BE PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER

Mt 5:43-48

I’m sure many of you will agree with me that the most difficult command that Jesus gives to us is found in today’s gospel: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. How can this be? For sure, this commandment goes against our natural tendency of hitting back at someone who hurts us. We are almost naturally inclined to hate our enemies and even to curse those who persecute us. Yet Jesus tells us: ‘love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.’

With this commandment, Jesus gives new meaning to an old law about the love of the neighbor and defines exactly who our neighbors are, extending this relationship to the farthest corners of the globe, even including one’s enemies. This is certainly a challenging commendment Jesus puts before us as his disciples. We need to understand that Jesus' definition of righteousness involves a freedom that enables us to move towards our enemies in a new and surprising way. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

            Jesus is saying that the one who is righteous will treat his/her enemy with love, the same way he treats his /her friends. And he adds that to deal righteously with those who persecute you is to bring them to the Father in prayer. It is clear that Jesus intends for us to go beyond what we could do on our own and to ask God’s grace to transform our conflict into peace and well-being. What Jesus is asking us now is that we should not return hatred for hatred or hostility for hostility; in other words, we must not exclude a single person from our love no matter what he or she has done or might do to us.

Everett Worthington, in his book, Five Steps to Forgiveness gives three important point: first we can’t hurt the offender by being unforgiving, but we can set ourselves free by forgiving. Second, unforgiveness is a heavy burden to carry. It burns and eats us up for nothing. Third, we will be healthier if we forgive than if we remain in unforgiveness. If we really want to be sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, then let us be perfect, just as he is perfect.