RBWords

     For the next few days, the gospel scripture will come to us from the Sermon on the Mount, that "catechism" of Christian belief and conduct!  It can make a person squirm to read it.  One can imagine sitting in the audience at the feet of Jesus and thinking, "He's talking about ME!"  Discipleship makes some difficult demands.  Today that demand touches on some very deep moral and cultural presumptions.  

     In Jesus' time, although there was no direct command in the Law of Moses that one should hate one's enemies, the presumption was exactly that.  An example may be found in Psalm 139:21, Do I not hate, Lord, those who hate you?  Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?  With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own. Furthermore, a "neighbor" was presumed to be one's own countryman, particularly if from one's own clan and family.  We see that presumption in the question from the lawyer in the Gospel of Luke, "And who is my neighbor?"  The response from Jesus is the parable of the Good Samaritan! [Luke 10:27-39] In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus rejects those presumptions in favor of a disinterested and non-discriminating "love" exemplified in his own conduct toward strangers right on up to his crucifixion and death.  It is this kind of love that he is referring to when he says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

     Since this teaching seems "counter-intuitive," it can shake us and wake us!  We may have to ask ourselves not only, "Who is my neighbor?" but also "Who is my enemy?" since Jesus asks us not to discriminate between them!  The ancient example of Cain and Abel can help us to see that "neighbor" and "enemy" can easily be the same person.  Violence can only come to an end if we stop creating "enemies" to hate.  Jesus offers us a way out of violence but it will mean some very difficult effort to rid ourselves of the presumptions that lead to violence.  AMEN