Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Today in the Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus raises the familiar quotation of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This phrase speaks of the simple justice of whatever you do to me, I can do to you. It’s the kind of childhood logic we enjoyed in our sandbox days. If you take my shovel, I’ll take yours. I’ll pay you back for whatever you did to me (or my friends and family). While I called this “simple justice,” what it really denotes is a sort of exchange model of justice wherein these acts are equal and therefore fair. It does sort of make sense, to some extent. Jesus, however, does not call his followers to this simple exchange model of justice. Like much of the Sermon on the Mount, his instructions are surprising and represent a challenging call. Jesus instructs his followers not to offer resistance to the evil person, to give more than is asked, and to give without intending to receive repayment. These instructions do not sit well with our childhood logic of justice. Why should we give up our belongings, suffer evil, and forfeit money to others?

Once again, Jesus is calling his followers to a fuller biblical justice, asking us to embrace the world as he sees it. God’s world is not a world of exchange justice. God’s world is not a world of vengeance. We get some sense of God’s world in the person of Jesus. In his passion and death we see that Jesus did not violently resist the evil that was done to him. He was condemned unjustly, he was stripped, he was flogged, he was crowned with thorns, he was made to carry a cross, and he was crucified. At the same time, however, Jesus was also raised from the dead, and that is the great vindication of him and his followers.

We are not called to be doormats, abused endlessly by the evil people of the world. But we are also not called to seek revenge. We must discern particular situations as they arrive, striving to follow these instructions of Jesus. Jesus calls us to this life because he thinks it is possible. Not only does he think it is possible, but he thinks it is liberating. To live as God wants us to live, to live as Jesus lived, is to live a life of freedom.

Today, examine your life in regard to how you think of justice in relationships. Do you seek the childhood exchange…or have you accepted the Christian model of full biblical justice? The latter of these will sometimes involve suffering and undoubtedly involves generosity to others over selfish concerns. Let us pray for the grace to live such a life of full justice today and always. Maria Morrow