Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
Opening the Doors of the Heart
Year C – Ordinary Time – 7th Sunday
Luke 6:27-38: “But I say to you who hear: love your enemies”
This Sunday’s Gospel continues the Beatitudes from the “Sermon on the Plain” in St Luke’s Gospel (Lk 6:17-49). Jesus sets out how his disciples should conduct themselves. The essence of his message is: “Love your enemies.” This is one of the most radical passages in the Gospel, requiring a profound upheaval of our instinctive reactions and social behaviours.
In this passage, Jesus uses no fewer than sixteen imperatives. However, his words do not constitute a new legal code but should be understood in light of the Beatitudes. These are words of divine wisdom that lead us to the very heart of God. Paradoxical as it may seem, Jesus is giving us the key to access the Beatitudes.
The history of salvation and the Christian life is a journey, a transition from the order of justice (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot”: Exodus 21:24) to the order of grace (“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”: Lk 6:36). It is a shift from the logic of retribution to the logic of gratuitousness, a radical change that Jesus proposes to his disciples. In the second reading (1 Corinthians 15:45-49), St Paul presents this process as the transition from the “first Adam” to the “last Adam,” from the earthly man to the heavenly man.
The Waves of Divine Love
Jesus’ discourse unfolds in four successive waves, each marked by four imperatives. This is God’s Love seeking to cover the whole earth—like a divine tsunami—drawing us into this adventure.
1. The first wave consists of four imperatives directed at the 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.”
The Greek verb used here for “love” is not philein (to befriend, a love based on reciprocity) but agapan (to love with a completely gratuitous love). This love is expressed in doing good, blessing, and praying for those who are against us.
2. The second wave presents four concrete examples, expressed in the second-person singular to make the discourse more direct and personal:
Offering the other cheek to the aggressor, not withholding one’s tunic from the thief, giving to anyone who asks, and not demanding back what has been taken.
These are not rules to be followed mechanically, nor do they imply renouncing one’s rights, but rather, they call for a response that does not mirror evil with evil and renounces violence. This requires discernment in each situation of injustice. The aim is to overcome evil with good: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:14-21).
3. At the heart of Jesus’ discourse is the so-called ‘Golden Rule’:
“As you would have others do to you, do likewise to them.”
Jesus gives four reasons for this: three negative and one positive.
Three negative: What merit, what beauty, what goodness, what generosity is there… if you love those who love you? If you do good to those who do good to you? If you lend expecting to receive in return? Anyone can do that! Then he adds a positive motivation: “Rather, love your enemies, do good, and lend without expecting anything in return, and your reward will be great; you will be children of the MostHigh.”
4. The passage concludes with an invitation to ‘be merciful, as the Father is merciful’, along with four further recommendations to make us more like God—two negative and two positive: Do not judge and do not condemn! Forgive and give!
What Law Governs Our Lives?
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This principle seems barbaric and cruel to us today, something no one would dream of applying—at least, that’s what we tell ourselves. But is that really the case?
We may not physically harm others, but we can certainly destroy them with words—dragging their reputation through the mud! Or, in our thoughts, we may nurture the desire for revenge. We can render them worthless through indifference. Or even, in our hearts, harbour hatred and erase them from our lives altogether!
The truth is, the human heart has not changed; it has simply become more subtle and refined! The law of retaliation still often governs our relationships, sometimes even leading us to the temptation of manipulating God to justify our violence. A striking example of this is the war between Russia and Ukraine unfolding before our eyes. The Jewish philosopher and believer Martin Buber was right when he said: “The name of God is the most bloodstained name on earth!”
Loving the Enemy?
“But I have no enemies!”—how often we hear this said. And yet, we create enemies every day. A real production line. Our ears hear a (negative) piece of news, or our eyes see an (unpleasant) image; our minds process it, our imagination builds on it, our judgment passes sentence, and our hearts react accordingly… We become merciless judges. And how difficult it is to dismantle this mechanism! It requires constant vigilance. St Augustine says: “Anger is a speck, hatred is a beam. But if you feed the speck, it will become a beam!”
Setting the Prisoners Free!
In his mission statement, Jesus declares that he has been sent “to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18-19). There are many prisons that keep much of humanity enslaved, but could it be that our own hearts have also become a prison?
Too often, in the darkest recesses of our souls, we have locked away many people, sentencing them according to the law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” The Jubilee is a kairos of grace, the opportune moment to fling open the doors of the heart!
Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia, MCCJ
