Loving Like God

Loving Like God

Lk 6: 27 – 38

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Introduction

Today’s reading presents to us Jesus giving instructions to his disciples on how to treat others. Jesus exhorts his disciples to treat others well even if they themselves are not treated well. Love becomes the basis of how we relate with others, imitating God who loves everyone unconditionally.

The Gospel

This reading is a series of instructions on how Jesus’ disciples should relate with other people. Jesus tells his disciples: “ To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

In saying this, Jesus exhorts his disciples to put on love and make this as the underlying basis of any relationship with others. Love becomes a command and an imperative to every disciple. What is striking with this command is the scope of this love: it is offered to one’s enemies, to those who hate us, to those who curse and mistreat us.

It is a love offered even to those who do violence against us – to those who strike us on the cheek, a love that offers no resistance to such aggression  even as to willingly offer the other cheek to the enemy.  

It is a love that is generous even in the face of an unjust expropriation of what is ours, generously willing to give away not only one’s cloak but one’s tunic as well, not demanding a return of whatever was unjustly taken from us.    

The second part of Jesus’ instructions on the other hand, gives us the reasons and motivation why we need to offer this kind of love. Jesus says: “ For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them and lend expecting nothing back: then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “

Our love is to be a genuine imitation of the Father who is merciful. The Father’s love is a merciful love that knows no bounds, a love that endures and is shown even to those who do not love in return; it is a love that does good even to those who do not show any kind of goodness; a love that is not resentful even when not repaid or reciprocated.  

In effect, the Lord wants us to love as the Father loves us. Jesus tells us that this kind of love separates us from sinners who only love those who love them and who only do good to those who do good to them.

Lastly, Jesus instructs his disciples to be forgiving and not to be judgmental, saying: “ Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together; shaken down, and overflowing will be poured into your lab. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Jesus tells us that what we do to others will be our own reward; if we judge and condemn others, then we too will be judged and will be condemned. Instead, we must be ready and quick to forgive so that we too may be forgiven.

To all these things, the Lord promises a reward that seems also as vast and as generous as the love that he demands of us. Our reward is one that is a “good measure, packed together, shaken down and overflowing, “ and it shall be poured on our laps indeed, so generously.

Reflection

Our reading today is almost self-explanatory in its detail and simple enough to understand. The Lord wants to correct us especially on how we deal with others. He does this by citing to us how we normally treat and relate with one another.

We usually treat others in the way they treat us. If they are good to us we also are good to them. If they are not, then we too are not. This kind of dealing is characterized by a kind of reciprocity where the goodness we show is most often dependent on how people treat us.  

But Jesus tells us that this is not to be so among his followers. Jesus tells us to abandon this kind of reciprocity as the basis of how we treat other people. Instead, Jesus tells us to learn to imitate the Father whose dealings with us is based on love and nothing else.  The Father loves us with an unbounded kind of love, so unconditional and so enduring. This love is so generous that it does not demand any kind of reciprocity.

This generous kind of love should characterize the love that Christians have for one another and for the rest who may even be enemies.  Regardless of whether people are good or bad, kind or not, unjust, unfair or not, there will always be love in the heart of every Christian.

Our dealings with one another is based on a love that is animated by the Father’s own love. Dealing with one another this way, makes us true sons and daughters of God. It makes us like him. This, Jesus says, separates us from those whom he calls sinners who love only those who love them and who expect a return from whatever good things they may have done to others.  

But while it seems hard at first to comprehend the kind of love that the Lord demands of us, it eventually becomes clearer and easier to understand when we see Jesus himself.

Jesus loved us unconditionally, even unto death. He was good and kind even to those who maltreated him. He performed miracles for the poor, many of whom could not repay him.

He gave up his cloak and tunic, allowing himself to be stripped naked on the cross. He was slapped, mocked and imprisoned and did not retaliate during his passion. And when he rose from the dead, he did not come back to get even at his disciples who betrayed and deserted him during his ordeal. This is the kind of Jesus who practiced what he preached. He treated people well even if they didn’t treat him well. He loved them even if they rejected him.

In the end, the Lord promises us abundance; abundance that is commensurate with the generosity and unselfishness of our love for others.  He describes this abundance in such detail that one can’t imagine how something of good measure, packed together, shaken down and overflowing, all of a sudden  pours on to our lap one day.  

Prayer

Dear Lord, you know me very well. You know how limited my love is especially for those who do not like me. You know very well that I don’t treat people kindly when they are mean to me. You also know how I want to be repaid and recognized for the good that I have done. You know how I resent those who judge me and you know how unforgiving I can be to those who have wronged me.

Teach me to love as you love, to be generous as you are generous, to be forgiving as you are. Free my heart from the hate that I harbor so that just like you, I may show love even to those who are not good to me. Amen.

“Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body. “ – Col. 3: 14 – 15

For reflections like this, go to my blog: thevineyardlaborer.blogspot.com