Infinite Love

Gospel: Matthew 5: 43-48

Here is a commandment of Jesus no one tries to fulfill: love your enemies.  We make all sorts of excuses as to why we cannot love an enemy.  We would rather break up families than attempt to keep this commandment.  We would rather be apart from one another rather than share a meal around the table.  All sorts of noble reasons are offered from the political to the theological differences.  Yet they all fail to follow the command of the Lord.

Consider the table of the Lord.  We find any and every reason to exclude someone from the Lord's table.  And yet consider the Lord at table while on earth. He ate with all of his enemies.  He dined with tax collectors and prostitutes.  He ate with the Pharisees and lawyers who opposed him.  He ate with the one who betrayed him, the one who denied him thrice, and the ones who abandoned him.  Yet, we somehow find a way to not share the Lord's table, let alone our own, with so many people.

How easy we find it to start wars, to execute someone, or to deport another person.  None of these things did the Lord command us to do.  None of these things Jesus ever did while on earth.  Yet those who claim his mantle somehow find it easier to do these things rather than follow the command of the Lord and love our enemies.  Today is a day for us to repent, to find concrete ways of loving our enemies small and great, to fulfill the Lord's command and example. 

Applying the Beatitudes

Gospel: Matthew 5: 38-42

The modern Christian will defend the lex talonis as one that was merciful compared to its day.  They will utterly ignore the fact that Jesus entirely disposes of the law in this passage, replacing it with the Beatitudes of mercy, meekness, and justice.  The follower of Jesus is to give beyond what is asked, to reject violence and vengeance entirely, and to care for those who are in need and those gripped by crippling debts.  

Yet, the modern Christian will be the first to defend any and every war and appeal to violence.  They will mock the poor and have no sympathy whatever for those in the chains of debt.  They will come to the defense of the usurer instead of their victims.  As in so many instances, the modern Christian bears no resemblance whatever to the teaching and example of Jesus.  The same Lord who stood between the adulterous woman and her accusers stands between us and our intended victims as well.

Today is a day for us to apply these Beatitudes to our daily lives and attitudes.  Rather than forming our attitudes about others from the media, let us instead encounter others directly - those from other countries, other religions and ways of life - like Jesus did.  The Lord invites us to be generous with those in need and in debt.  Consider all the possessions we have in our homes that we do not need and give them to those who do.  This is the way of the Beatitudes, the way of Jesus. 

What We Are to Do

Gospel: Matthew 9: 36 -10: 8

In today's Gospel portion Jesus calls people to carry out the mission he himself has been undertaking in every town and village.  It is to go about healing people of the infirmities they have; liberating people from the demons that hold them bound; and feeding people at table wherever we go.  Those are the three fundamental tasks of every disciple whom the Lord calls to the work in his vineyard in every part of the world in every time.  

What is more, the disciple is called to live a life of simplicity.  This work cannot be undertaken with the burden of many possessions.  The work cannot be done in elaborate episcopal palaces or clad in the fineries of office.  For this work takes place among the people - where they live, where they work, and where they congregate.  The work requires that we go out to meet people where they are at, not to sit confined in cathedrals amidst golden liturgical wares and statuary.  

People in need cannot wait for listening sessions, paid consultants, and endless meetings of ecclesiastical bodies to make decisions and action plans.  We do not need expensive programs on discipleship to tell us what to do.  Today's Gospel passage gives us all we need.  Let us go forth into the world healing people, liberating them, and feeding them as the Lord Jesus had done, living simply and humbly among those we serve and care for.