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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
February 23, 2014
Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Chestnut Hill MA
Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J.
An Irish friend of mine once asked me, "Do you know the definition of Irish
Altzheimer's?" "No," I said, "What is the definition?" He responded, "You forget
everything -- except the grudges."
Forgetting everything except the grudges is hardly limited to the Irish -- The
week before last I attended some meetings in Rome -- the Italians have a great word
for it -- vendetta. Yesterday I returned from a pilgrimage to the Ignatian sites with
graduate students who are members of our Urban Catholic Teacher Corps -- the
Spaniards have a great word for it -- revancha. And lest you think that the grudge is
a modern phenomenon, according to scripture scholars, the 19th chapter of the
book of Leviticus, which we just heard, was written nearly 3,000 years ago. The
ancient sages of the Hebrew Scriptures recognized that unwillingness to forgive is
one of the most human of foibles. They recommended another alternative: "cherish
no grudge, take no revenge, do not bear hatred in your heart, and love your
neighbor as yourself."
The presence of grudges is as wide as the sky and as old as the hills. Forever
and everywhere, it seems, humans are tempted by their lesser angels: hold the
grudge, nurture the hurt, settle old scores, get even, take revenge, wallow in
resentment, relish the rancor, and be sure to find delight in the misfortune of those
who may have dissed you. From a certain perspective, it makes sense. People
deserve to suffer the effects of the nastiness that they inflict on others. That's the
wisdom of this world. But, as Saint Paul reminded us in today's epistle, "...the
wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God."
As we heard in Leviticus, our better angels offer us another way to live, a
better way to live. Today we hear Jesus's thoughts about that better way to live. In
our gospel passage, He rejects the lex talionis, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth. In its place, “…turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemies, and
pray for those who persecute you.” Of course, the demands of justice must be met;
people need to be accountable for the choices that they make. Let me be clear: When
Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, He is not asking us to tolerate abusive
behavior; Jesus is not asking us to be doormats for the sake of the Kingdom. What
Jesus is asking is for us to be as merciful as He is merciful. Jesus is asking us to be
lavish in our generosity to everyone, especially those who have wronged us.
Among the many stories of forgiveness that I have heard over the years, a
recollection of Russian immigrant Yevgeny Yevtushenko lingers in my
thoughts. Keep in mind the horrendous suffering the German army inflicted on the
Russian people. Yevtushenko wrote:
In 1941 my mother took me back to Moscow. There I saw my enemies for
the first time. If my memory is right, nearly twenty thousand German war
prisoners were to be marched in a single column through the streets of
Moscow. The pavements swarmed with onlookers, cordoned off by soldiers
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and police. The crowd were mostly women – Russian women with hands
roughened by hard work, lips untouched by lipstick and thin hunched
shoulders which had borne half the burden of the war. Every one of them
must have had a father or a husband, a brother or a son killed by the
Germans. They gazed with hatred in the direction from which the column
was to appear. At last we saw it. The generals marched at the head, massive
chins stuck out, lips folded disdainfully, their whole demeanor meant to show
superiority over their plebeian victors. The women were clenching their
fists. The soldiers and policemen had all they could do to hold them back. All
at once something happened to them. They saw German soldiers, thin,
unshaven, wearing dirty blood-stained bandages, hobbling on crutches or
leaning on the shoulders of their comrades; the soldiers walked with their
heads down. The street became dead silent – the only sound was the
shuffling of boots and the thumping of crutches. Then I saw an elderly
woman in broken-down boots push herself forward and touch a policeman’s
shoulder, saying: ‘Let me through.’ There must have been something about
her that made him step aside. She went up to the column, took from inside
her coat something wrapped in a colored handkerchief and unfolded it. It
was a crust of black bread. She pushed it awkwardly into the pocket of a
soldier, so exhausted that he was tottering on his feet. And now suddenly
from every side women were running toward the soldiers, pushing into their
hands bread, cigarettes, whatever they had. The soldiers were no longer
enemies. They were people.
Yes, your enemies and my enemies, like the German foot soldiers, are people
too. And when we have the grace to acknowledge the humanity of the other, what
follows? Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemies, pray for those
who persecute you, cherish no grudge, take no revenge, do not bear hatred in your
heart.
I suggest that all of us today pray for those people who have hurt us. I
suggest that we ask the Spirit to help us see with new eyes, not our sore eyes that
have been blinded by hurt and resentment, but to see those who have hurt us
through the eyes of Jesus, who looks upon every person with boundless mercy, with
unfailing forgiveness, and with deep compassion. And I suggest that we pray for our
society, which can be so ruthlessly unforgiving, so caught up in the wisdom of this
world which, as Saint Paul tells us, is foolishness in the eyes of God.
And let's not be naive: Jesus's way is not easy. On April 15, 2013, fewer than
ten months ago, runners who passed this very church were maimed and shattered,
four innocent people were mowed down in the prime of life, and all of us were
terrorized as we sheltered in place. The heinous and cowardly actions of two men
brought untold and unnecessary suffering to many. On November 3, 2014 one of
these men, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will be brought to trial. We need to ensure beyond
any doubt that he will never have the opportunity to wreak such suffering again. If
anyone deserves the death penalty, he does. But, I hasten to add, echoing the
leaders of our church, and along with 57% of the people in the Commonwealth,
according to a recent poll, the death penalty keeps the cycle of violence and hatred
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alive. The questions for us as followers of Jesus: Will Tsarneav's execution heal
broken bodies? Will Tsarneav's execution heal broken hearts? Will Tsarneav's
execution bring peace? Will Tsarneav's execution diminish the violence and ugliness
that too often afflicts our world?
As we apply God's word today to the small circle of our lives and to the larger
circle of our society, let us resolve to imitate Jesus who prayed for his enemies from
his cross of humiliation and torture. With him, let us pray for those who have hurt
us, "Father, forgive them."