is a true disciple of Christ;
he/she has to be inspired in his/her conduct to these imperatives. For that is the road of Christian
perfection. What are these imperatives? What does Jesus require from those
who follow Him? He asks that we love,
that we love all without ifs and buts, without conditions. He therefore,
invites us to love not only those who love us and do good to us. More than
that, he calls us to love those who hate us, those who are indifferent to us. He calls to love our enemies, to love them
not with abstract sentiments, but in concrete terms, that is by doing good to
them. As such, he expects us not to react to violence with violence, hatred
with hatred, but with mercy and love. Jesus teaches us the criterion on which
our dealings and rapport with others should be based, and it is two
dimensional: “Treat others as you would like people to treat you” (v.31) and “Be compassionate just as
your Father is compassionate” (v.36).
Indeed, whoever desires to be a child of God has to imitate Him (God), who is
benevolent even “to the ungrateful and the wicked” (v.35).
In the Bible we find the logic of equivalence, this logic appears under two different
forms. The first has to do with justice over the evil received. This is the law of retaliation: “an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24).
When it was first formulated it appeared really to be a step ahead of vengeance
that was demanding double, to justice that was demanding of equity in
restitution. But this formulation is not Christian, for Jesus teaches: “Do not
pay evil with evil” (cf. Mt. 5:38-42).
Unfortunately, after so many years of Christianity, there are still Christians
who continue to apply the law of retaliation. We find the second formulation in
the Gospel: “Treat others as you would want them to treat you”. In the Old
Testament, this “golden rule” was formulated negatively thus: “Do to no one
what you would not want done to you” (Tb.4:15).
The formulation of St. Luke is positive,
and it is not situated on the level of justice, but on love. This indeed, is fully a Christian formulation, but still
imperfect and incomplete. It is imperfect because the reference point is
the I, man. It is incomplete because the expression “the others” in the common
mentality at that time, refers to Jews, and excludes non-Jews and enemies. The logic of equivalence in the order of
love, is Christian, but the radicality of our faith supersedes the logic of
equivalence, and reaches to the logic of “something more”.
In the Old Testament we encounter some figures who lived the logic of “something
more”, even though the formulation of this logic could be traced to Jesus. In
effect, the first reading exposes the generous gesture of David towards King
Saul. Jesus formulates the logic of
“something more” in terms that are humanly disconcerting: “Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for
those who treat you badly” (vv.27-28)
and again, “Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without
any hope of return” (v.35). The human mentality asks us to hate our
enemies, but Jesus calls us to love them. The human mentality demands that
we do evil to those who hate us, but Jesus calls us to do good to them. The
human mentality asks us to curse those who curse us, but Jesus invites us to
bless them. The human mentality demands that we take interest while lending,
but Jesus demands that we should ask for nothing in return. The human mentality
asks us to pay back calumny with calumny, but Jesus asks us restitute calumny
with prayer. This indeed is the essence
of Christianity. It is the “something more” of Jesus.
Upon proper observation, we see that the first two paragraphs of this
passage are in correspondence with the antithesis in Mathew’s Great Sermon:
“You have heard… But I say to you” (Mt.5:43-44).
This is implicit in the Lucan version, because the love of one’s enemy was not
a current Jewish teaching. Therein, “enemies” stand to indicate non-Israelites.
At the end of the second paragraph we find an interesting saying thus: “Be
merciful, even as your Father is merciful”. But St. Mathew placed much interest on the idea of perfection, and
the saying instead goes thus: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect”. As a matter of fact, this annotation is indeed a thing to
go by, for man’s dealings with his fellow man should be a reflection of the treatment
he receives from God. In the third paragraph St. Luke talks about judging,
condemning and forgiving. In the preceding paragraph emphasis was laid on the
imitation of God’s treatment towards us. In this paragraph the emphasis instead
is on God’s kind response to our positive or negative behavior towards others. This, by no means suggests a quid pro quo rapport between Christian
ethics and reward, rather, it
revolves around the pivot that as God in his Son, Jesus Christ continues to
show us forgiveness; we are called
to do same to others. As such, the
Christian ethics is an ethics of response, response to what God in Christ has
shown and given to us.
