It\u2019s a hard teaching, isn\u2019t it? Love your enemies and do good to those who\nhate you. It runs counter to our human\nnature; the innate tendency we have for self-preservation. Indeed, from the very first, we all tend to\nthink of ourselves. So, just how do we\novercome that self-centered focus and why is it so important? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think St. Paul\u2019s words to the Corinthians this morning\nhelp. Paul contrasts the first man- Adam\nwith the last Adam, Jesus Christ. He\nsays the first Adam became a living being. \nAnd what do we know about the nature of living beings? That a living being has natural instincts. And so, that living being strives to meet\nself-needs: food, water, comfort, affection, entertainment, and pleasure\ninstinctively, and kind of in that order as one basic \u201cneed\u201d after the other is\nsatisfied. Basically, our instincts for self-preservation\nmotivate us to suppress anyone and anything that gets in the way of the\nsatisfaction of our self needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you know what, when all of our \u201cnatural\u201d needs are met; then\nwe basically become bored, don\u2019t we? We\nask inside, \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d; and even, \u201cwhat happens when I get old and I die\u201d. We begin to think about the spiritual, things\nthat transcend our nature because all of us hope that we will live forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Paul makes it clear that the spiritual did not come\nfirst. First, we become familiar with\nearthly things just like Adam. And that\nis necessary for the self-preservation of life itself. Then Paul says the last Adam came into the\nworld. Paul says that last Adam is\nspiritual. Let me repeat precisely what\nhe said: \u201cThe first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from\nheaven\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so Jesus brings an answer to these nagging questions- what\u2019s\nlife in our natural world really all about; and what happens after we die? Jesus tells us about the spiritual realm in\nwhich there is no time. Jesus tells us\nabout the Kingdom of God and that Kingdom lasts forever. Jesus tells us that such is the destiny for\nall who believe in him and follow him. There,\nin the kingdom of God, all who belong to it will be happy and content forever\nand ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we believe that Jesus came amongst us- the spiritual\nassumed a human nature to give us a roadmap for getting to the Kingdom of God\nwhen we die. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019 entire life was one of self-giving; not\nself-satisfaction. Jesus bore hardships\nand a painful death at the hands of his enemies. Jesus gave everything he had; turned the\nother cheek; and loved his enemies. Jesus\nleft us the Gospel as a way of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this part of the Gospel gets to the heart of the matter because\nJesus just comes right out and tells us that we must love everyone, even our\nenemies. That\u2019s what it means for us to\ntranscend from a creature of this earthly world and grow spiritually so we can\nbe a citizen of the kingdom of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why this? Well first because God said so, and that should be\nenough. We must all accept the fact that\nGod\u2019s understanding, his knowledge, his judgment, in other words, His wisdom, are\nfar above anything we are capable of conceiving. The Bible tells us that first and foremost\nGod is love. And so, we who are made in\nhis spiritual image and likeness need to love as He loves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God chose to create everyone and everything out of love and\nGod chooses to keep loving all of his created beings because God is always\nthere to forgive them and welcome them back, no matter what they have done. God wants all of us in the Kingdom with him. And so, out of honor and respect for God, and\nin obedience to his word and commands we are called to do the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s really why David did not take revenge on Saul when he\nhad the chance, isn\u2019t it? David said as\nmuch when he recognized that God chose Saul as his anointed one. And no matter what Saul did to David, out of\nhonor and respect for God, and knowing God\u2019s desire that Saul be saved, David\nwould not kill him and interrupt that process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, there are many stories of conversion by folks who\ndid much harm to Christ and his Church. St.\nPaul is a primary example; for he persecuted the early Christians before his\nConversion. But there are so many others,\neven in today\u2019s world- like the Turkish radical who shot Pope John Paul II; like\nthe person who accused Cardinal Bernardin of sexual misconduct. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of us have people in our lives who we just don\u2019t care\nfor. They may gossip on us; scheme\nagainst us; rub us the wrong way; and hurt us in many, many ways. But they are all part of God\u2019s plan for his\nKingdom. As hard as it might be, we just\nhave to cooperate with that plan. We\ncan\u2019t always like them; but we can love them. \nAfter all, love conquers all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Sam 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Cor 15:45-49; Luke 6: 27-38 Deacon Larry Brockman It\u2019s a hard teaching, isn\u2019t it? Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. It runs counter to our human nature; the innate tendency we have for self-preservation. Indeed, from the very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[569,568,570],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1112,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions\/1112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}