From Beatitudes in the mountains to love for enemies in the plains

«Who uses the word of Jesus otherwise by acting, gives wrong to Jesus, denies the sermon on the mountain, does not implement his word. From a human point of view there are infinite possibilities of understanding and interpreting the sermon on the mountain. Jesus knows only one possibility: go and obey "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After the beatitudes proclaimed in the Gospel last Sunday, The reading of the sermon in the plain of Jesus edited by Luca continues, In the part in which the heart of his speech is accessed where the ethics of love aimed at enemies predominates, expressed in donating for free, exempt from judging, proactive when he invites you to offer another cheek. In the text, al v. 31, The famous "golden rule" is preserved: “How do you want men to do to you, So you do them too ".

The entire speech of Jesus, with his commands, It is held on the verb agapao, amare. And the sayings are expressed according to a sapiential style with verbs above all to the imperative. What emerges in the end is the desire of Jesus to unhinge the logic of reciprocity. We read the evangelical pericope.

"During that time, Jesus told his disciples: “To you who listen, I say: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who cursed you, Pray for those who treat you badly. To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other too; to those who tear your cloak to you, Do not reject even the tunic. Give it to anyone who asks you, and to those who take your things, Don't ask her back. And how do you want men to do to you, So you do them too. If you love those who love you, what gratitude is due to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what gratitude is due to you? Sinters also do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what gratitude is due to you? Even sinners grant loans to sinners to receive the same. Instead love your enemies, do good and lend without hoping anything, And your reward will be great and you will be children of the very high, because he is benevolent to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Don't judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven. Dates and it will be given to you: a good size, pressing, Full and overflowing will be paid to the womb, because with the measure you measure with, will be measured to you in return”» (LC 6,27-38).

After the "trouble" (LC 6, 26), specular of the last bliss, The words of Jesus continue with a powerful adversive, "But to you who listen to I say" (v. 27), which opens the door to understanding the substantial difference in the Christian vocation in the world. At the heart of it is the love for the enemy who forms the inclusion of the entire passage of Luca 6, 27-35: "Love your enemies". Who is the enemy in the words of Jesus? It is the one who hates, cursed, ill -treatment and expresses its enmity with physical violence, with theft, with the request and the claim. Whatever the way of expressing itself of the inhabitation, the extraordinary proposal of Jesus who defines the main Christian difference rests in the non -violent response. Not any non -violence, but a proactive and active, since it, subtracting from specularity, puts in place a positive action of opposite sign. Not repeating the violent gesture suffered the disciple of Jesus comes out of the mimicry and passiveness. It is a question of doing something active after a time when violence has passed passively; not placing yourself, But, in front of the other how to do in a dispute or in a boxing meeting. I don't do what the violent does, I don't touch him where he touches me and I don't allow him to touch me in the same place. Yet I act starting from his first act, I come to his ground and there I present to him alterity. This text is telling us what to do if the goal is to make a relationship of otherness possible with someone who suffers and that makes it suffer. This is emblematically represented by the words of Jesus on the slap which is perhaps the passage of the best and iconic song: “To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other too ". In the Greek Evangelical text, the word used to say "other cheek" is not what we would expect, If we were faced with simple symmetry: I am hit on a part of the face, I also present the other. The Greek word "is not used hereetheric»Used in the sense of" now one now the other ". Here the Gospel uses the term "garlic" what does it mean: another, different. It is not, so, the second cheek, It is another cheek. There is no sum, first the right and then the left, But a different cheek must be presented. The great novelty of these words of Jesus reveal that, If on the one hand in an adverse form at the same time mild and powerful, they contrast the feeling and the way of acting worldly, on the other hand they say it is possible to do the good of the enemy, making it feel a better person, offering him the opportunity to amend himself from violence. I tell him that he can love himself, because basically both the offender and the offended are recipients of a love whose greatness did not suspect.

And here the Christian theology on love helps us which helps us understand why it can even be commanded, as in the words of Jesus. Because the command also expresses an unsuspected possibility that Christ first has experienced, not in the mere form of feeling a feeling, but in the concreteness of the actions, Showing to love those who are not a lovable, like his enemies, thus revealing the unique source of that love up to the impossible which is God the Father: «In fact, God loved the world as to give His Son Unigenito ... Jesus, knowing that his time had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them until the end" (GV 3, 16; 13, 1). Thus they also express themselves several first Christian authors. God showed his love for us why, while we were enemies and sinners, Christ died for us (cfr Rm 5,6-11). Christ on the cross has demolished the logic of the absence (cf.. Ef 2,14), He responded to the so on in over and violence by invoking forgiveness on his torturers (1PT 2,23; LC 23,34). In this sense, love can be commanded, because it must be understood in its height and depth: “Be merciful, like your Father is merciful " (v. 36); even before in its extension, even if we find that we all return to this, We like the next and even the enemy: "You will love your neighbor as yourself" (MC 12,31). It is also significant and innovative that Jesus has reworked, According to Luca, The gold rule in a positive and non -negative form as is found in other ancient texts and authors: “How do you want men to do to you, So you do them too ".

Luca to define strength or ability which allows you to go beyond the human measure of reciprocity uses the term "χάρις", curry (cf.. LC 6,32.33.34; to the bibbia translates: «What gratitude is due to you?»). Really the love that the Christian manages to even have towards his enemy is a grace, that is, it is a gift that comes from God.

To conclude it is necessary to mention how the words of Jesus, so demanding, have been variously interpreted. We narrow the two -point field of view. The Catholic position opts for the two ways, that of the majority that is invited to follow the precepts of Jesus and the other, more radical and demanding, For those few who together with the precepts also pursue the advice that are left to the free option and require a state of perfection. Then there is the position of Lutheran Orthodoxy who considers the speech of the mountain or the plain "impaired", since difficult to put into practice faithfully. In the same way as the impracticability of the mosaic law it highlights the sinful condition and therefore the necessary opening of the faith to the grace that saves. Rightly to this position, But at this point I would also say to Cattolica, Dietrich Bonheffer reacts in his most famous theological book:

«Who uses the word of Jesus otherwise by acting, gives wrong to Jesus, denies the sermon on the mountain, does not implement his word. From a human point of view there are infinite possibilities of understanding and interpreting the sermon on the mountain. Jesus knows only one possibility: go and obey " (Sequence).

The words of the Protestant theologian They still question our consistency today and challenge us. The speech of the plain of Luca can be put into practice, not thanks to our skills, but with the help of God. Christian ethics is practicable, as long as he keeps the grace in the center that comes from God.

From the hermitage, 23 February 2025

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