This Gospel is at times referred as the ‘Sermon on the Plain’. It follows the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus shares the Beatitudes with those gathered to hear his words. Now he comes down from the mountain and on the plains where everyone is on the same level, both friends and enemies, he moves from teaching to action. How do we really live out these Beatitudes?
This passage speaks about vulnerability and generosity towards others no matter who they are. Jesus challenges each of us to go beyond today’s concept of justice – forgive one another no matter what and show the power of love, which goes beyond human comprehension, beyond justice itself.
It is love that must be allowed to shape humanity. In reflecting on this powerful Gospel, I looked for those in history that have lived out what Jesus is asking of us. The following quotes help move us to a better understanding of what it means to truly love and forgive.
Nelson Mandela: “You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.” “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. They must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
Mahatma Gandhi “If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”.
Oscar A. Romero “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.” (The Violence of Love)
The attitudes Jesus refers to in this Gospel make no sense in themselves. He is not laying down laws for us to follow literally. Rather, he is seeking to develop an attitude in us which allows us to be vulnerable and compassionate as God’s requires us to be – an attitude that does not conform to the standards of the world.
God however will give us the grace to allow us to go beyond what the world expects to embrace God’s love for us as we show God’s love to those we encounter on our journey. This can be done but it will require a radical counter cultural way of being, which is the call of the Gospel.
We are made in the image of God therefore we need to learn to act like God, specifically to love unconditional, only then will we truly know God’s love for us. In fact, true love is totally unconditional. Until it is unconditional, it is incomplete.
Prayer can give us the strength to go beyond our limitations as Jesus shows us many times in his life, especially at moments of doubt and where inner strength was required. We are called in this Gospel to say ‘Yes” as Mary did when she faced the task that the Angel gave her. It is this ‘Yes” that each of us must say if we are truly followers of Jesus.
When we feel hate in our hearts,
Lord, give us the grace to forgive.
When we see the weakness of others,
Lord, give us the grace to see the weakness in ourselves.
When we experience the vulnerability of those in our communities,
Lord, give us the grace to see the vulnerability in ourselves.
When we lack forgiveness in our lives,
Lord, give us the ability to forgive ourselves
and show love and compassion to those we serve,
In conclusion, at every Mass we pray the “Our Father,” asking God to forgive us as we forgive others. So next time we pray this prayer let us reflect on the challenge that today’s gospel brings us.