February 24, 2019

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time C
1 Samuel 26:2,7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1Corinthians 15: 45-49; Luke 6: 27-38
What do I consider fair in my life? What do I consider unfair in my life? What are the standards that I
have adopted in my life that enable one who knows me not to cross me; ie. one way would be fair..the
opposite unfair? Are the standards that I choose based on my own wants and wishes without
considering others? Are my standards close to the Ten Commandments? Or am I selective in choosing
the commandments that I like?
Are my standards in line with Jesus’ triple command of love? Are my standards in line with Jesus’
Sermon on the Plain from Luke’s Gospel and Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount? We seldom take time to
examine the source of our beliefs, today’s readings help us with this.
The first Reading is a cut up passage from 1 Samuel’s twenty--sixth chapter. The chapter is only twentyfive
verses long, and our version today leaves out some of the allure and depth of faith in two Old
Testament giants, Saul and David. The scene: Saul had praised David’s slaying of Goliath (1 Samuel
17:17), and places him in charge of the army (1 Samuel 18:15). But soon Saul became very jealous of
David’s fame and plotted to kill him ([1 Samuel 19:1). David had two opportunities to kill Saul but refused
to do so out of respect for “…the Lord’s anointed.” Why was Saul jealous? The prophet Samuel told Saul
that God was replacing him. “But Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you because you rejected the
command of the Lord and the Lord rejects you as king of Israel.’” (1 Samuel 15:26). Kingship in Israel placed
service to God foremost, Saul had been relying on material benefits that came with the crown. This is
evident in that he sleeps close to his spear rather than relying on God. Today David continues to show
his values and love for God’s plans by not killing a king anointed by God. God will determine Saul’s
fate. He lets God judge between them on the basis of justice and loyalty. Saul is set on jealousy and
vengeance and David is living as God’s servant and totally committed to God’s plan.
Paul is providing evidence to prove the meaning of Jesus’ Resurrection. If Jesus wasn’t raised from the
dead, why should we even believe or follow Him. He’s dead why follow or worship a dead ‘god’? But
Jesus was raised from the dead…His body was not in the tomb. What does that mean? Death is not the
end…there is more…there is a new life we don’t know about…life with God forever. Paul uses the
example of Adam and Jesus. The first living being, Adam, had a physical body. The second
‘Adam’ (Jesus, God with us, the Christ) NOW possesses a spiritual body. We posses now the physical
body and since Jesus was raised from the dead, “…we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly One.” Our
home is heaven forever with God. This is God’s plan. Am I living according to God’s plan or am I
living the way that I want?
When we read Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), the command to ‘love your
enemies’ is listed after a long series of incredible actions of love toward others. But Luke reverses this
by putting ‘love of enemies’ first. Jesus gives his followers the command to ‘love your enemies’ and
then explains what this will look like in real life. How am I called to imitate God? I must be
compassionate. I must be a good follower and leader in love without being superior to our teacher,
Jesus. I can so easily be a hypocrite in judging others, without looking at myself first. Good trees
produce good fruit…this is the same for me. How do I learn to live in the goodness of the Lord? How
can I be love today?
I read this incredible example from Connections, Sunday Gospels resources, entitled A Chaplain’s
Compassion: “The young chaplain was not prepared for what she experienced the first weeks at the hospital.
First, there was the Vietnam vet whose kidneys were failing him. He routinely insulted and demeaned the nurses
assigned to his care with cruel and crude jokes. At first, the inexperienced chaplain was appalled at the man’s
behavior, but, in time, came to understand why he acted as he did: Once powerful and vital, he was losing his easy
strength and control over his body. He was suddenly vulnerable before women young enough to be his daughters,
so grasped at whatever control he could find. The chaplain began to see him ‘doubly’ as the boor and beggar—and
against her best instincts, the chaplain was moved by his plight.
As the months passed, the chaplain began to see more people ‘doubly’. Patients were routinely racist, sexist,
demanding aggressive or cruel with the nurses and staff — and they are afraid, exhausted, in pain, helpless. In the
hospital, the illusion of control — over the functions a limb or organ, the strength of the hands, the length of the life
— is shoved in the little closet alongside shoes and street clothes, and most people clutch at anything that might
give a taste of it back.
The chaplain writes of those first days: “I would have preferred not to return to the rooms whose occupants turned
their suffering on everyone around them, but duty and my supervisor’s insistence sent me back. I would have
preferred to find excuses for the transgressions confessed to or committed in front of me, but responsibility to the
transgressor stilled my tongue. I still would prefer those options. But my role demands a persistent and sharpedged
compassion, a capacity to — behold both the sin and the sinner, to understand that humans do bad things
that cause real harm and yet remain human. The best service a chaplain provides for a patient is treating them not
as a symptom or a saint but as a whole person, complete with the pack of small evils all of us contain alongside our
better angels. Even after years of practicing this double vision, some days it is more than I can manage…’
It’s a struggle. Sometimes we can find a way to overlook or get past someone’s bad behavior; at other times, the
only thing we can do is walk away, to punish them by our silence or ostracism. But the now-veteran chaplain has
learned compassion, ‘compassion I have had to discover that requires effort and a willingness to hold onto tension,
but it is not complicated to practice. It is as simple as completing the sentence: they are young, and they cause
harm in their thoughtlessness. They desire acceptance, and they act cruelly to get it. They are vulnerable, and
they are punishing others to feel stronger. They are hurting, and they hurt others. Always and. Always stay long
enough for the and.’”
So I reflect on:
• When has living these words of Jesus helped me live Jesus’ command to love?
• What is it that keeps me from loving, praying for, or forgiving those who hurt me?
• When have I overcome the urge and opportunity for getting even out of my love of God?
• If someone were to describe me, would that person name kindness and compassion as my most
outstanding qualities?
Sacred Space 2019 states:
“In a way, Jesus takes a lot of pressure off us. He says simply, ‘Don’t judge.’ Think of all the time and energy I can
save by following this one instruction! How much do I want to refrain from judging?
God is ‘kind to the ungrateful and the wicked,' thus, if we act from God’s heart, we will not pick and choose whom
to love. In prayer now, I imagine walking through a typical day with the single agenda of loving without
discrimination.”