More

Commentary on Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-15; John 1:1-18 Read Sunday of week 1 of Christmas – Cycle C »

More

Commentary on 1 Samuel 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38

Many desire to have power:

• Power that having money gives
• Power of being influential, having prestige
• Power of office
• Power of having access to the inside track, ‘friends’ in high places
• Power of the blackmailer
• Power of bullying

In general, power is seen as the ability to force people to do what I want. However, the Gospel today speaks of another kind of power—the power of love and justice. In this power, both the giver and receiver benefit.

Hopelessly idealistic
At first sight, the Gospel seems downright silly or hopelessly idealistic. Jesus tells his disciples:

Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you.

But there is ‘worse’ to come:

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also,
from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt [i.e. the rest of your clothes].

Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again.

Surely this is not to be taken seriously. Are we to invite people to trample on our basic rights? Yet, far from being wimpish, the implementation of this teaching requires tremendous inner strength and a strong sense of security. It calls for an overwhelming awareness of the inalienable dignity, value and rights of every other person irrespective of how they behave.

Hitting back
For many, it seems perfectly natural and justifiable to hit back when struck—justly or unjustly—to give as good as you get when someone uses abusive language against you. In our ‘macho’ world, you are only tough when, as in the movies, you are ready and able to hit back hard when abused, insulted or physically attacked. When the hero does it, it is even called ‘justice’. (But not when the ‘bad guy’ does it.)

In fact, it requires a great deal more strength and courage not to hit back—not because of fear, but because by doing so one lowers oneself to the same level of one’s opponent. By hitting back, where was originally one act of violence, now there are two. Where does it end?

Let’s look at some examples of today’s Gospel in practice:

In today’s First Reading, King Saul with 3,000 men went out to kill David, but at night David and Abishai got into Saul’s camp. Saul was asleep with his spear beside him. Abishai said to David:

God has given your enemy into your hand today; now, therefore, let me pin him to the ground with one stroke of the spear…

But David refused to kill the king chosen and anointed by God. However, he does quietly remove the spear and a pitcher of water. When Saul woke he realised how close he had been to being killed by the man he wanted to kill. David had made his point. He respected the dignity of Saul, wicked though Saul was. In doing so, David also revealed his own strength and greatness, and this is recognised by Saul, who says:

Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them. (1 Sam 26:25)

Hate in Saul turns to blessing. This is one of the desired effects of non-violence.

In another instance, when Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin, (the ruling council of the Jews), he was struck on the face by a soldier and accused of insolence. Jesus did not retaliate, but simply asked:

If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me? (John 18:23)

He speaks calmly and with dignity, respecting the soldier’s dignity. It is a perfect example of active non-violence. Significantly, Jesus was not struck again. His restraint was seen for what it was: courage, not weakness.

In the whole of his Passion, Jesus reveals his strength. He prayed for those battering him to death:

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)

The prophet Ezekiel writes:

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? (Ez 18:23)

Revenge wants to destroy. Love wants to restore life, truth, justice and right relationships between people.

Not so idealistic, not so difficult
What Jesus is saying in the Gospel is far from impossible or idealistic. It is really the only truly human, and not just the Christian, way to go. And, much of the time, it is not as difficult as it seems.

It is really a question of an attitude, a conviction. It is easy for the Christian to love enemies because the real Christian does not have any, in the sense of people against whom he or she feels deep-seated hatred or resentments.

Jesus’ words presume that, for the Christian, there are no outsiders. It is easy to love those who love us, to love ‘our own kind’ or ‘our own people’. But, as Jesus himself pointed out, even those who are evil may take care of their own. But we are called to be like God, of whom Jesus is the living, human image and in whose image we also are made. Jesus says:

…love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return…for he himself [God] is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Of course, there may be people who are hostile to the Christian. Being a fully-fledged Christian calls on one to love all, but there is no guarantee of being loved by all in return. People wanted to kill Jesus, and they did.

It is also important to know that “love” here does not mean being “in love” or even feeling affection or a liking for those who want to destroy us. Loving those out to get us is obviously not the same love I have for my closest friends. Love here means genuinely wanting the good and the well-being of the other person. I hate the evil; I denounce murder, bodily violence, sexual abuse, exploitation and manipulation, but I am deeply concerned for the conversion and the healing of the perpetrator.

