by Fr. Tommy Lane
How are we to react when someone is unkind to us, or even worse, causes us harm of some kind? How are we to react to those who do evil to us? Jesus answers those questions in the first half of the Gospel today. (Matt 5:38-42) Jesus says we are not to take revenge. Just as last Sunday, when Jesus took Old Testament teaching and moved it beyond externals (Matt 5:21-37), today Jesus again takes Old Testament teaching and gives it deeper meaning. Today, concerning revenge, Jesus quotes the Old Testament, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” (Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21). Originally the law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was meant to ensure that punishment for a crime was not excessive, that the punishment suited the crime. But as time went by, people began to use “eye for eye” as a way to justify their own actions, in other words, to justify revenge. In reaction to this, Jesus responds, “But I say to you” and gave examples of non-retaliation. So, Jesus is saying to consciously control feelings of revenge. Violence is not the Christian response to violence. When Peter cut off the right ear of the high priest’s servant in Gethsemane (John 18:10), Jesus healed his ear (Luke 22:49). I once heard of a parent whose child was causing problems. The parent responded lovingly and said to the child, “I will love the sin out of you!” It seems to me that this is a helpful way to understand the non-retaliation Jesus requests in the Gospel today. How are we to react when someone is unkind to us, or even worse, causes us harm of some kind? How are we to react to those who do evil to us? We are to love the sin out of them. Not “eye for eye” but “love for eye.”
How are we to react to those who do not like us, to those who hate us, to those who are our enemies? To answer this, Jesus takes a second Old Testament quotation in the second half of Gospel today and deepens it (Matt 5:43-48). He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” (Matt 5:43) The Old Testament said to love one’s neighbor, as we heard in our first reading (Lev 19:18), but there is no explicit statement in the Old Testament to hate your enemy even though that was a common understanding by Jesus’ time. Jesus responds to that, “But I say to you” and he gives examples of the Christian way of loving. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt 5:44) Previously Jesus asked not to take revenge and now Jesus goes a step further and says we are not only not to retaliate, but to go beyond that and wish our enemies well.
We see Jesus putting both these teachings, not taking revenge and wishing good for our enemies, into practice as he was being nailed to the cross when he said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Strangely, some of the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament do not contain this act of forgiveness and love by Jesus, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” One reason it is missing in some early manuscripts could be that some scribe copying the Gospel thought Jesus’ act of forgiving those crucifying him was just too much and he deliberately omitted it from the Gospel. If a scribe deliberately omitted it, it means some scribe thought Jesus was going too far in forgiving and that there is a limit to forgiveness. If that is the case, it simply shows us how difficult it can be to forgive and love enemies and how different the kingdom of God is to our human way of thinking.
If we have difficulty forgiving, think about how much God loves us. The more we realize how deeply we are loved by God, the better we are able to live these teachings of Jesus. The more we realize how much we are loved by God, the more we also realize how much everybody is loved by God. As Jesus said in the Gospel, the Father “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Matt 5:45) How different the kingdom of God is to our human way of thinking.
In our time, people are on the move all over the world like never before. Many people are living and working in countries where they did not grow up. Unfortunately, all over the world we see some people making judgments leading to hatred of others because of the color of their skin, or their religion, or something else. Thinking of the words of Jesus today, our attitude to others is to be one of love. Not only are people physically moving around the world like never before, but also people are expressing opinions on the internet which can be read by the world. Unfortunately, sometimes we see hatred of others expressed on the internet. That is not the way of Jesus. The Gospel concluded today with Jesus saying, “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” No matter what our skin color, or religion, we all have one Father in heaven. Being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, in Matthew’s Greek, means being completely devoted to doing what God requires in the same way that God our Father is completely devoted to the people he loves. (UBS Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, p156) May we be completely devoted to forgiveness and love, as our Father in heaven is completely devoted to us.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2020
This homily was delivered near Regensburg while on a research sabbatical.
More Homilies for the Seventh Sunday Year A
Love your enemies 2023
Loving and Forgiving Enemies 2011
Related homilies: Homilies on forgiving others
Love one another just as I have loved You 2013
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