Gospel Reflection Feb 23 – Deacon Paul Zemanek
Sunday, February 23
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 6: 27-38
Gospel:
Jesus said to 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.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
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.
“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 lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
Gospel Reflection:
Today Jesus commanded his disciples to “Love your enemies…do good to those who hate you…bless those who curse you…and pray for those who mistreat you.” These words by Jesus are just as radical now as they were some two thousand years ago. But how can any sensible person possibly ‘love’ someone who hates them?
Well, perhaps we can talk about ‘loving’ that person once the playing field has been leveled or maybe once we have gotten our own sweet revenge on them. Maybe we can talk about ‘loving’ them when the scales of justice are in balance once again. BUT, love our enemies before revenge? Love our enemies without the expectation of revenge? Love someone without any thought of getting even?
Friends, this is exactly what Jesus was talking about here. And the reason for this is simple. For REVENGE JUST DOES NOT WORK! As Martin Luther King Jr. once said when people were calling for revenge after his house was burned down: “When you live by the rule, ‘an eye for an eye,’ and a ‘tooth for a tooth,’ you end up with a nation of blind and toothless people.”
And so, why should we do good to those who hate us or do harm to us? We must do so for one reason and one reason only, for it is only by us showing love to our enemies and doing good to those who hate us that we begin to display to them the love of God. And maybe, just maybe, if we show them the love of God they will experience something that they have never experienced before and will want more of it.
Friends, if we want to make a difference in the world, and I mean a real difference, then ‘we must be different’ than the world. And so, let us live like God, and the world will sit up and it will take notice that there is indeed something different about us as Christians.
Deacon Paul Zemanek