7th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]
February 20, 2022
Luke 6:27-38

‘To love your enemies’ is considered the most difficult of Jesus’ teachings. It is not only extremely tough, but it is practically impossible. Our natural tendency and feelings are to hate those who hurt us and despise those who harm us. Especially when we are still hurting, we want to get even as soon as possible. We desire our enemies to feel our pains, and the more pain, the better. How is this teaching even possible?

However, Jesus does not say, ‘like your enemies’, but ‘love them’. The Gospel even specifies that the Greek word for ‘love’ here is ‘agape’. This is a love based not primarily on emotions but free will and commitment. It may be impossible to change our adverse feelings toward someone who hurt us, but it remains possible to decide not to inflict injuries and even do something good for them. Thus, after He says, ‘love your enemies, Jesus further clarifies, ‘do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you.’ To do good, bless, and pray are not feelings of love but acts of love. St. Thomas Aquinas synthesizes this teaching of Jesus and defines love as ‘to will the good of others’

Yet, despite the truth about agape and our God-given ability to perform something against our natural inclination, loving our enemies is just a hard pill to swallow. Though we know the theories, we are also struggling to do it. Then, we are back at our original question: ‘why does Jesus teach something impossible?’

To answer this, we have to see a bigger picture. The teaching to love our enemies is not the only hard saying of Jesus. Through His ministries, Jesus teaches several teachings and commandments that seems unthinkable. Jesus declares that divorce is not the plan of God for man and woman. Jesus reveals that His body is real food and His blood is a real drink, and only by consuming His body and blood we can have eternal life. And, most of all, Jesus unveils the most profound mystery of God, the Trinity, and He Himself is the second person of the Trinity than became flesh. All of these are humanly impossible to do and to believe, but why does Jesus insist on teaching them?

The answer lies in the grace of God. Jesus understands that these are divine revelations, and relying only on human wisdom and strength, we are bound to fail. Thus, the Holy Spirit and His grace supply what is fundamentally lacking in us. Like we cannot believe in Jesus as our Lord unless moved by the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to love our enemies unless the same Holy Spirit empowers us. Jesus knows that His teachings are humanly impossible, but He also gives us the necessary grace to enable us to perform the impossible. Then, loving our enemies is indeed grace-filled love and supernatural love. If we are still finding it hard to love our enemies, perhaps, this is the time to rely more on God’s grace.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP