Whose Enemy?

Today’s Gospel Text:   "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:43-48

Reflection: Perhaps one of the most easily understood injunction of Jesus and yet most difficult to practice: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Love we must, our enemies, whatever the cost and do good to those who hate us or persecute us by at least praying for them.

By praying for them we may not be able to reach them physically but definitely through the mercies of God we are able to reach them.

In other words, human connectedness is rooted in God connectedness and this is achieved by not just forgiving our enemies but by praying for them as suggested by Jesus.

Who among us can say we don’t have enemies? Even if we mean good to all we still can have enemies, people who will hate us not because of our goodness but on account of their spirit of jealousy and envy.

Being good to all here doesn’t mean to please people and thus be good to them, that would amount to deception and taking God’s place in people’s life.  

Such deception is so very common among people who are leading a life consecrated to God, that they think that we are only called to love and this love means to be good to people at any cost and thus please them at any cost.

Ours is a call to sonship and perfection just like our heavenly God and Father who “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”  (vs. 45)

If such is our calling; to love our enemies, then what do we do to those who act as enemies of God and his gospel?  They may thus choose to be your enemy too. 

These are the godless and the wicked the scripture refers too who will meet their doom. Your enemies have scope to be saved but these enemies of God will meet their doom faster than expected.

Prayer: Lord, bless our enemies and keep them in your mantle of love and strengthen us to do good to them.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Purpose of Forgiveness

Today’s Gospel Text: Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; 25 and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, 'Pay what you owe.' 29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Matt 18:21-35

Reflection: It is always good to remind ourselves of the great injunction of our beloved Lord to forgive our brothers and sisters in the Lord, even seventy times seven.

All those familiar with the language of the scripture know for sure that this exhortation invites us to forgive our brothers and sisters seventy times seven, which in reality means ever forgiving and never withholding that forgiveness.

Here I would like to look into one aspect of the motive or the reason for such an exhortation to forgive always, it could lead to a tendency to be tolerant of the wayward behavior of individuals in our midst.

We could be breeding a community in which we could go on sinning again and again and there could be no end to this wrongdoing.  If such wrongdoing continues on, then what witness could this Christian Community be to the world, where good deeds is the criteria for judging things.

That brings to the fore the whole human weakness and the reason for such weaknesses in individual and the need to cry to God for a spirit of patience and fortitude while dealing with people.

Unsound character is not always the fruit of unsound formation, it happens to creep in our sinful nature. In the case of some, even the best formation fails to form that most perfect character.  What is important is to have a desire to walk righteously and to keep working at it with the Lord’s help and grace. 

The Christian community was to be that crucible in which every type of individuals was to find its nest and would be working to develop their character in keeping with God’s word and God’s help.  While God would be working out his priority in the lives of the individual, the individual on the other hand would seek to work out on God’s priority in their lives.

True love exists and is made visible in such a community of the weak, where in we are still dedicated to love and care no matter what the other is going through and how the other behaves.

It is the love manifested in such a situation of unconditional forgiveness that a perfect transformation would take place, more so because God would be working out his own priority in the life of  the person, as he will keep infusing his patience in our lives.

Prayer: Lord, teach me patience as I seek your grace to forgive and love as you love and forgive us. 

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Forgive

Scripture/Bible:  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt 5:43-48

Reflection:  Now a day’s even the gentiles or the non Christians have picked up this message of Jesus on forgiveness.  It sounds heartening to see them putting into practice the great teaching or values of Jesus whether they acknowledge it or not.

But there is a difference between a follower of Christ putting into practice the 'forgiveness' teaching of Jesus and the non-believers and the pseudo-followers who profess to be Christians, some even holding legitimate office in the church.   What is the difference?  

I shall stick to two major differences. 

There those who practice 'forgiveness' as a pure therapy for all ills that they face in life.  People even conduct popular retreats based on inner healing where Jesus may have little or no role to play. These are the pseudo-followers who may even conduct workshops for corporate based on forgiveness as a principle to live by. These have an integrated New Age approach to life. 

On the other hand the followers of Christ, practice forgiveness as pure obedience to Christ, sowing his seed of the Gospel in hope, so that they may reap its rich harvest and produce dividends for the kingdom.  Theirs is the sowing done in absolute trust in God who is the one who will repay each one according to their deeds. 

In the case of the former they may even expect the other to forgive them after having beaten a person black and blue, as it is their right to make demands from their victims.

The unfortunate thing is this; we don’t realize the bungle we are getting into on account of detachment from the source of the message.

It is like seeing a beautiful model wear the best dress and buying it for yourself, God help if you have never realized the folly of investing in it in order to wear it, never to realize that what suits her may never suit you.

Prayer: Lord, May I not be wise in my own eyes; and fear you my Lord to turn away from evil. So that It may be healing to my flesh and refreshment to my bones. (cfr. Prov 3:7-8)

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us