February 23, 2014

Bulletin February 23, 2014

7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48
I’m sure that many of the people who heard Jesus were impressed with Him and liked what He was saying. One could tell that He wasn’t like many of the teachers and leaders of the time; He was authentic and lived what He taught. So many of the teachings of Jesus were reminding them of the Jewish Law and how they were to live it in their daily life. Today, Jesus is giving a ‘radical’ interpretation to one of the prime teachings of the Mosaic Law: “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Jesus is telling them, ’NO, you are to love all people including your enemies.’ It is very good for me to spend time with Jesus’ teaching and to make sure I am incorporating it to its fullest extent in my life.

The first reading from Leviticus sets the tone for Jesus’ teaching. The introduction in the Catholic Study Bible states, “The name ‘Leviticus’ was bestowed on the third book of the Pentateuch by the ancient Greek translators because a good part of this book consists of sacrificial and other ritual laws prescribed for the priests of the tribe of Levi.

Continuing the legislation given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, Leviticus is almost entirely legislative in character; the rare narrative portions are subordinate to the main legislative theme. Generally speaking, the laws contained in this book serve to teach the Israelites that they should always keep themselves in a state of legal purity, or external sanctity, as a sign of their intimate union with the Lord. Accordingly, the central idea of Leviticus is contained in its oft-repeated injunction: ‘You shall be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy.’” The book repeatedly reminds the people of God and what God is like. They had experienced how God was totally committed to caring for them as He delivered them repeatedly from the fears and trials they experienced as they made their way through the Sinai desert after escaping Egypt. God is a loving God, a caring God, a protective God and He has called them: “I will be your God and you will be My people.” Because of this the people are expected to reflect the character of God in their own lives. They must be holy as God is holy. So often I ‘cringe’ at comparing my holiness to God’s; but that is not the case. When I am loving, when I am caring, when I am responding to those who are in need then I am ‘like’ God, I am reflecting God and who God is...that means that I am being holy in those instances as God is always holy. Now the difficulty for them came in realizing that in reflecting God they had to remove any hatred they had for others. They don’t need to be reminded to love themselves and they shouldn’t have to be reminded to love others.

At the time of Jesus, Jewish law taught that one owed a duty of respect to one’s neighbors. Neighbors included the people of your family, your clan, and your nation but you did not owe that duty to foreigners. Why, because every foreigner was a potential enemy who might steal or hurt you without any consequences. So as a result, the Jewish people didn’t have to worry about mistreating or hurting a foreigner because they were not connected to your family, clan or nation. But Jesus repeated Leviticus, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” How did they read this? They realized that Jesus taught that God loves everyone and He makes “the sun rise on the bad and the good...” So God loves everyone EVEN if they did not. How easy it is for me to fall into the same vein: ‘Well I’m glad that God loves them, because I certainly can’t.’ Jesus says the Christian’s love must be complete: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’” .... Each Christian is to “be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Greek work translated as “perfect” is teleios, which actually means “having reached an end or achieved completion.” So when I love even those ‘enemies’ I am coming closer to my final end with is union with God forever in heaven. Jesus spells this out in the Our Father, ‘and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...’

It comes into so many minds, ‘well, I just can’t do all this, I try but I’m not created like that, it’s not me. MAYBE Jesus doesn’t mean what He says. There is no indication of that! In fact Jesus draws the parallel that just as God doesn’t discriminate, so too I must not discriminate between family, friends, and enemies when doing good. I could say ‘this isn’t the world’s way, and it isn’t BUT it is God’s way.
So what am I to do? I am called to be a lover as Jesus was a lover. Paul helps in this: “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.” There is no option in this...it is important for me to ask myself how hard am I trying each and every day to be Jesus? Living the Word says, “In light of Jesus’ command to be perfect as God is perfect, Paul reminds us in the second reading of two things that are important to remember as we seek to follow the teachings of Jesus. First, though these teachings may make us look foolish in the eyes of others, they embody the deep wisdom of God. Second, we are not left without help in striving to live these teachings; we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to aid us. We may well fail in living out Jesus’ teachings perfectly, but we will surely fail to live them out at all if we decide beforehand that they are impossible.”
So I reflect on:

• I am called to be merciful. What does mercy mean? What is meant by a merciful God? How far does God’s mercy extend?
  
• What would it mean in practice to love someone whom I considered an enemy? What sort of things might I do? Do I pray for them?
  
• How much does the fear of appearing foolish in the eyes of others hold me back from trying to follow what Jesus taught?
  
• Am I generous...am I grateful...these two are related.
  

Sacred Space 2014 says:

“Jesus calls us to look beyond the limit of the law. We need to be generous and imaginative if we are to rise beyond the restrictions that life presents.

I think of how I might be free from the constraints I find by acting from a generous spirit. I ask God to inspire and help me.”