Response to evil

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our response to encountering evil in the some of our actions to get what we want.

Struggle for our needs

The First Book of Kings relates the evil plot of Jezebel to acquire the lands tended by Naboth the Jezreelite.

* [21:1–16] The story tells how Jezebel manipulates important structures of Israelite social order, law, and religious observance to eliminate a faithful Israelite landowner who frustrates Ahab’s will.

In the Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus proposes an antithesis to the Law of Moses on proportionate retaliation.

* [5:38–42] See Lv 24:20. The Old Testament commandment was meant to moderate vengeance; the punishment should not exceed the injury done. Jesus forbids even this proportionate retaliation. Of the five examples that follow, only the first deals directly with retaliation for evil; the others speak of liberality.

Nancy Shirley asks how we react when others are unkind and unfair to us?

This is a difficult lesson, at least for me.  I certainly don’t seek vengeance but I sometimes find it so difficult to forgive.  At times, I can do some rationalizing about some behavior and come to a level of acceptance.  However, I can’t always do it so easily. The older I get though, the more the words of the Our Father echo in my head.  Each time I say it, I am clearly reminded, as I ask for forgiveness of my trespasses, that I must also forgive others. Those words penetrate more deeply these days as I struggle to make peace – we never know when “our time is up” and when it will be me asking for forgiveness and I’m sure I will be asked how I forgave others.  Did I turn my cheek? Did I offer my coat?

Don Schwager’s Meditation today asks if someone insults you or tries to take advantage of you, how do you respond?

Jesus approached the question of just retribution with a surprising revelation of God's intention for how we should treat others, especially those who mistreat us. When Jesus spoke about God’s law, he did something no one had done before. He gave a new standard based not just on the requirements of justice - giving each their due - but based on the law of grace, love, and freedom.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:38-42 considers law that helped keep the cycle of revenge from spiraling into ever-increasing violence.

As helpful as this law was, Jesus asks us to go one daring step further.Turn the other cheek. Resist not the evildoer. These are challenging words. It’s tempting to say that Jesus was just exaggerating, but his own witness tells us otherwise. He really does want us to be as merciful and peaceloving as possible. But he also knows who we are and how far we have to go before we get there. He knows that we want to be forgiving, but that there are certain situations that can be very hard for us. So take heart, try your best, and remember that Jesus is perfectly merciful. He will never demand “an eye for an eye” from you. No, he chooses to pray, “Father, forgive.” Every time.

Friar Jude Winkler offers background on the two capitals of northern Israel, for Jews, and pagans. He explains the lex talionis and the sense of merciful retribution. Christianity has vertical and horizontal dimensions that connect Love of God and love of humanity.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, chooses Francis and Claire as examples of  “living on the edge of the inside” at the beginning of the 13th Century. This means building on the solid Tradition (“from the inside”) but doing it from a new and creative stance where you cannot be co-opted (“on the edge”) for purposes of security, possessions, or the illusions of power.

As I’ve said many times, “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” This approach guards against the most common criticism of religion in general and social-justice work in particular, which, frankly, has tended to produce many negative, oppositional, and judgmental people—from reactionary conservatives to limousine liberals.

Our spirituality forms our inner lives and is then lived outwardly in the world, which is to live a life of love and justice for others. True contemplation must become action.

References

(n.d.). CHAPTER 21 Seizure of Naboth's Vineyard. 1Naboth the Jezreelite .... Retrieved June 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1kings/1kings21.htm

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 5 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from http://usccb.org/bible/matthew/5

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved June 18, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved June 18, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 18, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/