A Word for the 19th Sunday After Pentecost (10)

«Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise» (Lk 6:31).

The God-speaking Evangelist Luke, in today’s Gospel reading, conveys to us the instruction and commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ as to how we ought to act toward people in community life, so that we may please both God and people, gain for ourselves a good name and an unashamed conscience, and be counted worthy of the promised, imperishable heavenly homeland for our wise conduct in our earthly homeland. The Lord declares to us in the Gospel the following: «just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. So then, be merciful, just as your Father is also merciful» (Lk 6:31-36). Here today’s Gospel ends.

What most wise, exalted, saving, truly divine instructions and commandments!

But how out of keeping with them is our own everyday, ordinary life! The Lord teaches us to treat people as we would wish people to treat us—that is, with simplicity of heart, with goodwill, with sympathy, with patience. He has made ourselves the measure of our relations with other people—and this measure, this yardstick, is love: «for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it» (Eph 5:29). But in community life it is often the opposite; people’s relations with one another are quite often wrong, perverse, lacking in the spirit of simplicity and sincerity, of love and goodwill, of peaceableness, meekness, and forbearance, of purity and holiness, of sympathy, mercy, and Christian patience. They are not infrequently marked instead by a spirit of insincerity and duplicity, of coldness and haughtiness, of cunning and ill will, or of impurity and sensuality, of base selfishness and self-interest. The root, or cause, the source of one or another kind of dealing of people with one another, lies in the human heart, for «a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things» (Mt 12:35)—and it arises either from a person’s natural qualities, or from a fortunate or a perverse upbringing, from various passions, inclinations, and habits—for instance, to certain pleasures; from good or bad examples, from one’s circumstances in life, from a greater or lesser material security, or from the milieu in which someone lives, from one’s position in society, from various life lessons or temptations, and, finally, from the degree to which someone has, or has not, been imbued with the spirit of Christ, of the Gospel, of the Church. So, for some people, the measure of their relations to others is simplicity and sincerity, goodwill, love for all; this is the best side of people’s dealings with one another; but quite often the character of some people’s relations to others is cunning, suspicion, hostility, coarseness, envy, extreme self-love, self-interest, partiality, vanity, boastfulness, ambition, sensuality, or an extreme pride of intellect—that is, a high opinion of oneself, seeking to belittle others. This is the other, opposite kind of human relations. Generally speaking, one can observe among people more insincere relations toward one another than sincere ones, because all hearts are more or less infected with the impurity of sin, covered over with the corruption of the passions. For «who can say, I have made my heart clean», says Scripture (Prov 20:9)? So it is that some people’s words are as soft as oil, while at the same time they are stinging arrows. So then, according to the teaching of our Savior, the measure of our relations to others ought to be our own rightly ordered love for ourselves; as we wish people to act toward us, so let us too act toward them—that is, simply, sincerely, meekly, lovingly, without suspicion, with forbearance, with sympathy, with patience. The Lord Himself offers Himself as the pattern for us, on whom we must continually gaze, and, gazing, learn always; «learn from Me», He says, «for I am meek and lowly in heart» (Mt 11:29). The Apostle Paul says: «pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord» (Hebr 12:14); and he further teaches: «let love be without hypocrisy. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; distribute to the necessities of the saints» — that is, of our fellow Christians — «pursue hospitality; bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse; rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep; be of the same mind toward one another; do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble; do not be wise in your own opinion; repay no one evil for evil; have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men; beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities» (Rom 12:9-21,13:1). Such are the rules for Christians’ dealings with one another, set down by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans. They are binding on all of us. Where is the higher motive for us to act this way toward one another? In the image and likeness of God, according to which man was created, and in the fact that we are children of one heavenly Father, members of Christ, branches of the one vine of Christ, sheep of His one rational flock; we partake of the one living bread of Christ, drink from the one cup His divine blood; we are all given to drink of the one Holy Spirit; we await one imperishable, eternal inheritance. This is the motive for mutual, sincere, loving dealing with one another! If you love those who love you, says the Lord in today’s Gospel, what credit is that to you? For even sinners—that is, idolaters—love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same—that is, so long as they benefit from it, which means loving only oneself; for in one’s benefactors one loves only the benefits, or the advantage to oneself. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back—and in this case too you love only yourself, your own advantage, and not your neighbor’s benefit; you do not satisfy his need in full. And if Christians do not fulfill even these natural virtues, then they are far worse even than pagans, who «by nature do the things contained in the law» (Rom 2:14), without having grace-given powers; whereas Christians, as is well known, have received every divine, supernatural power from God «for life and godliness» (2Pet 1:3), for the fulfillment of all of Christ’s commandments. Look, O Christian, into this mirror of the divine commandments, and know what you are—do you love even those who love you, or do you sometimes not even love them? Do you do good to your own benefactors; do you lend to those who repay their debts? Do you not turn away, out of love of gain and distrust? Many wish to content themselves with only loving those who love them, and are unwilling to compel themselves to love those who hate them, or who are hostile toward them; with such a pagan love, O Christian, you will remain in shame at the dread judgment. «But love your enemies», the Lord continues, «do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil» (Lk 6:35). It seems a hard thing our Savior lays upon us, in commanding us to love our enemies and to do them good; the corrupted human heart will say: this is impossible, this is contrary to nature and to common sense! It is, in truth, a hard thing only for a corrupted heart, not renewed and not strengthened by grace; but for a heart reborn by grace this is an easy thing, for the Lord helps it in everything; and in the lives of the saints we see many examples of this. But to whom shall we lend, hoping for nothing in return? To the poor, to those unable to pay, for whom repaying a debt is extremely difficult, and often impossible. But those who are able must without fail repay their debt, and lenders do not sin in the least if they wait to receive the debt by honest means or through the courts. Otherwise it would be a harmful indulgence toward dishonest people, who think to profit easily at another’s expense. «So then, be merciful», the Lord said, «just as your Father is also merciful» (Lk 6:36). From Christians, His own children by grace, the Lord requires a mercy like the mercy of the heavenly Father. And indeed, if Christians are children of the heavenly Father, redeemed by the blood of His Son, and imperishable, endless blessings in the heavenly homeland are promised to them, then they must show, in this present life, to their own brothers, a love and mercy corresponding to the greatness of God’s own love and mercy toward them, and to the boundless greatness of the imperishable blessings, the greatest honors and heavenly crowns, that He has promised them.

«Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another», says the holy Apostle John the Theologian (1Jn 4:11). Amen.