We have no real right to sit in judgment on others. (And yet, how often do we do that every day with a cup of coffee in our hand?) Jesus says:

Forgive, and you will be forgiven…

Can I forgive the murderer, the rapist, the abuser? But forgiveness in the Gospel is not just saying, “Forget it; let it pass; it’s no big deal.”

Forgiveness in the Gospel always implies reconciliation as well. It involves bringing people together again and the healing of wounds, but not the destruction of the wrongdoer. That is something very different. It can take time and a lot of effort, and a lot of real concern for people.

Loving one’s enemies is not being soppy about them. It is not about peace at any price, not a question of projecting a gentle, loving image, but a passion to restore justice, dignity and right relationships between people. How many wars, how many millions of deaths could have been avoided if we had followed this path? Like Jesus, there has to be a readiness to suffer and perhaps to lose much materially and socially.

Active non-violence involves campaigning, sticking one’s neck out and speaking out against injustice. At the same time, it always entails “speaking the truth in love” and seeking to heal, to save, to make whole, but never to hurt or destroy.

Jesus is not offering us an option today, but the only way that makes sense, the only way that is truly human. Jesus himself is our model. As he hangs naked, stripped of all dignity, the victim of unspeakable violence, this moment, contrary to all appearance, is the moment of his triumph—the triumph of love over hate, violence and murder. It is a message our violence-ridden cultures desperately need to hear and to learn.

More

Commentary on Sirach 27:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45

Today we have the continuation of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (not the Mount). Last Sunday’s Gospel told us not to judge or we would be judged ourselves. Does this mean that we are never to criticise other people? ‘Criticise’ comes from Greek, krino, meaning “to make a rational judgment”. So we speak of a film or drama ‘critic’ who may indeed tear a production to pieces or, on the other hand, may praise it to the skies, give it five stars and ‘two thumbs up’.

What is being forbidden by Jesus is not judgment as such, but negative, destructive judgment. There are times when we are expected to give constructive, helpful criticism.

We are often free with the first and slow with the second (e.g. by giving the excuse that we are not qualified). We cannot pass judgment unless we have some vision and understanding. Jesus asks us:

Can a blind person guide a blind person?

How can the blind, those without understanding, presume to give leadership to others who are blind? The result is inevitable:

Will not both fall into a pit?

In life, it is not at all unusual to hear people talk with great authority on things of which they know very little, e.g. complex policies and problems. People who never open a Bible, seldom go to church, are not involved in its activities or not even Christians, frequently have no hesitation in saying what is wrong with the Church. This does not mean that the Church has no faults. Nor does it mean that the Church’s weaknesses should not be highlighted. It does mean that one should speak from genuine knowledge and accurate data and to the people who can do something about it. The same applies to everything else we like to pass judgment on.

Following Jesus’ example
Jesus says:

A disciple is not above the teacher…

This is to say that our judgements should be like those of Jesus. But he also says:

…every disciple who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.

He “will be like the teacher” in judging to save and help, not to knock down and destroy. If we are to avoid blindness we need to walk in the footsteps of people who can see. We need to acknowledge our own blindness, our blind spots, our myopia, our astigmatism of prejudice and lack of objectivity.

It is not much use prefacing some solemn judgement on the Church, for instance, with “When I was in grade school, I was always taught by Sister Imelda that…” What we learnt in grade school or high school is likely not enough so many years later when the Church itself has changed in so many ways and we ourselves have changed. But most of us tend to be both perspicacious and blind—we can see the slightest fault in others while being totally oblivious to much greater faults in ourselves.

Some of us spend large parts of our lunch breaks and recreation times gossiping. This consists mainly of saying what is wrong with other people (present company excepted—until present company goes away). Do we ever feel slightly nervous leaving a party or a group that has been involved in extensive gossiping about peers or colleagues? As soon as we walk out the door they may start saying the same things about me that I was saying about other absent people. On the other hand, if a subject of criticism walks into the room, he or she is likely to be greeted like a long-lost friend, as if they were the most wonderful people in the world.

