The field speech of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke challenges us all again and again. Again and again we face dislike or even hatred. It’s not always easy to break out of this spiral, but it’s worth it, says Eva Falke, interpreting this Sunday’s readings.
There are biblical texts that particularly challenge me. The field speech of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke is definitely one of them. I read these words and immediately feel the great demand placed on me: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you!” (Lk 6:27).
How many times have I heard and read this text! Again and again I catch myself looking for reasons why Jesus said it that way, but might not have meant it that way. And again and again, sooner or later, I notice that I can’t avoid it: Jesus makes demands on us that seem radical to us. Probably precisely because we have to admit that we often fail to meet these demands.
room for hate and violence
the Readings from the 7th Sunday of the year (reading year C) to listen to you’ll find here.
I assume that you share my observation: hate in our society seems to be taking up more and more space. I maintain that this is not a development that has its origins exclusively in the corona pandemic. For many years now, the Internet has opened up a space in which hate and violence can be lived out in words and pictures.
Various media stir up fears and conspiracies. Again and again people live out their hatred violently. It doesn’t take much and we find ourselves in a vicious circle of hate and violence, new hate and new violence.
Fast in a vicious circle
Eva Falke is pastoral officer in Heilig-Geist Hamm-Bockum-Hövel.
It is relatively easy for us to distance ourselves from these violent events. But if we’re completely honest with ourselves, then we have to admit that we sometimes slip into a derogatory and abusive level in our relationships. For example, when we make disparaging remarks about those in our circle of acquaintances who got vaccinated “too late” or only because they had to – instead of being happy that another person is better protected against Corona and thus the vaccination rate of society as a whole increases.
And already we find ourselves in the small encounters of our everyday life in a vicious circle of unfriendliness and hurts, new unfriendliness and new hurts.
Deep trust in God
I believe that it was not Jesus’ intention that we only endure the injustice and hatred in our society. After all, Jesus always clearly opposed evil and injustice – but without responding with hatred himself.
The biblical texts of Sunday show us that this basic attitude was already a sign of deep trust in God in Old Testament times: The Lord will reward everyone for his righteousness and faithfulness (1 Sam 26:23). David refrains from murdering King Saul himself, who has tried to kill him several times before. In doing so, he renounces new violence and new resulting hatred and accepts that Saul could continue to persecute him.
power of love
Jesus asks us to consciously leave behind the hate that we ourselves have experienced through suffering – and still take a firm stand against evil. You may have heard of Antoine Leiris a few years ago. He lost his wife in the 2015 Paris Bataclan attack. Three days later, he posted a letter to the assassins on Facebook, which was shared hundreds of thousands of times: “Friday night you stole the life of an extraordinary being, the love of my life, the mother of my child, but you won’t get my hate.”
As I read this letter, I had an idea of what Jesus meant by his words; I had an idea of how incredible it takes strength and love to break out of these vicious circles and not let hate rule your life, and I got an idea of how much power love has over hate.
make decisions
Jesus’ field speech makes me realize that being a Christian challenges me to make decisions. She makes it clear to me that I need a lot of strength and love to live these words and that I don’t always live up to these claims. And at the same time, I feel how liberating it is to leave hate behind, step by step – and I believe this is exactly the freedom Jesus has in mind for us.
All Texts of the readings on the 7th Sunday of the year (reading year C) you’ll find here.
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