Word to the Wise
Monday, June 16, 2025 - Monday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 6:1-10 and Matt 5:38-42]We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things. [2 Corinthians] "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 on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well...[Matthew]
It is not "easy" to be a Christian if we take Jesus' and St. Paul's words seriously! The quotation from 2 Corinthians in the first scripture for today follows a list of sufferings that he endured: afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labots, vigils, fasts. Who would willingly sign up for those? He did. The quotation from the Gospel According to Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, has Jesus saying we should offer no resistance to someone who injures us! Who would want to do that? He did. Would we rather, instead, subscribe to the quotation from a famous political figure in our country when he said, "When somebody hits me, I hit them back harder?"
Can we dismiss the examples of Jesus and St. Paul as "heroic virtue" to which we are not obliged? This is a hard question. But the Sermon on the Mount, which forms the gospel scripture at the present time, continually confronts us with teaching that goes counter to our "human nature." The hardships from which our American culture largely protects us are being routinely endured by our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world! Some of those hardships are actually being endured in our own country because of government policies or legislation.
Christian tradition does not counsel total passivity. Human dignity and creation do require resistance to destructive behavior or legislation. Revenge and retribution, however, are NOT part of Jesus' teachings. Passivity in the face of great evil was one the causes of World War II in Europe. The Sermon on the Mount will continue to confront and challenge us in the days ahead to answer for ourselves, "What kind of Christian am I?" AMEN