7th Sunday of Ordinary Time—C2004
1Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Luke 6:27-38
Deacon Lee Hunt (St. Monica)

Love Your Enemies!

Wow! How many of us still want to remain Christian after hearing this Gospel reading?
- Love your enemies—how are we doing on that one?
- Bless those who curse you—ever tried that?
- Offer the other cheek to someone who strikes you—I actually tried that once as a teenager and it worked—I made a new friend.

In the Gospel of Luke, this is the first time Jesus teaches. One might think that Jesus’ disciples, who at first were attracted by all his healings, would have all bailed out. What would we have done?

There is a contemporary man who did all the things that Jesus called his followers to do in today’s Gospel. Some call this man the greatest person who lived in the last century. In 1893 he left India for South Africa at the age of 23 as a shy, tongue-tied, average little man whose past was full of failure.

Ten years later, called a saint even by those who opposed him, he was the leader of 10,000 people in one of the most remarkable experiments in history: a war without violence. He returned to India not as Mohandas Gandhi, but as Mahatma, meaning a “great soul.” Within the next 20 years he grew to become the acknowledged leader of 400 million Indians in their struggle for independence from Great Britain.

He won independence for India through nonviolent, noncooperation with the British overlords by refusing to cooperate with their exploitive injustice. One of his books of inspiration was our Christian Bible. Gandhi was a Hindu.

When asked what he thought of Christianity, Gandhi replied, “It is a wonderful idea. Someone should try it.” And G.K. Chesterton, a Catholic, said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

Nonviolence isn’t a new concept. We just heard in the first reading of nonviolence working 3000 years ago. King Saul was mentally coming apart. Even though he had a close relationship with David, Saul kept trying to kill him because David would become king after Saul’s death. Today we heard of how David had the chance to spear Saul, but did not. David did not make a preemptive strike. David is a model of respect, justice, and nonviolent action toward an enemy. This was later perfected in Jesus’ teaching of love, and much later shown to work on a very large scale by Gandhi.

What is a large-scale application in our world today? High on almost anyone’s list would have to be the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Both sides seem to be using the Old Testament method of dealing with each other called “an eye-for-an-eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This was one of the reasons that ex-Governor Keating gave to me for executing murderers on death row. This method of violence is not working in the Mid-East nor is it preventing murders here in Oklahoma.

Jesus’ answer is to love our enemy. How do we do that? The answer, I’m afraid, is not as easy as just praying for the enemy, but that could be the first step. Gandhi said that a nonviolent approach takes a very long time to work. Would nonviolence take as long as the violent method that is now being used in the Mid-East?

Talking about the Mid-East, how well do we, as a country, love our distant neighbors by invading their countries, such as in Afghanistan and Iraq? This method of violence does not seem to be working very well either. This method is based on fear and not on Gospel values. I think that we have gone too far in separating God and state.

Before we try to change the world, let’s begin like Mother Teresa and try to change it one person at a time by starting at home, at work, and right here is our parish.

Why would we want to spend time loving people that we don’t really like? Wouldn’t it be easier to just blow them off and move on in our life? A good reason is found in the latter part of today’s Gospel reading: “Love your enemies and…you will be children of the Most High.” The opposite of this may be a little easier to understand: if we do not love our enemies, we will not be children of God. This teaching becomes clearer in the Gospel of John and in the Letters of John, which describe God as love. To be like God we must love.

My sisters and brothers, God loves us no matter what we do and always offers us forgiveness. Our goal is to be like God. As humans we will always fall short of our goal, but our mission is to keep striving to be like God, who is love.