SUNDAY’S READINGS | February 20, 2022
Gen. 45:3-11, 15
Ps. 37:1-12, 41-42
1 Cor. 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38
A simple ethic of mutual concern binds communities together. “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Some version of this Golden Rule exists throughout the world and stands out as a moral baseline. Stoop below this, and chaos will prevail. And yet this rule has a decided flaw because it can also be embraced by “those who prosper [through evil means], … those who carry out evil devices” (Ps. 37:7).
As Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again” (Luke 6:32-34). Communities committed to evil often enforce a strict code of conduct, imitating love, goodness, and fairness. Community cohesion, after all, is essential to the success of wicked schemes. Did not the brothers of Joseph cooperate on a very deep level in the plot to kill him? “They saw [Joseph] from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams’” (Gen. 37:18-20).
Above and beyond the Golden Rule, Jesus calls us to a seemingly impossible vocation of love, not a love merely for those who love us, but for those who hate us. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. … love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (Luke 6:27-30, 35). Love, do good, pray, endure, give, and lend—expecting nothing in return. This ethic is not a form of commerce, a quid pro quo exchange in moral currency. Rather, Jesus sees love as an absolute and pure gift — expect nothing in return.
Again, we know in our hearts and from experience that we are incapable of this kind of extravagant love. And yet, miraculously, this love comes into being. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). This love is not at first our own, though it becomes our own by “being poured into us.” We find ourselves then capable of an impossible love — a love for the whole world inspired by the Holy Spirit, a divine spirit of love.
The Church is a community of divine love. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27-28). “In that renewal, there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).
Incredibly, the divine spirit of love creates a community of love among former enemies.
Look It Up: 1 Corinthians 15:36
Think About It: The old self dies when love is born.