Why do we do so much of this kind of thing? Do we really enjoy it? Do we feel good about it afterwards? Do we believe that if only other people changed—the boss, some colleagues, parents, children—life would be wonderful?

Pre-emptive strikes
In fact, I think much of our criticism is a form of self-defence, a kind of pre-emptive strike. We feel inadequate and insecure and try to even things out by pulling down people we feel are better than us. No wonder Jesus calls us ‘hypocrites’. This word, from the Greek hypocrites, was used to refer to a stage actor. When I go on like this I am playing a role in which I am the tragic, misunderstood hero or heroine, and the rest are out to get me. It is usually quite a false and misleading picture of the reality.

The Greek actor wore a mask to indicate the role he was playing (in ancient Greece, all the actors were male). We spend a lot of time wearing masks to hide from others the real self of whom we are secretly ashamed. By supposedly ‘exposing’ the weaknesses and wickedness of others, we give our fragile egos a boost.

But Jesus says that everything depends on the inner person and not on the outward appearance. Hypocrisy will not long go undetected. No really good tree can produce bad fruit; and no really bad tree can consistently produce genuinely good fruit.

“The kiln tests the potter’s vessels”, says today’s First Reading. Once we open our mouth we reveal ourselves. We are told:

Do not praise anyone before he speaks,
for this is the way people are tested.

When we gossip, we often tell people a lot more about ourselves than those we are condemning.

Place for criticism
It is important to emphasise that the Gospel is in no way saying we should not have opinions or that we should not express them. But it is saying the following:

• We should avoid having such a high awareness of the shortcomings of others that we have lost the ability to see and accept our own.
• We can spend hours talking about what is wrong with other people—superiors, peers, family members—in their absence, but are not prepared to bring our grievances for open dialogue with the people concerned. Change will never take place under such circumstances. And one wonders sometimes if we really want things to change! Wouldn’t life be extremely dull with nothing whatsoever to grumble about?
• People who gossip incessantly suddenly become reluctant and tongue-tied when asked to evaluate honestly (i.e. both positively and negatively) a colleague who is being considered for another post. Such an evaluation, including its negative parts, may be extremely helpful both to the candidate and the whole organisation. It can avoid the appointment of a person to a position who is quite unsuitable—and it may happen that I am the only person aware of the weakness.
• We live under the illusion that if my boss changes, my spouse changes, my work or home environment changes, then I will be happy. Why should other people change just for me?

Let me change
The real solution is for me to change—to behave proactively rather than just have a knee-jerk reaction every time something touches a sensitive nerve in me. Let me be in charge of my own life and stop trying to change others. As Fr Tony de Mello used to say, “When I change, my whole world changes”. And not only that, when I change, other people are likely to change, but even if they do not, my attitude towards them will not be the same. We have to make our own bed; we don’t wait for others to do so. To again quote Fr de Mello, “Attitude is everything”—my attitude, that is.

I can learn to be totally accepting of reality, and of the way people are. I can refuse to be intimidated or irritated or resentful. I can take off my actor’s mask and be fully myself. In the process I can let other people too be themselves. I am no longer worried about planks in my own eyes or in others’—what you see is what there is.

I judge myself by the standards of Jesus: a good tree bears good fruit. And the words describing the fruits of a good tree are full of warmth, affirmation, encouragement and compassion with now and again some positive, constructive confrontation and challenging. This is because:

…it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

This sounds like a much better recipe than a life spent in never-ending griping and sniping.

More

Commentary on Hosea 2:16-17,21-22; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6; Mark 2:18-22 Read Sunday of Week 8 of Ordinary Time (Year B) »

More

Commentary on Sirach 15:16-21; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37 Read Sunday of Week 6 of Ordinary Time (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16 Read Sunday of Week 5 of Ordinary Time (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12 Read Sunday of Week 4 of Ordinary Time (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Isaiah 8:23-9:3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17; Matthew 4:12-23 Read Sunday of Week 3 of Ordinary Time (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Isaiah 49:3,5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34 Read Sunday of Week 2 of Ordinary Time (Year A) »

More

Commentary on 2 Samuel 5:1-3, Colossians 1:12-20 and Luke 23:35-43 Read Christ the King (Year C) »