Homily: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 23, 2025

My dear brothers and sisters, the gospel reading of today presents to us one of the difficult commandments. The commandment to love and pray for one’s enemies. It is difficult because it appears not to align with the worldly way of thinking. The instinct for revenge is deeply rooted in human beings’ sentiments. Vengeance naturally is sweet, vengeance tend to give to man a sense of consolation, a sense of fulfilment that the unjust aggressor has been paid back with his/her own side of the coin. So, love for one’s enemies is practically hard if not impossible especially when the perceived aggressor appears unrepentant.

In the gospel reading of today, Christ comes with a teaching that can be helpful to us in processing hurts and ill feelings. This base instinct of revenge and retaliation do not give a full picture of us as rational beings and moreso God’s children created in the image and likeness of God. If you hit a stray dog on the road, the dog will turn and bite you very well. We exist at this animalistic level when we emphasize only revenge, violence, “do me I do you, God no go vex.” Are we wild animals? of course, no. Where then lies our dignity as rational human beings? Where then lies our dignity as God’s children created in “imago Dei.” Christ asks in the gospel reading of today, “if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” The Christ in us must overshadow the animal in us.

The virtue of forgiveness, love and prayers for one’s enemies do not make us weaklings as some tend to think, instead, they make us heroes. Love and prayers for one’s enemies do not mean putting up with injustice in silence, we all must take an active part in eliminating injustice. But justice must be pursued with other laudable values like equity, love, rationality, mercy, fair play. At the cross of Calvary, the mercy of God triumphed over the justice due to us for our sins. In essence, our fair dealings even to our enemies makes us act like God. Have you come to think the way God acts? God sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He is kind to the person who brings him joy and equally kind to the person who grieves his heart. God’s love embraces saints and sinners alike. If God is to put up with all our wrongdoings, who would survive on earth and who would ever enter heaven?

The encounter between King Saul and David in the first reading of today stands out as a shining example of kindness to one’s enemy and resistance to the natural impulse to violence. The action of David indeed glitters eternally. Maybe we have read it so many times that we do not perceive again how heroic his actions were. Remember the timeline, David risked his life by challenging giant Goliath of Philistine which nobody in Israel including Saul dared to do. Saul wanted to pin him to the wall with a sword out of envy but by the grace of God, his life was saved. As if that was not enough, Saul pursued him about in the wilderness with three thousand soldiers to terminate his life. All this notwithstanding, when this rare opportunity came with Saul slumbering at the feet of David and David having a sword in his hands. David was able to say, I will not raise my hands against God’s anointed.

From actions of David, we can understand why the word of God says in Psalm 89:36, “his dynasty will last forever,” Ezekiel 37:25, “David my servant shall be their leader in perpetuity.” When we behave this way, we will last forever because we behave like God. Even Saul his enemy never even knew when he beatified him, “blessed are you, my son David, you will do many things and you will succeed in them all.” Brothers and sisters, recourse to violence and revenge is not the answer, most times violence begets violence. There were these two persons who were quarreling over a plot of land, one of them swore, over my dead body will you take this land, the other swore too, I will not be alive to see you occupy this land. You know what, both of them are not alive now and the land in question lies fallow growing a very beautiful vegetation.