By Fr. Glenn Jones:
One of the things we hate in our lives is loss of control of what happens—to ourselves and within our sphere of influence. When things slip from that control, a sort of desperation stemming from uncertainty can take hold. And then we can be tempted to take shortcuts from what is ethical and right just so that we can regain that control. Not sure if you’ll get the promotion? Well … a little stab in the back of your competition—truthful or not—could be tempting. A little slander here, a little false evidence planted there … who’s to know? After all, I need that promotion more than they do; I have my eye on the bigger house, the nicer car, the prestige, etc.
An analogous situation arises in the readings for this weekend’s Catholic Mass with David in 1 Samuel 26. David had quite the following: he was a successful military leader and hero (he HAD dispatched Goliath, after all), and the current King Saul was insanely jealous of David’s fame and popularity, fearful that David would usurp his throne. So Saul hunts him down with his military entourage to eliminate him.
Events transpire so that David, sneaking into Saul’s camp at night, has opportunity to dispatch Saul, be free of this murderous pursuit, and seek the kingship. But David refuses to do evil for his own advantage and rather trusts in God. David could not have known that Saul would die in a different battle in the near future, so David essentially gives up a kingship rather than to do wrong in seeking his own self-interest.
That’s the kind of self-giving and trust in God’s providence that we are called to in the Christian life: to do what is right and good regardless of whether it benefits us materially or not. The Christian has a higher goal, knowing that the conduct of our lives here is not so much for here, but is in making spiritual investment for a greater life with God after this one.
St. Paul tells us in another Mass reading today (1 Corinthians 15) that we have our earthly life like the material man Adam, yes, but we are called to greater life as, and in the future with, the Heavenly man in Jesus Christ. Because inevitably we all go to God with what we have done—and NOT done—in our lives. Scripture tells us repeatedly that we are judged by faith, yes, but that faith is measured by how we “activate” that faith in what we do in this life. This brief moment of earthly existence is our proving ground for eternity.
Yes, it’s a hard thing to do to “let go and let God”, as they say; we find security in controlling all we can in our lives. It’s hard to, as Carrie Underwood sings, let Jesus take the wheel. But as He did the apostles, Jesus asks us to trust in Him and to row out into the deep, and so the Christian should leap to man the oars.
One of the deepest and unsurest of seas is Jesus’ call for us to not only love our neighbor, but to love those who may hate us. What may lie in wait with such love? Open opposition? Resistance? Treachery? Yet it matters not; we are to seek the others’ good nonetheless … just as Jesus did for us: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”
As Jesus tells us, everyone does good to those whom he loves, and to those who love him. But as the commentary author William Barclay writes: “But love towards our enemies is not only something of the heart; it is something of the will. It is something which by the grace of Christ we may will ourselves to do.” (Commentary on Luke chapter 6). We are called to will a higher morality … to imitate the Heavenly, and not the earthly, Man, as St. Paul tells us. And, as Barclay continues, we are challenged to do better than the world’s norms. We are not called to just NOT do bad things to people, but to do good things FOR people. All people.
The Golden Rule of Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” is not something new with Him; He just gives it a divine stamp of approval, and thus makes it Christian law, as it were. Many philosophers and great teachers even before Jesus taught much the same, such as Confucius when he was asked: “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” He answered, “Is not ‘reciprocity’ such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” (Ibid)
Christians—indeed, any person seeking the greater good of the world—are called to rise even further above the standards of the world and seek the good of others, even when they may not be inclined to reciprocate. Revenge, vengeance, “tit for tat” is a never-ending ride on a perpetual see saw that nobody wins. “Do good [even] to those who hate you”, Jesus exhorts, for only on that path does the goal of peace exist. And our exemplar is Christ Himself.
We will fail at times, yes, but that’s no excuse to not continue to strive for greater progress … greater perfection, though we can never attain it. After all, do not the greatest musicians practice constantly … the greatest mathematicians and scientists and engineers continually learn and work, knowing all the while that they can never know all or reach perfection, yet always striving to improve. Will we Christians be content to strive any less when our promised reward is infinitely greater?
So we are called to seek the good of others even above our own—as did David, as did St. Paul, as did Jesus Himself upon the cross. It is only Christ who never fails, and He calls us to follow Him in loving God with whole heart, and loving our neighbor as ourselves … even if the neighbor be not so love-able. So remembering Jesus, as the saying goes, when someone is against us, don’t get even; get God.
Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.
