Weekly HOMILY for February 23, 2014: 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A -- The Freedom That Loving Offers

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7^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

St. Mark, Fallston

February 23, 2014

The Freedom That Loving Offers

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Hatred in a Comic Strip

In the comic strip For Better or Worse, teenage Lizzy has had a fight with her friend Candace over a boy and the two girls are not speaking.

In the first panel of the comic strip, you see Lizzy and Candace walking along side each other, “Humph!” It’s Candace,” Lizzy says to herself. “I do not know her.”

In the second panel, the two girls are seen later in the day, approaching each other in the corridor, on their way to class. And again, they’re ignoring one another.

Lizzy is saying to herself, “She’s going down the hall one way, so I’ll go the other way. If she sits near me in class, I’ll move.”

In the third panel, Lizzy is sitting at her desk when she spies Candace coming into the classroom: “Here comes Candace. If she talks to me, I’ll pretend I don’t hear her; if she looks at me, I’ll pretend I don’t see her.”

In the final panel, we see Candace sitting in the background, Lizzy in the foreground, with her head in her hands saying, “Whew! I didn’t think hating somebody could be so much work!”

Hatred in the Bible

For Better or Worse shows us a great truth in this little anecdote.

Keeping hostile feelings, trying to get back at someone for whatever it is that they have done to us, is very hard work. And in the end it ends up doing more harm to us than to the person we hate.

The teaching we are given in today’s readings supports this emotional and psychological truth. The Scripture deals with the question of how we should treat someone who has harmed or offended us.

And what we see in the Bible’s teaching is a very interesting progression. You can see three distinct stages in the evolution of this teaching about holding on to hatred.

Three Stages of Hatred

First, in very early Old Testament times, religious practice made it okay to retaliate against anyone who had hurt you. And there were absolutely no limits to the amount of retaliation one could make.

It made no difference who the person was. And even if the offense was slight, like not sending you an invitation to a party, you could so much as burn down their house for not doing so.

In later Old Testament times, there is a big progression, a big movement forward in this teaching. The development was in two areas.

Now you were no longer able to get back at people you are related to. This would include members of your family, your neighbors, and even to your fellow citizens.

And it is today’s first reading that is expressing this teaching when it says, “You shall not bear hatred for your brother; and take no revenge against your fellow countryman.” As we said, later Old Testament times, Stage II.

The other area where the teaching progressed in this second stage is in limiting the amount of retribution you can take. The norm has become: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” You reprimand my child, I reprimand yours. You throw trash in my front yard, I throw trash in yours.

Sometimes we look down on this norm as primitive, but in its day, you have to realize that it was a real advance because it says that the amount of retribution must be proportional to the hurt you received.

So, now you can’t burn someone’s house down because they stole a can of cream of mushroom soup. You can only take a can of their soup in return.

Jesus and the 3^rd Stage

Now clear the stage, because with Jesus you get the third and final stage in the progression of moral or ethical behavior. Jesus teaches us to take no vengeance at all on anyone; again, no vengeance at all.

Listen to him yourself: “You have heard the commandment, ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’” That is later Old Testament times, Part II. He continues, “But what I say to you is: offer no resistance to injury.”

There’s more, stay tuned: “You have heard the commandment, ‘You shall love your countryman but hate your enemy.’ My command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors.”

The Hebrew word that Jesus uses for “love” does not mean an emotional feeling. Instead, it has more of the meaning of benevolence – we are to want what is good and act for the good of others, even though we may not feel love.

So, as hard as it may be, instead of letting our resentment fester at a supervisor who’s treating us unfairly, we pray to the Lord to free us from that and to enlighten our boss.

And as hard as it may be for relatives of victims, we don’t get consumed in the capital punishment of a murderer, but rather we pray for healing for all persons involved and for our society.

And take that friend who spread lies about you and soiled your good name, it isn’t easy coming face-to-face with them and trying to be pleasant or civil. But just try letting the anger over injustice go, not hanging on to it or stirring it up, just for one day.

Conclusion

In bringing the Law to fulfillment, Jesus is teaching and modeling for us a way to be free of anger and hatred.

And as Lizzy, and our own unkindness toward others makes very clear, loving and forgiving take a lot less energy and offer us a lot more freedom for living fully.

What relationship is the Gospel calling you to respond to today?