“It is not enough to get even, I have to get ahead. “
This attitude is pervasive in our society. We live in a time of the “gotcha” – we see it in politics, social interactions, and definitely in the work place. Schools are concerned with bullying and we are doing all that we can to raise up the national rhetoric, to seeming little avail.
When someone does something to us or to one we love we want vengeance, we need to more than level the playing field, we need to get ahead. Most of us who have a passing understanding of the Old Testament think that we will at least find some rationalization for our vengeful actions in the Law of Moses – after all, they do include the Law of Talion: “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc.”
Our First Reading then, might prove to be a shocker. Through Moses we hear: “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen,
do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
While we know that Jesus himself said “love your neighbor as yourself,” we didn’t expect to hear it in the Old Testament. However, this demand is a proscription from the Israelite covenant. Yet, we ought not to be too surprised as we know that the New Testament builds upon and fulfills the Old Testament, it does not contradict it. So for Moses to anticipate for the people of Israel this central element to the teaching of Jesus is expected in the overall scheme of divine revelation.
While the mandate to love one’s neighbor was in place for the ancient Israelites, they restricted and narrowly defined the term “neighbor.” In this way there were excuses in how not to apply the mandate of the Law.
Jesus clearly puts an end to this notion that we can easily dispense ourselves from the Law of God.
The overarching reality is that we are called to exercise our lives in love. We are called to generosity in the face of selfishness; to calm in the face of anger; to peace in the face of war; to passivity in the face of aggression.
None of this is easy, but then discipleship was never meant to be easy. It is easier to be angry, vengeful, selfish, prejudiced, and small minded. The coward always takes the easy way out. Discipleship is about strength and power, even when it looks like weakness to the rest of the world.
When what we do is first and foremost predicated on love – love of God, self and neighbor as self – then there is no room for vengeance, for hatred, for jealousy or selfishness. There is only room for love in dedicated action.
These days, with the political and social climate aglow and with the nature of instantaneous media platforms, the rhetoric and vitriol to which we are exposed every day is overwhelming and narrowing. We have lost a great deal of civility as a nation and even as a Church. Polarization is always in opposition to the Gospel. We are challenged now, as we have been as we have been reading through this Sermon on the Mount, to be peacemakers and to bring the joy of the Gospel into the world.
The challenge before each of us is to live out the very basic commandment which God first enjoined upon Moses and Israel in the desert: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.