Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C

1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

Ps. 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

1 Corinthians 15:45-49

Luke 6:27-38

Experience wises us up to the tempting trick of a “free” offer, whether it’s a t-shirt, trial subscription, checking account or lunch.  There’s always a catch … strings are surely and securely attached.

As a result, when the Lord teaches about generous love in the Scriptures, we can find it difficult. It seems unfair in our economic mindset to “Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.” Christ speaks in familiar financial terms of borrowing and interest: “If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.” His images are drawn from the Mediterranean commercial world. The barebones minimum given as a contrast to His own magnanimous example exposes how far we can be from real charity.  

The Gospel injunction remains solidly logical in theory and readily verifiable in practice: “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.” He’s teaching more deeply about the justice of our judgment before God, which far transcends fiscal analogies. The terms are hardly arbitrary. Thankfully so. We will find that perfectly suitably fitting to each individual, by definition.  

Every Biblical figure demonstrates as much. For example, the maniacal King Saul hunting down David in a jealous rage had his life spared by his own prey. The military commander Abishai wanted to kill him, but his wise uncle David prevented it, both for his own sake and for his nephew’s: “for who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and remain unpunished?” He both spiritual and literally took the higher ground, which always symbolizes closeness to the Lord: “David stood on a remote hilltop at a great distance.” The forthcoming Golden Rule in the New Covenant was already present in the people’s hearts under the Old Law, as David professes: “The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.” We all must choose either the way of David or of Abishai. This reflection is timely as we prepare our Lenten resolutions. Are we generous with mercy, especially in how well we treat our adversaries?  

We must choose love out of reverence for God and with no demand of recompense, patterned after His paternal care: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion,” sings the Psalmist, King David. That great holy hero had his share of sins, like every one of us. He was saved, both physically and spiritually, and poignantly reminds us of God’s forgiveness: “He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction.” David was passing on what he had received because he had integrated it in a fundamental way into his character, and shared that blessing.

“Kindness doesn’t cost anything,” as the wise phrase goes. True enough, but being holy consists in much more than being a decent person. Ultimately, nothing less than our salvation comes down to remaining among fallen humanity or being transformed into the New Adam: “The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven.” We have departed from the path of God’s love, right along with the rest of mankind. Nonetheless, and in fact right in the midst of that failure, the Redeemer provides hope of redemption through configuration to Himself: “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.” St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians highlights the nature of God’s love as a free gift incarnated in Christ as a principal theme, emphasizing the Paschal Mystery of His life, death, and resurrection as its source.

Our tangled human intentions find themselves regularly in need of being straightened out, purified, and sanctified after the pattern Christ has set for us. We can’t engage in business “best practices” mentality when it comes to the matters of holiness. The rules of the marketplace don’t dictate the terms of relationships for Christians. We can’t ask ourselves what good will be done for us in return. That’s not God’s idea of love. The greatest good possible, our salvation, has already been accomplished for us. That utter gratuity of grace must be imitated, for “The Lord is kind and merciful.” He desires that we be like Him.