Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 23, 2025: Love your enemies, and do good to them...

Love your enemies and do good to them…
Is it really possible to love one’s enemies? 

   When, in the First Book of Samuel, David spares his king and enemy Saul, David proves by his actions what he believes: if the Lord has appointed a man to be king, then it’s the Lord’s call to remove that individual when necessary. Do not harm him, David says to his nephew and commander Abishai when they have the opportunity to eliminate Saul, for who can lay hands on the Lord’s anointed? By not taking Saul’s life, David shows himself to be a man in relationship with the Lord, a man who trusts in the Lord, knowing that the Lord will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness. Ultimately, it is through David that the Lord spares Saul, because, as Psalm 103 reminds us, The Lord is kind and merciful, and thus it is the Lord who allows David to be merciful and compassionate. 

   In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus will take this lesson to another level as he tells his disciples to love their enemies, and do good to those who hate them. God loves everything he has created, including our enemies; our lives therefore have to be consistent with the God-life given to us. If we are to learn how much God loves us, we are going to have to participate in that life and in that love, with no half-measures possible. Moreover, Jesus encourages his disciples to not even judge others, for the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you. If our measure of one another is the love God has for us, an absolute love with no limitations, then that love should not limit us either – indeed, that love should approach, as closely as possible, the limitless love God has for us, and for all of our world. 

   We bear the image of the heavenly one, Paul tells the Corinthians. We share in the humanity that Christ took to death and hope that we might share in his divine life in the future, if we but put our faith in him, if we trust in his promise, if we open to being transformed by his sacrificial death and resurrection. In this way, step by step, God draws us into eternal life. But today? We can carry paradise with us, right now. We carry the love of God with us at every moment. We must live in the contradiction, knowing that the world that does not know Jesus is steeped in judgment and condemnation, whereas we, assured of his love, must be steeped in all that heals, all that makes whole, all that builds one another up, until there are no enemies, only brothers and sisters in Christ. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com