The blessings that the Lord showers upon us are extraordinary. Psalm 103 reminds us that the Lord is kind and merciful, constantly compassionate toward his people, constantly forgiving our sins and redeeming our life from destruction. At the same time, the Lord asks a great deal from his people: Be holy, Moses tells the whole Israelite community in the Book of Leviticus: eschew hatred, sin, revenge and grudges. We are holy when we do God’s will, when we work for harmony and justice, when we love our neighbor as ourself. We create the world in which we exist by the way in which we treat others. If we want to be holy, we must treat others the way God would have us treat them, with extraordinary love.
Jesus knows this passage from Leviticus. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus will take the law one step further: Love not only your neighbor, but your enemies, he tells his disciples, and pray for those who persecute you. We may still hold fast to the law of retribution in our hearts – the idea that revenge is warranted, for example – but Jesus calls us instead to liberality: if you are asked for your tunic, hand over your cloak as well; if you are asked to go one mile, go for two. Be generous in all you share in life, in everything you do. Everything Jesus asks us to do is extraordinary, unusual, surpassing the norm, that we might be holy.
The Corinthians still had not integrated this lesson fully at the time of Paul’s Letter. They have embraced division rather than unity, discord rather than harmony. They cannot see that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God for human wisdom cannot conceive of the depth of God’s love for all humankind. Their focus, Paul insists, should be on Christ, and on union as the Body of Christ. We may often be tempted to division, to divisiveness. Our challenge is to be fully invested in the extraordinary love God has for us, and to let our love for God be as extraordinary as is humanly possible. If we love our neighbor and our enemies, then we can fully open to God. Then and only then will we be holy in the eyes of the Lord.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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