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
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