Cortez: Love your enemies?

JESUS’ message in today’s gospel is both radical and revolutionary. He said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.”

What a hard teaching! And what a considerable departure from the earlier passages in the Old Testament which demand “…life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Exodus 21:23-24), as repeated in Leviticus 24:17,19-20 which says, “If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him …,” and in Deuteronomy 19:21 in reference to malicious witnesses, which states, “Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

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Truly, Jesus’ coming changed the landscape. His New Testament shifted emphasis from obedience to faith, and from adherence to the Law to living a life of love. As he said, the whole Law is summarized by the two most important commandments: ”to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, whole mind and whole soul and to love your neighbor as you love your self.”

But does this new teaching mean spoiling the sinner and simply condoning him for the wrongs he has done? Of course not! God’s example teaches us to hate sin but not the sinner. Romans 5:8 states,” But God demonstrates his own love in this: that while we were still sinners Jesus died for us.” The wage of sin remains to be death, but our Lord Jesus Christ chose to die in our place, so that everyone who believes in him may no longer perish but have everlasting life.

How about the unrepentant sinners? Surely they will not go unpunished. As Romans 12-19 instructs us:, “Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath….” God said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them (Deuteronomy 32:35).”