Homily 532 | 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time | Year C
If you’ve been hurt, the natural instinct is to want to get even. Mercy is the supernatural practice that breaks the cycle of hurt.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/TlRzrCFMOck
In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus tell his followers, “Love your enemies.” Those are hard words to accept, even today. If someone wrongs me, I normally want to get even. At the time of Jesus, the tendency was to want to get “more than even.” If someone took your eye, you would try to take his head. Hence the “limiting” law of “an eye for an eye.” But if everyone is always trying to get even, to get justice in a strict sense, then we are doomed to a cycle of repeated hurt and violence.
Add to this cycle now the teaching of Jesus, “Love your enemies.” This is the only thing that can break the cycle of repeated retaliation. Someone has to say, “I’ve been wronged, I’ve been hurt, but I’m not going to get even.” This is true power. In the first reading today, David had the power to kill Saul who was trying to kill him. David would have been justified, but instead he chose not to kill and showed that he had a power that went beyond mere military victory.
But even if you refrain from hurtful retaliation, there is yet one more step that God asks of us. He wants us to be merciful. In Latin this word is misericordia, referencing the heart. We are called not just to tolerate our enemies, but actually to love them. I suggest that a practical way to do this is, when you get hurt, not only don’t retaliate, but ask yourself, “How has this person been hurt? What is making her act this way?”
We’re all hurt and broken. If we don’t take action, we are likely to keep spreading that hurt everywhere we go. But if I can look into the face of another who is hurting me and see their hurt, well then I might just be able to not only tolerate them, but to love them. “Be merciful as your Father is merciful,” Jesus says. When you are merciful, you become more like God. This new outlook on life will definitely change you. It might even change the world.