“An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.” This is the common understanding of what justice is. This is justice as understood by the Jews. If a person did this kind of thing to his brother, justice demands that the same thing be done to him no more no less. I think this is indeed the kind of justice that we all want to take place noting that today, justice is only for the rich and the powerful ones. If you have nothing and you are poor, then do not expect that justice will shine bright on you. This kind of justice is the least that we can do for our oppressed brothers and sisters, to repay them the exact amount of what we owe them.
Our Gospel last Sunday was about the extension of this kind of justice. If somebody slaps you on your right cheek, offer him the other. If somebody throws a stone at you, throw him back not a stone, but a bread. Maybe some of us will think that this is absurd because we are breeding abusers with this kind of mentality. Yes, they are right because, indeed, justice is exact opposite of this Christian value. But are we not Christians? I think it is just fitting and proper for us to go the extra mile with our brothers and sisters and give more than what they may demand of us. We might be branded as lunatics, but it is how the world sees it. With God, we are honorable persons because we are trying to imitate the perfection that is God’s. This kind of mentality is central to God’s unwavering message as we can see in the Book of Leviticus when God said to Moses: “Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
The Gospel, however, challenges each one of us to give more than what is prescribed by the Book of Leviticus. We must love not only our neighbors, but also our enemies. This is our road to perfection and we know that this road is an impossible road to walk on. How can we really love our enemies? It is hard to simply forgive them and so it is even harder to love them. As a normal person, I can only wish them (my enemies) misery, a hard way of life, or even death. But, to love them… that is one thing I cannot do, not because I am not a God, but because I just do not want to do it. I can choose to be imperfect until I die, but to be perfect by forgiving those whom I hate is out of the horizons of my life. I am just a simple man, with normal and natural limitations and abilities.
On the other hand, I want to be considered a child of God. This dream makes me willing to accept the challenge that the Gospel is putting in front of me, “to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect!” Doing so would abiding by his word with my whole being. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father… for if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?”
This is the demand of our faith and we must take on this challenge just to show that we are serious in following our Lord. Yes, we must strive to be perfect just like our God and perfection is gauged by the amount of love that we can give. The kind of love that knows no limits and knows no boundaries. This is the kind of love that God has shown us by dying for us and this is also the kind of love that we must share… and we must share even if sharing this kind love will make us fools in the eyes of the world.
We all have our fair chances and opportunities to share this kind of love to our brothers and sisters, and even to our enemies. I just do not know how we react to those chances that were given to us. I may have squandered a lot of those chances, and I admit that… but I am still hoping that one day, I may be able to love just like the way Christ loved me as a sinner.