Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 14th June

Message from Fr Paul for Tuesday, 14th June 2022

 Yesterday was a good day in that I managed to do those things I set out to do. My mother’s visit to hospital for her pre-op checks went well, so it’s a green light now for surgery on Thursday, which she looks forward to enormously, as she longs to be free of pain and fear. I was amused, as she had dressed for a garden party at Buckingham Palace. I’ve suggested that on Thursday she wear a tracksuit, but my mum, being 95 and Italian, doesn’t do informal. I am looking forward to having some rest today. I need to build up my energy for what lies ahead, bearing in mind that the weekend also includes a wedding and first Holy Communions.

 Our Gospel passage for today, (Mt 5: 43-48), sees Jesus tackling an interesting question to do with the Old Testament, although the text as Jesus quotes it cannot be found there. First let’s see what he says:

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’”

Jesus says here of the Old Testament, “You have learnt how it was said, `You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’” How could a God of love command his people to hate their enemies?

 The truth is that at no time did God command his people to hate their enemies. God is an unchanging God of love, and he cannot hate any person, nor can he command anyone else to do so. Jesus said the greatest commandments were to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself In point of fact, this very commandment is taken by Jesus from the OT. Leviticus 19:18 declares: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Why then did Jesus say the OT taught that we should “hate our enemy”? He didn’t, and for a very good reason. Nowhere in the OT can any such verse be found. In fact, Jesus is not quoting the OT here, but the pharisaical misinterpretation of the OT. Notice, Jesus does not say “it is written,” as He often did when quoting the OT. Rather, he says, “you have heard,” by which He meant the Jewish “tradition” that had grown up around the OT and by which they had made the commandment of God of no effect. The truth is that the God of love commanded love both in the OT and NT and never at any time commanded that we hate other persons. This kind of misinterpretation of scripture is exactly what Jesus is battling with when dealing with the scribes and Pharisees. 

 Jesus wants his disciples to love their enemies and those who hate them, just as God our Father does and just as Jesus himself shows us so graphically in the Gospels. In fact, he offered his life on the cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sinners and for the reconciliation of all men and women with God and with each other. May the Lord help us to love and not hate, to forgive and never bear a grudge.