From the Gospel emerges that
“something more” that Jesus requires from his disciples. As such, the “something more” that Jesus demands
from his followers is proper to Christian perfection. The “something more”
of Jesus is really exigent, at least judging from human standard. Therefore,
one may ask: why does Jesus require this from his followers? Indeed, the
teaching and exigencies of Jesus are based on three principles: ●First, it has
a sapiential dimension of a common
ethics: “Treat others as you would like people to treat you” (v.31), it entails that we should not
do to others what we do not like others to do to us. ●Second, it has a supernatural dimension, of faith, and
it is the example of the Heavenly Father that we are called to imitate: “Be
compassionate just as your Father is compassionate” (v.36), He “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (v.35b). He is indeed, kind towards all
sinners, towards us all. The Psalmist captured vividly well the density of the
Father’s mercy thus: “He forgives all our guilt…he doesn’t treat us according
to our sins, he doesn’t repay us according to our guilt” (Ps.103:3.10). ●Third, is the eschatological
dimension, related to the divine judgment, “Do not judge, and you will not
be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will
be forgiven” (v.37). Once again, a
closer and a thoughtful glance at the “something more” of Jesus reveals that
they are demands with recompense. Therefore, we have nothing to lose if we are
merciful and good towards our neighbors; rather our reward is in view! We can imagine how peaceful and transformed
our society would be, if we honestly apply these evangelical principles
delineated by Jesus. As Christians we have the obligation to ensure that
these principles are understood, accepted and practiced.
The imperative of Jesus are really demanding for three reasons: ►First,
it challenges us to internal fight with ourselves, and afterwards silences our
ego and pride. ►Second, because they are in contrast with the mentality of the
world, where forgiveness and mercy are considered as weakness. But of a truth, non-violence, mercy and
forgiveness require a strong will, self-control and courage. ►Third,
because in a world like ours there is a common mentality that love towards
one’s enemies, non-violence, forgiveness, and mercy mean to succumb and to
allow oneself to be subjugated. Instead
they are actions and gestures to ensure that evil doesn’t prevail and that
injustice doesn’t become a system. It entails abhorring evil in all its
forms and representations.
In the second reading (1Cor. 15:45-49) we equally
see the logic of “something more”, of generosity, but in a new dimension, the
dimension of eternity. The risen Christ gives us the logic of “something
more”, thus making us participants of his resurrection. And he who lives the
essence of Christianity, love, has open wide the doors of the new life. Behold, it is on the principles delineated
by Jesus, that the new humanity desired and inaugurated by Jesus are founded.
In that vein, the human being as St. Paul expressed will no longer bear the
“image of the man, made of earth and earthly by nature” (v.47), that of Adam, but he will be vested with the “image of the
heavenly man” (v.49) Christ, who
“has become a life-giving Spirit” (v.45).
This of course, has both existential and eschatological dimensions.
Above all else,
however, no matter how arduous the
imperative of Jesus may appear, we need to understand that it is not only from
the light of faith, but also from that of reason, that the teaching of Jesus is
the right path towards human peaceful co-existence and acceptance.
Contrarily, if we thread the path of
violence and hatred, we will end up in a tragic spiral of violence, without a
way out, and the daily chronicle of the happenings in the world today, confirms
that. The chain of hatred and
vengeance can only be broken by heroic love that forgives the enemies and the
persecutors, and uses mercy and understanding towards wrong doers. For
Christians there are no enemies, only brothers. One of the overriding laws in Christianity is the law of fraternity
or brotherhood. We are all brothers and sisters, first as creatio
imago Dei, and as such we have one Lord and Creator. Second, we are all
brothers by virtue of our Redemption, because Jesus has redeemed us all,
through his Blood on the Cross, giving us therefore the grace of becoming
adopted sons and daughters of God. Therefore, we are brothers and sisters, and nobody
is exempted from this universal fraternity and where there is this spiritual filiation, there is no room
for hatred and enmity. Beloved in Christ, let us pray to God for grace and
strength, for on our own alone, unaided by divine grace we will not be able to
concretize the principles indicated to us by Jesus. For without his grace;
pride, selfishness, spirit of revenge and instinctive reactions will overwhelm
our good will.
(Fr.
Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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