{"id":3175,"date":"2020-02-23T11:26:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T16:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3175"},"modified":"2020-02-23T11:26:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T16:26:17","slug":"7th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/7th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

7th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 (8a)
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
February 23, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week we\nheard Jesus say that He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  He began to teach us how to fully<\/em><\/strong>\nlive out the law, starting with the Commandments against killing, adultery, and\ntaking oaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s\ngospel picks up where we left off last week. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus speaks\nabout the teaching, \u201can eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth<\/em>.\u201d  As He did in what we heard last week, Jesus\nexpands on that, calling us to \u201coffer no resistance to one who is evil<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many take the\nverse, \u201can eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,<\/em>\u201d to justify\n\u201crevenge\u201d.  That is not the intent.  God was not telling the people they had to\nretaliate.  In fact, God is saying this\nto get them to lessen their response to violence.  For example, one person might murder one\nperson.  Then a third party would respond\nby killing the original murderer and even more people.  An \u201ceye for an eye<\/em>\u201d was to at least\nstop the \u201ceven more people\u201d part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Jesus\nsays, \u201coffer no resistance<\/em>.\u201d  What\ngood does responding with more violence do? \nJesus says to turn the other cheek. \nTo this, I offer one clarification. \nSome biblical scholars say the strike on the right <\/em><\/strong>cheek\nwon\u2019t not have been an attack but rather symbolized an \u201cinsult.\u201d  Thus, Jesus isn\u2019t necessarily saying not to\ndefend ourselves.  What need to ask\nourselves, \u201cwhat kind of response would be appropriate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance,\nif anyone presses us \u201cinto service for one mile,<\/em>\u201d going for \u201ctwo\nmiles<\/em>\u201d could be a powerful witness to our Christian love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should\nour response be based on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here I go to\nwhat we hear in Leviticus, \u201cBe holy<\/strong>, for I, the LORD, your God\nam holy<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d  What does it\nmean to be \u201choly\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is holy\nby his very nature.  It is not beyond our\nreach to try to be holy.  To be holy is\nto be different than what this world seeks. \nTo be holy is to be set apart from anything evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, we\nhear, \u201cYou shall not bear hatred<\/strong> for your brother or sister in\nyour heart.<\/em>\u201d   \u201cTake no revenge\nand cherish no grudge.<\/em>\u201d  This might\nnot be easy but it is what the Lord calls us to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord sets\nthe example of this when, \u201cHe pardons all your iniquities, heals all your\nills.  He redeems your life from\ndestruction.<\/em>\u201d  The Lord is \u201cslow\nto anger and abounding in kindness<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the\nLord responds with mercy.  The Lord\nresponds with love<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In setting\nthe example, God says, \u201cYou shall love your neighbor as yourself<\/em>.\u201d  It\u2019s all about love.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Lord\u2019s\nPrayer, we say, \u201cthy kingdom come.\u201d \nRevenge, grudges, or hatred do not build up God\u2019s kingdom.  If we want to change the world in accord with\nGod\u2019s Will, we need to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are we to\nlove?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leviticus\nsays our neighbor.  By the time of Jesus,\nsome had come to say, \u201cYou shall love your neighbor and hate your\nenemies<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d  You will not find\n\u201chate your enemies<\/em>\u201d anywhere in the Jewish law.  It was a human add-on.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\ncorrects this by saying, \u201clove your enemies<\/em><\/strong>\u201d.  Once again, Jesus sets a high bar.  He admits this when He says, \u201cFor if you\nlove those who love you, what recompense will you have?  Do not tax collectors do the same<\/em>?\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loving our\nenemies is at least difficult if not a contradiction in terms.  If we love them, are they really our\nenemies?  They might have wronged\nus.  That\u2019s okay, in sinning we have\nwronged God but God shows us mercy.  Then,\nwe need to follow God\u2019s example and show mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus also\ntells us to \u201cpray for those who persecute you<\/em>.\u201d  When, not if, you pray for your enemies, what\ndo you pray for?  Do you pray for them to\nbe punished?  Do you pray that they\nrealize that you are right and they are wrong? \nOr do you pray for them to turn their hearts to God?  Do you pray for their salvation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not\neasy.  Jesus\u2019 final words in today\u2019s\ngospel are \u201cSo be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.<\/em>\u201d  Perfect, that might seem impossible.  We most often define \u201cperfect\u201d as to be\nwithout any <\/em><\/strong>fault or defect. \nOther definitions include \u201ccorresponding to an ideal\u201d or \u201cfaithfully\nreproducing the original\u201d (definitions taking from Merriam Webster Dictionary\nAndroid phone app).  Jesus is telling us\nto be like God our Father.  God is the ideal.  He is the original that we need to copy.  We do sin but we are to strive to do God\u2019s\nWill.  We are called to love God and love\nour neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday\nwe will begin Lent.  We receive ashes as\na sign of our repentance.  We seek to\nbecome holy, to become perfect like our heavenly Father.  Where do you fall short of loving God and\nloving your neighbor?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there\nsomething you can do this Lent to change that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year ALeviticus 19:1-2, 17-18Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 (8a)1 Corinthians 3:16-23Matthew 5:38-48February 23, 2020 Last week we heard Jesus say that He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.  He began to teach us how to fully live out the law, starting with the Commandments against …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,150],"tags":[700,702,564,701],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Pd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3176,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175\/revisions\/3176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}