The 7th Sunday: Luke 6:27-38
The words of Jesus today are particularly challenging and difficult for us. Although we may be very familiar with these phrases, trying to live them, may feel impossible for most of us, most of the time.
Jesus in referring to the law of the Old Testament uses the phrase “but I say to you.” Here we are being called to a new way of living, behaving, responding to our daily, human encounters. Living this new way of Jesus as outlined in this passage is only possible with Gods help. As mentioned in Matthew 19:26, we are told that for people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Let us pray for Gods grace to truly love and be merciful in our lives today.
As we read this challenging passage, we should always have in the back of our minds two further Scripture passages. The first is the words of Jesus recorded by St John: “without me, you can do nothing”. No situation will ever arise in my life when Jesus is not by my side helping me to do what is for God’s glory and my own good. Didn’t he promise at the Ascension to be with us always to the end of time. The second passage comes from the Acts of the Apostles and is attributed to St Paul, “ I can do all things in him who strengthens me”. So let us carry on confidently, courageously and cheerfully.
In yesterday’s Gospel we read and prayed on ‘Luke’s beatitudes’ which teach us that if we are poor, insulted etc in the service of God, we are blessed because we have been chosen to serve God in this outstanding way. Today’s Gospel develops the theme of what the following of Christ involves. It involves first and foremost following the example of Jesus and the evangelist’s use of hyperbole reinforces the teachings, for example, never return evil for evil; be good to others without hoping for anything in return. The teaching in this section seems odd and impossible to follow and hence we have a ‘way out’ but if we grasp the meaning of the metaphor, we understand the very difficult but realistic demands of the Gospel.
It would be a good exercise to ‘translate’ the passage into ‘your language’ without softening the teaching.
This text ranks as one of the most extraordinary ever written! It utterly reverses human thinking about enemies and forgiveness. It spells out the way God goes about things, holding nothing against us despite all our failings. This is how Jesus lived, this is how he died for his executioners. His attitude of heart was blessed by his Father and brought him into eternal life. My world can be transformed if I take Jesus seriously. My task is to collaborate with him and to live on a higher level of loving than I had imagined possible.
