Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 - Tuesday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 8:1-9 and Matt 5:43-48]"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, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." [Matthew]
The command to love one's enemies is understandably considered one of the unique and most difficult teachings of Jesus! It was so when he taught it and it remains difficult now. Yet, as long as we hate anyone, we are not "perfect" as our heavenly Father is "perfect. Scripture scholars tell us that the Greek word for "perfect" in this context means "whole" or "complete." As long as we "hate" anyone, we are less than "perfect" in love.
Our less than perfect minds will scream a thousand "What if's....?" We are human beings! Isn't this demanding too much? Does an "aversion" amount to "hate?" Does "dislike" mean "hate?" The context of the Sermon on the Mount helps a bit. "Perfect"" in this context implies going beyond the minimum required by observance of the Mosaic law. Christian maturity means going beyond that inevitable question, "Do I HAVE TO love this or that person?"
One of the emphases in the Gospel According to Matthew is "forgiveness." It appears early in the Sermon on the Mount [5:24], in the Lord's prayer [6:9-14] and receives a vivid reinforcement later in the gospel in the parable of the Unforgiving Servant [18:21-35]. If we want to know how good we are at loving our neighbor, we could start with asking ourselves how good we are at forgiving our neighbor?
A poster I once had offered the question: If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? The Sermon on the Mount and the scene of the Last Judgment in the Gospel According to Matthew will be the law in determining our guilt! AMEN