Readings: 1Cor 8:1-7.11-13, Ps.139, Luke: 6: 27-38
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia
LOVING YOUR ENEMIES: THE DIFFICULT AND SACRIFICIAL NATURE OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
A critical look at what is happening in our world today, it is obvious that the world has lost the true meaning of love. For we have abandoned God, who is the source and power of love and created for ourselves a mirage in the name of love. Today love has become a tool for selfishness, deception, greed and emotional satisfaction. Thus, it is extremely difficult to practice the genuine love of neighbours and talk more of the sacrificial love of our enemies.
But that is the demand Jesus makes of all his disciples in our Gospel passage today when he said: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And St Paul, in our first reading, warns us not to do anything that will lead our neighbours into sin, for sinning in this way, we will be injuring their weak consciences, thereby causing their downfall.
Here, Jesus emphasises that it is natural and universal for human beings to love those who love them. But what makes his disciples different from other people is the ability to love not just everyone but to love their enemies and not take vengeance or bear grudges against one another. By so doing, they will be imitating God, their heavenly Father, who in his compassionate heart shows equal love to both the good and the bad, not because he is indifferent to morality, but because his love knows no bounds.
Dear friends, today we are called for a life of deeper virtue of sacrificial love; we are called to perfection; we are called to choose love over hatred and forgiveness over vengeance. But when Jesus talks about loving our enemies, he is not telling us to be passive in the face of physical danger or abuse. Rather he wants us to realize that hatred is a dangerous thing and must be handled with great care. Because hatred breeds violence and other things that weaken the human soul.
The truth is that our enemies are not necessarily those who we are at war with, those making life difficult for us or those who hate us but those whom we hate. And the best way to destroy our enemies is to discover how best we can make them become our friends, not by hating or carrying out vengeance.
How I wish the world would embrace this principle of loving and stretching the hands of friendship and peace to our presumed enemies by investing more resources in things that bring about peace and friendship with one another rather than building a nuclear weapon that breeds more violence and hatred in the world. When this is done, then the world will become more peaceful and loving.
LET US PRAY: Lord God, it is difficult and demanding for us to love our enemies, but this is what you are commanding us to do, give us the grace to bear the sacrificial nature of this demand and so become a true sign of your loving presence to those we encounter in life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.
