The Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Peace be with you on this, our celebration of The Mass for the 7 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today’s Gospel reading is actually a continuation of last week’s Gospel from the 6 th Chapter of Luke. If you were here and remember what Father said last weekend, you know this portion of Luke is often called “The Sermon on the Plain.” Obviously, even to the casual reader, it is a shorter and parallel version of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount given in Matthew’s Gospel. The clear difference between the two is, the Sermon on the Mount takes up three whole chapters in Matthew that is, 5, 6, and 7. Whereas, the Sermon on the Plain is only 33 verses from Luke’s Chapter 6. Scholars tell us the probable reason for the drastic difference in length is attributable to the two evangelists’ intended audiences. You see, Matthew was writing primarily to Jews who accepted or, were leaning towards accepting Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. Accordingly, Matthew’s audience embraced the lengthy and complex Mosaic Law. So, after the Beatitudes, we hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount dealing with the often-uncompromising pride sometimes generated by the Torah. Luke, on the other hand, was writing primarily to Greek Gentiles living throughout the Mediterranean world who had little or no intimate knowledge of Mosaic Law. Hence, he cuts right to the chase.
Mosaic Law aside however, even in the greater Greek Mediterranean world, hatred of evil and bad people was assumed to be the right thing to do. So, Jesus’ extension of the love commandment to the enemy and the persecutor would have been just as shocking for them as it was for the observant Jews back in Israel. His disciples, as children of God, must try to imitate the example of the Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad alike. The scary thing though, as I stand up here right now and preach is, these words are directed by Jesus Christ right at me, as much as they were to his listeners 2000 years ago. “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.” Really Lord, is it possible for me or any other human, to really live life perfectly like this?
My sisters and brothers, the answer to that question is probably no – but the last sentence in today’s Gospel reading gives us our real answer; “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” In Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount Jesus’ statement is even more extreme, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” My friends hopefully, we all know the perfection of God and the perfection of God’s mercy is humanly impossible, but it is always something we should continuously strive for. You see, it is our firm Christian belief in and knowledge of God’s perfect mercy that makes this reading today one of hope, not one of impossibility.
When I read passages like these passages in the Bible that seem so humanly impossible to follow completely, I often think about a meditation I read in a book called “Praying with Saint Paul”. This meditation helps me when I wrestle with thoughts of sin and grace. The meditation was written by Father Vincent Nagle, and he talks about a time when he was listening to another priest giving a retreat to students. At one point a girl stood up to ask a question. She said, “When I’m with my Catholic friends, I’m good. When I’m not, I’m bad.” Now that took courage and probably generated a few chuckles, but the priest’s answer is something I’ll never forget. He said, “First stay with your Catholic friends. Second, imagine a man who has a weakness, we won’t speculate on what it is. Each morning he arises with confidence in Jesus and his Mother, light-hearted in his hope not to fail that day. He does fail however, repeating the mistake arising from his weakness. He goes home full of tears and repentance, praying to Jesus and his Mother for mercy, forgiveness, healing, and help. Again, he awakens the next morning full of gratitude, and the same pattern repeats itself. And this goes on for years, perhaps for the rest of his life. What do we call a man like that?” There was silence. The priest, speaking forcefully now, insisted, “What do we call him?” Again, silence. Finally, the priest said this, “We call him a saint… He is a man alive entirely through his recognition of and confidence in the presence of Jesus and the prayers of his Mother. These define his entire reason for living. They define who he is. This is the definition of a saint.”
Now I’ll have to admit, neither the priest giving the retreat, nor Father Nagle were quoting the CCC but the words of hope based on God’s perfectly eternal mercy have stayed with me ever since I first read that meditation many years ago. And to bring it all to a close he opened his Bible and read from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 12, verses 7 – 9; “That I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.”
So, when I read Biblical passages like today’s that give spiritual goals that seem difficult, if not impossible, I often remember Father Vincent Nagle’s meditation and I often say the prayer he closed with; “All perfect God, how I suffer because of my defeats. How I squirm under my humiliations. Give me liberation through fixing my hope, not on myself, but upon your Son, who has changed disgrace into redemption. Amen.”
