Thursday of the Twenty Third Week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 6: 1b-7, 11-13; Luke 6: 27-38
Dc. Larry Brockman
What a difficult message! Jesus tells us to love our enemies, and to bless those who curse you. If someone steals your cloak, you are to give them the rest of your clothes; and if he strikes you, you are to turn the other cheek. He says to stop judging other people and their actions; and rather, forgive them everything.
Saint Paul says something even more radical. If someone sees you doing something that is OK for you; but because of their scruples, they are tempted to sin by you doing it; then don’t do it; because you are leading them to sin. He uses the example of meat sacrificed to idols. In today’s world, perhaps a better example would be this. If you know someone is on a diet, and they badly need to lose weight, and you order a hot fudge sundae and eat it in right front of them, you are tempting them to sin, and shouldn’t do it. Pretty heavy stuff, all of it! Is all of that to be taken literally?
Now there is such a thing as hyperbole. It means making a point by exaggeration; but we are not to take it literally. I think the truth is somewhere in between because much of this advice is meant to be taken seriously.
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be God? There have been a number of takes on that over the years in the movies. I think the most recent was a Jim Cary Movie called “Bruce Almighty” in which God takes a holiday and assigns Bruce Almighty his powers. And it is pretty clear from that movie that God has a tough, tough, job. All of us, all the time are asking for things; miracles, money, relationships, physical abilities, and all kinds of other help. Likewise, all of us are complaining about the wrong others are doing to us, hoping that God will intervene and act in our favor. The movie demonstrated how complicated it would be if God did not act in the most expeditious and prudent manner on all of that You see, Bruce Almighty didn’t act expeditiously, and he messed things up big time.
Being a parent over a household of children is a good lesson in what it must be like being God as well. But it is infinitely more complicated and difficult than that as the movie demonstrated.
The fact is that all of us are sinners. All of us have bad habits, make enemies, forget to do something important, mess up someone else; and all of us think primarily of ourselves at times and sin big time as a result. We are all like children in the huge household of the world with God as our Father. We want, and even expect God to forgive us. We say we are sorry, but things happen again and again. Yet when it comes to our brothers and sisters, we become much less tolerant of their similar behavior. Yes, God has a tough job. He treats all of us with the same mercy and justice- He treats all of us the way we would like to be treated by others.
And so, it really comes down to this. If we try to love each other the way God loves us, then we will forgive each other, be generous with each other, and be merciful to each other. We won’t judge them harshly lest we be judged.
As the psalm says: If we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us.