Sunday 23rd
February 2020. Read Leviticus 19:1-2.17-18, Psalm 103, 1st Corinthians 3:16-23
and Matthew 5:38-48.
_“If you
love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors
do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than
others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” *(Matthew 5:46-47)*_
Last
Sunday, Jesus taught us that if our righteousness does not exceed that of the
scribes and the Pharisees, we would not enter heaven. We cannot afford to be
average Christians, in fact, Jesus admonishes us to be perfect just as God our
Father is perfect. As the saying goes: “Mediocrity is the killer of genius but
the struggle for perfection brings out the real star in you.” How can we become
perfect Christians? Jesus answers this question by outlining various lessons
for us today.
*1. To be
Perfect, Love Those Who Hate You.*
“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 one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would sue you and take your
coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one
mile, go with him two miles. (Matthew 5:38-41)
To be
perfect like God, we must learn not to retaliate when we are hurt. As our
Psalmist reminds us, “it is he forgives all your sins, who crowns you with
mercy and compassion… he is slow to anger, he does not treat us according to
our sins nor repay us according to our faults….” Think of the many times we sin
against God. Imagine that everything we offend God, he immediately retaliates
by sending one or two calamities our way. How many of us would still be alive
today?
Forgiveness
is the heart of Christian perfection. Peter once asked Jesus: “Lord, how often
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus
said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. (Matthew
18:21-22). To forgive, you must have an ample dosage of meekness; the
willingness to overlook the faults of others, willingness to make sacrifices
and willingness to surrender our rights.
*2. To be
Perfect, Help Those Who Beg from You.*
Generosity
to the poor is an indispensable aspect of perfection. As St. James would teach
us, our faith is useless if we cannot put food on the hungry stomachs around
us. (Cf. James 2:15-17). When Jesus talked about giving to those who beg from us,
he was speaking from the context of helping those who may have hurt us repeatedly
in the past but are now coming to ask for our favours. “Do not refuse him who
will borrow from you” even when he or she has refused to pay the past debt.
This is a
very difficult thing to do but as Isaiah says, “… Share your bread with the
hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked,
cover him, and do not to hide yourself from your own flesh… Then shall your
light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your
rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and
he will say, ‘Here I am.’” (Isaiah 58:7-9)
*3. To be
Perfect, Pray for Your Enemies.*
As Jesus
puts it, if we love our friends and family members, we are not different from
the unbelievers. If we claim to be children of God, we must behave like God who
“makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and
on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). If we are really children of God, we would not
keep malice with people, we would not carry grudges in our heart, we would show
kindness even to our worst enemies, we would wish well for those who have done
us great harm.
You may
wonder, when Jesus says we should pray for our enemies, what kind of prayer was
he talking about? Is it the prayer we hear in our churches today? Did Jesus
ever ask us to pray for the death of our enemies? Did Jesus ever ask us to call
“Holy Ghost fire” to burn our enemies? Come to think of it, how did Jesus pray
for his own enemies? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke
23:34).
When next
you find yourself in a gathering where everyone is excitedly pouring forth
curses upon their enemies, just know you are not in a Christian gathering. God
is not and can never become a weapon for fighting our enemies. I enjoin our
prayer warriors in the church to stop behaving like juju priests (babalawos, witch
doctors, etc.) and learn to bless rather than curse our enemies.
*4. To be
Perfect, Start Thinking like God.*
Perfection
begins from the heart which is the cooking pot that produces our day to day
activities. To achieve Christian perfection, we must go beyond conventional
wisdom. The fact that “everybody is doing it” does not make it right. As St.
Paul explains in our second reading, the wisdom of the world is foolishness in
the eyes of God and if we must be Christians at all, we must become fools to
the world.
For
instance, in the eyes of the world, forgiveness is foolishness. There have been
a lot of debate in our country as to the rationality of releasing 1400 “repentant”
Boko Haram members back to society. Even a wild spread outrage was sparked
when the Senate proposed (not yet passed) a bill to create an agency for
repentant Boko Haram members. I saw a picture trending on social media which
quoted the President of Russia as saying: “It is God’s job to forgive
terrorists but it is my job to send them to meet God.” Can we say we are
Christians if we cannot forgive?
Secondly, in
the eyes of the world, our bodies are simply designed for pleasure and we are
free to do whatever we so desire with it meanwhile as St. Paul tells us today, “you
are God’s temple.” Do not be surprised that in your efforts to stay pure and
keep away from immorality, people (even fellow Christians) will laugh at you, call
you names and make you feel like a looser. Remember the words of Jesus: “If you
were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John
15:18-19)
*Conclusion:
Love Your Neighbour As Yourself.*
Our first
reading today beautifully sums everything for us by concluding with “you shall
love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.” For the sake of the God that
you serve, start treating people exactly the way you would love to be treated
even if the people in question do not deserve it. Be Nice, don’t hate, wish
people well, forgive and just let it go.
Let us
Pray: Lord Jesus, I realize I am so far from perfection, help me to start
loving my enemies, help me to forgive and let go when I am hurt, help me to
pray good prayers only for those who hate me, help me to remain undefiled by
the world. Amen.
*Happy
Sunday. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless
you. (Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A. Bible Study: Leviticus
19:1-2.17-18, Psalm 103, 1st Corinthians 3:16-23 and Matthew 5:38-48).*
Fr. Abu
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