HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A (2020)
In the scriptures for this weekend, we have a sequel to the scriptures of last weekend in which Jesus teaches his disciples that he will fulfill rather than abolish Mosaic Law. The scriptures answer for us the question, “What does Jesus mean when he says he will fulfill the Law?”
In my homily last week, I explained that the Commandment in which Mosaic Law is fulfilled is that Commandment Jesus imparted to his disciples at the Last Supper account in John’s Gospel. That Commandment is “love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus explains to the disciples that in order to find everlasting joy, they must do three things.
The first is: “Remain in me as I remain in you.” (John 15:4a) The second is: “Remain in my love.” (John 15:9b). The third is to “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) Jesus tells his disciples that if they do all three of these, he promises them that his joy will remain with them, and their joy will be complete. (John 15:11)
What the scriptures address today is: 1) how we remain in Christ; 2) what it means to remain in Christ’s love; 3) how to love one another as I have loved you, so that the joy of Jesus may remain in us and our joy will be complete. The scriptures explain to us that in order to do all of this, we must first jettison the codes by which humanity normally lives and reorientate our whole way of life.
In the Gospel, Jesus cites the ancient code of the Babylonian King Hammurabi, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This code of ancient justice lays out a retribution or revenge equal to the crime perpetuated. It literally says that if you blind me, I will blind you. If you destroy my house, I get to destroy your house. Jesus tells his disciples that this very human law of retribution is contrary to the Law of God. The first reading from Leviticus (the book of the Law) spells this out. “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:17-18)
To be his disciple, Jesus explains that you must never seek revenge on those who have wronged you. ”But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” (Matthew 5:39-42) To be his disciple Jesus explains that you must “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:44-45a)
This seems utterly foolish and contrary to human justice as we know it. However, Paul explains to us and the Corinthian community community that to love as Jesus loves will seem utterly foolhardy to the rest of the world. “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wise in their own ruses, and again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.” (1 Corinthians 3:19-20)
Paul explains that human beings are not just commodities to use and abuse as one would like. Rather the human being is the dwelling place, the Temple of God. Anyone who attacks another human being will be attacking God. And, those who attack God will be destroyed. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.” (1 Corinthians 3:15-16) All of this is explained in depth by Jesus in the Gospel for today.
Why are we required to so drastically reorientate our lives and our way of addressing injustice in our lives? The answer is very simple, so that the joy of Christ may be ours, and that our joy will be complete.
To live by the Hammurabi Code is condemning us to live a life of bitterness and constant revenge. We encounter all sorts of people who are embittered toward those who wrong them. There are those who harbor great resentment toward others who have wronged them in life. Their bitterness slowly poisons their lives creating within them a negativity that eats away at their souls to the point that their souls become empty. Even when they are successful in revenge toward those who hurt them, the revenge never satisfies them. The revenge never equals the loss that has happened in their lives. The execution of murderers never satisfies the revenge of those whose loved one has been murdered. Their anger, their hatred toward the one executed never goes away and their lives become all the more empty.
We recently have seen this how revenge plays out in our politics. Those who obeyed the subpoena to testify before the Congress in the Impeachment hearings were thrown to the street in revenge by the President, simply because their testimony incriminated the President in criminal activity. The President’s bitterness and hatred for those who testified will never take away the stigma of impeachment attached to him for all of history. His revenge toward those who testified only exemplifies the guilty verdict against him.
In Luke’s account of the crucifixion, we hear the story of the other two thieves executed with Jesus. One is consumed with bitterness and hatred because of his fate. The other thief, however, confesses that the punishment he has been given is deserved. Then that thief acknowledges that Jesus is not deserving of the same fate. “we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Recognizing the absence of bitterness in Jesus and desiring the same, the thief follows, ““Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responds to the thief, ““Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” In other words, the thief’s joy will be complete.
The scriptures today present to us a choice to make. We can choose to live lives that are consumed by hatred, bitterness and revenge, to choose to remain in Christ’s love and model his way of love in our lives.
It is not easy to jettison a way of human living that has been such a long part of the history of human kind. As the old saying goes, “old habits are hard to break.” We have all experienced being wronged in our lives and have felt the revenge welling up in us against those who have wronged us. However, Jesus tells us that to act on that anger and hatred is only to succumb to a live of bitterness and misery. I am no different than the rest of humanity and struggle against the need exact vengeance on my enemies.
If we choose to live lives consumed by hatred, bitterness and revenge, we will carry all of that with us into the afterlife. Or, we can choose to live lives that are governed by the great commandment of Jesus to love one another as he has loved us, and enter into complete joy in the afterlife. I don’t know about you, but I choose to experience the completeness of Christ’s joy.
