A CHALLENGE OF FORGIVENESS (Matthew 22:34-40)

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Ex 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40

October 29, 2023

A CHALLENGE OF FORGIVENESS

A lawyer asked Jesus which was the greatest among all of the 613 laws in Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus responded to the lawyer's question with two quotations from the Torah, the first five books. The first quotation was "Hear this, O Israel, Shema Israel, God is One. You shall love your God with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind." Dt 6:5. The second comes from the Book of Leviticus, 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

The heart of Christian morality is the desire to love God fully, completely, and to love others as unique reflections of God's love. Jesus is not calling us to be minimalists. He is calling us to love God and neighbor completely. God wants us to love him with our whole mind. He wants us to offer him our whole mind. Are we distressed? Do we despair? Have your children or your parents, relatives or friends hurt you? Give him those thoughts and he will transform them to his way of thinking. We all have negative thoughts regarding other people. Their very existence irritate us. We give our negative thoughts to God, past memory, guilt conscience that’s been stored up. He will turn them into a source of grace. Prayer is amazing. Not only does God listen to our needs. He heals us when our own minds attack us. 

Jesus wants our whole heart. He wants us to love him with every part in our heart. If there is a part of our love that we may have for someone else, then that itself is not real love because God is not in that love. The real love gives. Giving oneself to the satisfaction of the carnal desire is not true love of God. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9) “from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, (Mk 7:21) a pure heart is a gift to God. Loving God with our whole heart is really loving our neighbors as ourselves.

God wants our whole soul. God wants all those qualities that distinguish us from animals. He wants our ability to love and to think, but also our ability to imagine, our ability to choose, our ability to express ourselves as individuals, our ability to be who we are, created in his image and likeness. Then we have to give all we have back to God. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

In his encyclical on love, Deus Caritas Est, God is Love, Pope Benedict noted the three words for love used by the ancient Greeks: eros, philia, and agape. Eros refers to physical love without any spiritual qualities. Philia refers to the love of friendship. This is the love people have for each other. Agape refers to love that is the heart of the relationship with God. Agape is the love that wants others to join us in a relationship with God. Christian love should be shared with everyone, even to those who continue to hurt us: “Love your enemies”. 

Let’s say you entered into a business partnership with a friend. As time goes on, the business was not showing the profit it initially showed. Then, after a few years, the government came knocking. Taxes had not been paid because your partner had been embezzling from the business. Not only do loses the business, lose home, car, and so forth. Now the family has to make due in a small apartment. Meanwhile, the former partner has initiated a law suit against. And Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is tough. Well, when we get into a situation like this, we have to strengthen our relationship with God by increasing our prayer life. 

We need to pray that our former partner will turn from evil embrace a relationship with God. This is tough. And Jesus wishes that he changes his life and goes to heaven. God wants our love to win others over for him. That is the meaning of “when someone slaps you on your right cheek, offer him your left cheek.” Being a Christian is tough business. It means following the one who on the cross forgave his executioners, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Love God with your whole heart, our whole soul and your whole mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”