Tuesday of the
Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 21:17-29; Matthew 5:43-48)
Often anthropologists will explain human behavior by
speculating what life was like on the plain of east Africa where Homo sapiens supposedly emerged. They say things like the fight or flight reaction that humans feel today originated there
perhaps a two hundred thousand years ago as ways of survival when confronting ferocious
animals. Another such response Jesus
proposes in today’s gospel.
Jesus is in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. He is making one of six antitheses to show how God’s ways differ from human ways. He tells his disciples that humans love their
neighbors and hate their enemies. Love
for neighbors will assure them of allies when they face danger. Hatred of enemies will move them to not
naively spare someone who would have you dead.
The behavior makes sense in life on earth, but Jesus is introducing a
new way of life – that of the Kingdom of God.
Enemy love stretches our limits. If we do not want to kill our enemies, we
want to avoid them. Jesus is telling us
to reconcile with them. We pray for
them. We make an effort to speak with
them. We reach out to them with kindness. As Jesus says, this is God’s way that we, His
children, are to follow.
