Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - Tuesday in the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Corinthians 8:1-9 and Matthew 5:43-48]Jesus said to his disciples: " You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.....'"
If ever a command of Jesus' seems counter-intuitive, the one just quoted would certainly seem to be! Has not God equipped us with certain animal instincts that require us to respond vigorously to a perceived threat! Is not "hatred" part of that response to an outside threat. Should hatred not fuel our response to our enemies? A simple review of propaganda issued in wartime in our own country shows that "hatred" has been a common motivator in public discourse. A review of racial discrimination history in our country shows hatred to be the commonly manipulated emotion (along with fear, which is the key factor here). Yes, Jesus strike deeply when he asks us to give up hatred. What are we to do with fear? Isn't that the intuitive gift of any creature? In the Bible, the one thing God says the most often to humans is: "Do not be afraid!" Of course, we humans might be tempted to respond, "That's easy for YOU to say!" How ARE we to respond to what seems to threaten us? What emotion SHOULD we have when someone pulls a gun on us, invades our home or our nation, or tries to destroy anything important to us? It seems to me that fear IS the appropriate INITIAL response. But it doesn't have to move to hatred. Fear is built in so that we can avoid unnecessary harm. Hatred is a result of original sin. Keeping the two notions apart may help us understand what Jesus is trying to do. He aims at reconciliation. Hatred keeps us from confronting our fears. Asking ourselves what we fear most may lead us to where we may have some hatred lurking. It may be time to deal with it. AMEN
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