Gospel: Love Your Enemies

Today marks the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time and the Gospel to be proclaimed according to St Matthew (5:38-48).

You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

But I say this to you: offer no resistence to the wicked. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well;

if someone wishes to go to the Law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him.

Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.

You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray forcthose who persecute you;

so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and wicked alike.

For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much?

And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?

Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The last two antithesis offered in the Sermon on the Mount deal with love of enemies. We should not look at "an eye for an eye" as an inordinately strict punishment. It is actually to limit acts of revenge by making sure the punishment is not excessive but fits the crime. However, Jesus asks his followers to take a different approach by resisting retaliation altogether. The response to a stronger person who slaps us on the cheek, takes us to court, or demands a service of us is not to resist. Similarly, for a weaker person, such as a beggar or a borrower, we are to give him or her what he or she asks for. Those who are called to the Kingdom of Heaven are to go beyond the way the world usually works and serve God's kingdom here on earth.

The other diffcult demand of those who are called to the kingdom is to embrace the enemy. There is no command in the Old Testament to hate individuals in a personal or vindictive way. But there is a religious stance that calls one to hate evil and to distance one's self from those who participate in evil. In contrast, St Matthew emphasizes that love of God and love of neighbor are fundamental commands on which all else depend. Because God's love is unconditional, we are to strive to love as God does, though, of course, it is challenging. Is it even possible?

The key is in the final verse. We are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. St Matthew uses the Greek word telos, which is probably better translated here as "complete." We are not to be perfect as in doing everything correctly, that is, as in being absolutely morally correct. We are to be perfect as in striving to reach the completeness we are called to in the Kingdom of Heaven. Attempting to love our enemies is part of striving for that completeness.

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