7th Sunday in Ordinary Time “A” Matthew 5: 38-48 2020
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. So says Jesus at the end of our gospel. To be honest, the cynical side of me says, “Well, good luck with that! Last time I looked, I’m human not divine!” To which Jesus replies, “Okay, wise guy, how about at least trying!” To which I say, “Yes, I can try.” But then I encounter teachings like we heard today – the command to turn the other cheek, the command to love your enemies – with regards to those two commands, let’s just say I have been far from perfect. And I know that it’s not just me – for these are some of the hardest teachings of Jesus for us to accept, and most importantly, to put in practice.
For example, if a schoolyard bully beats up your child, are you supposed to instruct your child to turn the other cheek and let the bully do it again? Or should you contact the school principal and get the bully stopped? Christ’s command to turn the other cheek seems to insist on that first choice. One might even think that Jesus is telling us to allow people to do bad things with impunity. But if we think that is all that Christ is asking us to do, then we’re missing the point. For we do have a responsibility to confront the bully or any other person or organization or society engaged in evil.
Consider this. In our Gospel last Sunday (Mt. 5: 17-37), Jesus says that anyone who hates his brother is shut out of heaven. If mere hatred is enough to get a person excluded from heaven, how about hatred in action, like physical attacks on others? A schoolyard bully not only has hate in his heart but hate in action, too. If you enable the bully to keep attacking others by your doing nothing, then you are helping the bully end up in hell. And in today’s gospel Christ is asking us to love those who hurt us. It certainly can’t be love if what we do or do not do for a person helps him end up in hell.
Again, when it comes to telling us to turn the other cheek Jesus is not telling us to be an enabler of people doing bad things. Rather, He is asking us to love our enemies as we do ourselves. And if we do love our enemies like ourselves, we will want to help them be what we ourselves want to be: people trying to love and obey Christ – not people who do evil actions, who speak evil words, to others.
But the question remains - how do we stand up to those who do wrong? How do we turn the other cheek?
A classic example of how to do so was given by the Civil Rights Movement led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960s. This movement protested the racist laws, attitudes and actions found at that time in many parts of the United States. Dr. King told all those in the Civil Rights movement, that when confronting the evil of racism, the only acceptable response was non-violent resistance and demonstrations. Dr. King reminded his followers that if they responded to racial violence with their own violence, they would lower themselves to the level of the racists. To bring about real change, people with racist views needed to be challenged inside, to look into their hearts to see the injustices they had perpetrated and supported. As Dr. King said, “The evils of this society cannot be conquered by evil. Only good conquers evil”.
What applies to a group of people also applies to the individual. Yes, the schoolyard bully needs to be confronted. And the bully needs to hear about the harm, the evil they are doing. But the bully also needs to be asked why they are doing it. For there must be something very wrong inside as to do such evil.
In the end, Jesus’ ask of us to do whatever it takes to love our enemies means to bring them to understand that God is asking something very different of them than what they have been doing.
Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. From last Sunday: reconcile with your brother or sister; do not look with lust at another; and do not swear oaths falsely. All summed up by: Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. In some areas, I’m doing pretty well. In other areas, well, that’s why I go to confession. After all, I am a work in progress. When it comes to being perfect, I have a long way to go. But I’m still trying.
What about you? Will you try?