This new covenant is grounded on love. But what is love? Our definition of love is pretty much clouded by emotions. Our idea of love is rather permissive and it may have lost its meaning. Hence, to appreciate the commandment of Christ, we need to situate it within the context of being hurt or humiliated, maligned or mistreated, robbed or raped and the list goes on. Our reaction towards a person who has hurt us is almost always visceral. Deep within our being there is revulsion and a perception that whatever wrong had been committed cannot be forgiven. Therefore, love your enemy is not easy in any of these contexts. Do we want to return blessing for a curse? Or turn our cheek when we are slapped? Or give even if we know the recipient is cheating us? Perhaps, these are rather extreme examples. What about queue-cutters who drive up to the front of the jam and then cut into your lane?
Where the situation is clearly biased, unjust or unfair, do we retaliate and get even? Or do we give in and run away? Are these the only options available to us? On the one hand, getting even or reacting along the line of "lex talionis" may escalate an already bad situation resulting in further destruction to everyone involved. On the other hand, running away will only fester resentment and for some, they tend to take out their frustration on other, especially those weaker than them. This is more common than we realise. For example, spouses are known to withhold their affection or snap at their loved ones because they bring home their anger at work.
We realise that both these options, either revenge or retreat, do not assuage or appease the unpleasantness experienced from the original offence. In other words, we are left feeling empty. Revenge may appear sweet prior to its execution but once we have exacted it, we are left to deal with the sour taste of a wound unhealed. If not, we quietly recede from the scene. With exaggerated autonomy, we picture ourselves as self-made. As a result, this self-definition will certainly chafe at any perceived injustice. The earlier example of letting in a queue-cutter surely sends the wrong message that we are weak or we can be walked over. In short, we are losers.
The option proposed by Christ does not solve the problem of incompleteness. However it does allow us to take a longer look. At the heart of Christ’s teaching, the question must be asked: “How far does eternity go for us”? In an age of disbelief[1], not unbelief, we struggle to believe in the Resurrection. It is difficult to conceive that there is life after death. The miracle of the raising of Lazarus provides an insight into what death truly is and its place in our lives. In this familiar story, the Lord was 3 days late. But, say if the Lord managed to heal Lazarus before he died, what would the implication be? The cure did not mean that Lazarus would not die. A cure is merely a deferment of death, putting it off until a later time which implies that whatever we may do to stave it off, one day we will die. Death is the necessary door that opens us to the Resurrection.
Isaiah the prophet never preached about the Resurrection but he might as well did so. He said that authentic justice and salvation are found in God alone. This is not an abdication of our duty to seek legal redress or look for a solution. What the Prophet simply affirmed was the unpalatable truth and a sobering reminder that on this side of death we are not guaranteed full resolution and satisfaction for our efforts in trying to right the wrongs. Therefore, the ability to stand apart from either revenge or retreat requires a firm belief in the Resurrection.
Faith in the Resurrection allows us to put up with the dissatisfaction of an unresolved hurt or the emptiness brought about by an untimely demise. More importantly, it gives us strength to love. For love is a matter of willing and it follows that there will be sacrifice when love is true. If it were just mainly emotion, then decisions taken will depend on how we feel. True love goes beyond how one feels. A good example is a parent who despite his or her illness, gets up in the morning and goes about the duties. Love pushes a person to be greater and better than he or she is
However, for that sacrificial love to go further it needs an assurance. Without the certainty of faith that God is just and merciful, if not in this world, then in the next, we will always be sickened by glaring gross injustice. We will find ourselves loving reluctantly or resentfully. Sadly, our therapeutic society seeks to solve all problems before death. When we are unable to find justice, we either flare up in anger or we withdraw into despair in the face of flagrant disregard for the simple demand of decency.[2]
The love which Christ invites us to embrace does not exclude “therapy”. It is not a fatalistic resignation. Maybe our notion of love is more selfish than selfless love. Nevertheless, self-love is important in the commandment proposed by Christ. One cannot give when one is empty. Thus, self-care is part and parcel of self-love. To be present to others, to give to others, to serve others, we need a little bit of space for ourselves. Jesus Himself stole away from the pressing crowd in order to be available to their incessant demands. We receive from God in order to give. That is basic to the Christian vocation.
Jesus’ teaching can either be painful or liberating. We may be sons of Adam, but through Baptism, we have become the brothers and sisters of the new or second Adam, Jesus Christ. Humanly, the ideal given by Jesus is hard to live by. But since Christ gave it as man, He must know that it is possible for man to live it. He showed it on Calvary. Jesus calls us to a love which He Himself has embraced. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”.
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[1] Disbelief shows an unwillingness, unpreparedness or an inability to believe. Unbelief concerns the absence or rejection of belief.
[2] Even though right is right and wrong is wrong and at the very least what is right should be rewarded and what is wrong should be punished, our political geography provides ample instances where what is right is ignored and those in the wrong unpunished. We have just read that Prince Andrew or Mr Andrew Windsor has settled out of court with Virginia Guiffre, the woman who accused him of abusing her. Whether he did it or not is not important except that we are left with a distinct impression that the best ride in the game of life is not the roller coaster but the gravy train. Our woke justice is tainted by money!
