Saturday – 1^st Week of Lent

Gospel – Matthew 5:43-48

Enemy Mine!

Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Who’s your biggest enemy?  That co-worker who is always trying to undercut your efforts?  That family member who always treats you like you were 9 years old?  That former best friend who betrayed your deepest secrets?  That parent who just doesn’t understand you?  Enemies, we all have them or so we think.  They vex us, torment us, and make us think of sad and hurtful times.  They refuse to forgive and move on; they harp on the past and treat us like we will never grow up. And so we decide to treat them in just the same way – with anger and hatred!

And yet, in the end, I have to admit that my greatest enemy is myself.  My greatest enemy is my refusal to move on, to let go.  It’s that attitude of seeing others as how I choose to see them and not as they really are.  We spend our lives focusing on what makes us different and not on what we have in common.  We put people into categories; we play Goldilocks!  They are either too big or too small, one color or another, one gender or another, one culture or another.  We keep looking for people who are “just right”, not too hot and not too cold.  And then we get upset when someone does the same to us.  We keep focusing on the differences. 

Ask ourselves this question – did Jesus have any enemies?  Sure, there were plenty of people who considered Him an enemy.  But was there anyone He considered an enemy, much less treated them as an enemy?  Not really.  Consider Nicodemus (especially as he is portrayed in ‘The Chosen’).  Supposed sworn enemy of Jesus and yet he reaches out to Jesus and Jesus reaches out to him!

If Jesus really treated others as enemies, then His sacrifice on the cross was meant for only a select few.  And do we really believe that.  He forgave the thief on the cross; he forgave His executioners.  He forgave His disciples who denied Him, deserted Him, and betrayed Him.

Someone once said that racism is telling the Creator that He made a mistake.  I can’t believe that!  I won’t believe that!  Jesus challenges us in today’s Gospel to love our enemies, to love everyone.  Is that hard? Of course!  It means we need to stop looking at what separates us, to stop looking at our differences and to   look at what we all have in common.  The sun rises on all of us, good and bad.  The rain falls on all of us, just and unjust.  We are all children of God; the Creator made each and every one of us.  And the Creator does not make mistakes.