19 Feb 2023 – 7th Sunday, (A)

19 Feb 2023 – 7th Sunday, (A)

We naturally resent those who do us wrong. But nurtured hatred can come between us and God, who wants us to be forgiving.

(1) Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

God calls each believer to love his neighbour as her/himself

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.”

Responsorial: Psalm 102:1-4, 8, 10, 12-13

R./: The Lord is kind and merciful

My soul, give thanks to the Lord,
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings. (R./)

It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion. (R./)

The Lord is compassion and love,
slow to anger and rich in mercy.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults. (R./)

As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.
As a father has compassion on his sons,
the Lord has pity on those who fear him. (R./)

 

(2) 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

The Church is the body of believers and the temple of God

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.

Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Gospel: Matthew 5:38-48

The ultimate ideal: Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

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As your heavenly Father is perfect

Some like to portray God as an ever-vigilant watcher. With a warning finger raised the preachers would warn, “Wherever you are, God sees you.” They were echoing the feelings of Job who felt oppressed by the thought that God was judging his faults every moment. “Will you never take your eyes off me?” Job complained (Job 7:19) . Perhaps they centred too much on warnings, with not enough practical encouragement to love our neighbour as ourselves.

“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” says the first reading. Then it adds the principle of “an eye for an eye” which was not such a totally barbaric practice as it seems at first sight. It was meant to help the people to exercise some restraint towards their defeated enemies. It became known as the Law of Retaliation and puts limits on the level of revenge that could be taken for an injury. Otherwise, unrestrained total war could spread throughout the world. If there are no limits to revenge, we could see the collapse of civilisation and everybody being killed. There is a breakdown of cohesion in some parts of our world, with the resulting instability and floods of refugees.

Even the earliest Christians could be quarrelsome, some siding with Paul and some with Apollos and so on. But those tensions, once healed, can sharpen the focus of a community. They led people back to prayer, to dialogue and a new kind of unity. “As the Lord has forgiven you,” St Paul says, “put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”

Earlier thinkers before Jesus had stated the principle not to do to others what you would not have them do to you. That is perhaps the basic law underlying all manners and politeness. But Jesus puts it more positively. We must actually DO things for others.. There is the story of the man who appeared at the gate of heaven asking for entry. When St Peter asked him why he should be let in the man answered: “my hands are clean.” “Yes,” answered Peter, “but they are empty!’ The Christian ethic is one of active loving.

Mercy is the outstanding gift of God even of the “Old Testament God” whom many imagine as predominantly harsh and punitive. Our psalm emphasises that God is not a grim judge, seeking to condemn. Rather, “The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.” Our Saving Lord is concerned only to remove our sins and to make us one with him.

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Compassion

Other thinkers had said: “do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” That is perhaps the basic law of manners and politeness. Jesus, characteristically, goes beyond this: Do to others.. The Christian ethic is positive. It goes beyond “Thou shalt not..” to “Do…” It is activist. There is the story of the man who appeared at the gate of heaven asking to be let in. St Peter asked him why he thought he should be let in. The man answered: “my hands are clean.” “Yes,” answered Peter, “but they are empty!’

The Christian ethic always asks us to grow. Many people are puzzled and confused because Christian moral guides are sometimes slow to lay down a clear minimum which people must achieve to be justified. But Jesus asks for more. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” What is so special about that? Jesus asks for extra. We told his disciples: “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Yet with those who tried and failed he was full of sympathy and compassion. He will never say “enough,” but he will not reject anyone who has failed and comes back to him.

Some people see life in terms of survival of the fittest, or ‘dog-eat-dog’. David had his chance to kill his enemy before his enemy killed him, as Saul fully intended to do. But he held back and he would not take Saul’s life. The temptation to violence is an easy one. The world is full of wars and violent confrontations. We yield too readily to our instincts of aggression, whether it is the great aggression where nation confronts nation in a balance of terror, or violent confrontations between groups of citizens, or violence in the home. Education in peaceful means of solving interpersonal and intercommunal difficulties is one of the greatest needs of our age. The way is open to Christians to start to learn more about non-violent means of solving conflicts and becomes peacemakers.

Mercy is God’s primary characteristic – even of the “Old Testament God” whom many commentators, following some Christian heretics, prefer to portray as harsh and cruel. Our psalm, which comes from the Old Testament emphasises that God is not the seeker of vengeance that many people imagine him to be. He is not waiting and anxious to punish each and every fault, but he is concerned only to remove our sins and to make us one with him.

God’s merciful goodness appears most clearly in the life and death of Jesus Christ. God’s compassion for sinful and unhappy humanity is the model of our compassion. We are urged to “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48.) Luke’s version of that ideal is: “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.” And William Shakespeare summed up that teaching in the courtroom scene, where the young lawyer (Portia) urges the plaintiff (Shylock) to imitate the divine mercy.

“The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes…”

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