Word to the Wise
Monday, June 16, 2014 - Monday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 21:1-16 and Matt 5:38-42]You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you an your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
If there is a teaching of Jesus that is more widely ignored than this one, I'd like to know what it is! The recent spate of gun violence and the violence occurring in the Middle East leave me in sorrow! The prevailing ethos appears to be that if someone strikes you on the right cheek, you shoot them with an AK-47! The attitude amounts to saying that Jesus doesn't know what he's talking about!
The real hope that Christianity offers is not simply a great fate beyond the grave, but a great world now if people would take Jesus' teachings seriously enough to work against violence in all forms. I live in a state that actually celebrates violence in the form of pious defense of 2nd Amendment Rights by passing laws that permit open carrying of guns in public places!
Gun violence is not the only kind - just one of the easier kinds! Domestic violence, wars, economic domination of poorer nations, etc. all contribute to a profoundly troubling world. Into this world, baptized Christians are called to proclaim the gospel instead of target practice! At the final judgment, I'll take my chances with the Sermon on the Mount and not the Bill of Rights. AMEN