Gospel – Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”
Gospel Reflection
“To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.”
The worst interpretation of this passage is, “Hate yourself; love others.” This teaches competition, ironically, the opposite of love. This makes God sadistic and humans self-hating. This is not love.
The second worst interpretation of this passage is, “Be nice.” This is completely disconnected from the Gospel. This is truly trite. ‘Nice’ sweeps all manner of dainty evil out of sight and convenient responsibility.
This Gospel is exactly as scary and radical as it looks. God is asking us to do what we cannot do. Yet, God does not want us to take on a yoke we cannot bear only to be crushed in self-loathing. God wants us to see with prophetic imagination. God wants us to envision a love beyond our animal instincts and broken human limitations. God wants us to be swallowed into the deep end of God’s love, where we can no longer be hurt because we are beyond hurt, through hurt. God reveals the Cross.
The love of the Cross is infinite, and when seen with our animal eyes, it looks like romantic naïveté or self-harm. For a human, it truly would be too much to love and forgive our abuser even in the moment of abuse. For a human, it really is too much to pour out forgiveness upon our unrepentant murderers while they are still in the act of murdering. This love is not one we can grasp with our own reach. This love is mystery. To be more precise, this love is the living Mystery of God into which we are called.
Here there is no grasping, there is no touching the bottom of the pool. We are certainly in over our heads, and we are asked to fall into this infinite love, to let it transform us and radiate through us into the world the same light that at its source is so far beyond our own imagination.
This love is reflected in every truly good thing, beautiful thing, true thing. I encountered it recently in the film A Star Is Born. In that film, the yet undiscovered Ally* sings the star-on-the-verge-of-self-destruction Jackson** back to life with her famous acoustic call to the mystery of infinite love. Through his trauma and her brokenness, these two artists find new life [read: God] precisely in the vulnerability showing through the other’s pain. Let us also rediscover, in this work of art, the beautiful tension between the broken human instruments we are and the eternal call-and-respond-harmony for which we were made and are called to become:
“Tell me somethin’, girl
Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin’ else you’re searchin’ for?
I’m falling
In all the good times I find myself
Longin’ for change
And in the bad times I fear myself
Tell me something, boy
Aren’t you tired tryin’ to fill that void?
Or do you need more?
Ain’t it hard keeping it so hardcore?
I’m falling
In all the good times I find myself
Longing for change
And in the bad times I fear myself
I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, where they can’t hurt us
We’re far from the shallow now
*Lady Gaga
**Bradley Cooper
Mr. Steve Sheridan
St. John’s College High School Religion Teacher
Saint John Baptist de La Salle – Pray for us.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts – Forever.