Love Your Frenemies

HOMILY: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 6:27-38

20 February 2022 

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

A friend posted on her Facebook Wall that the Covid 19 pandemic is officially over. Comment ako agad “Says who?” Turns out she was reacting to pics of mammoth crowds participating in nationwide campaign rallies of the various candidates. Politics is the hot topic these days. It has even overtaken Covid-related discussions in chat groups, the news, and posts on different social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok, Twitter and the like. Lahat ng uri ng propaganda, videos, ads tungkol sa mga kandidato ay makikita, mababasa at maririnig kung saan-saan. Usong-uso din ngayon ang bangayan sa social media at pagtatalo sa iba’t-ibang mga pag-uusap maski sa magkakaibigan o mga magkaka-anak. Sabi nga ng isang social media meme: “Want to convert friends into enemies these days? Try discussing politics…” 

Jesus’ teachings in today’s Gospel are among the most challenging to practice in our lives as Christians. Jesus challenges us that it is not enough to simply love those who love us nor is it enough to love even those who don’t love us. We are to go a step further by extending love to those who hate, curse and mistreat us! Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them. He asks them to bless those who curse them, to turn the other cheek to those who strike them, and to let people take what belongs to them. Be merciful and forgiving, expect nothing, and “your reward will be great.” (Luke 6:27-31) This is a very difficult teaching indeed! This is one of the reasons Christianity is dismissed by so many. Is Jesus advocating passivity in the face of all manner of mistreatment? 

First of all, we need to underscore that Jesus’ words are addressed to those who have chosen to follow Him. Jesus begins His discourse with the following key words: “To you who hear, I say…”  It is not easy to adhere to what Jesus teaches. Madalas ito’y nababalutan ng hiwaga o misteryo. What Jesus asks His disciples usually goes against the ways of living that they have been used to. Only those who are willing to open their hearts and minds are able to tread His path of radical love. Jesus invites His disciples to love as God loves. This kind of loving mirrors God Himself “who is kind to both the ungrateful and the wicked.” (Luke 6:35) And Jesus further says… “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

Secondly, we must ask, who are my enemies? If we are not quarrelsome, violent nor involved in any illegal activity, we would most likely have no enemies. Does this make us exempt from the teaching of Jesus? No!!! Most likely, some of us might not have been mistreated nor persecuted but there are some persons whom we would be in conflict with or would have had some misunderstanding. There is your mother who would point out to you your poor choices. There is your neighbour who always reports you to the Baranggay for the slightest violation of the Baranggay ordinances. Then what about those whom we consider as “frenemies” or those we have a love-hate relationship? Of course, we have those who are supporting  other candidates than our own. Gaya ng nabanggit sa simula, maraming nag-aaway ngayon dahil sa pulitika. Madaming na-unfriend at na-uunfollow sa social media dahil sa pagsuporta sa pulitikong di ka naman personal na kilala at pinagmamalasakitan. Yung social distancing nakakalimutan na ng publiko kasi kampante na silang nabakunahan. Pero ibang social distancing naman ang nabubuo sa social media pag may nilalayuan tayo dahil iba ang kandidato nila.  In these instances, we are still asked to respond with love. We can differ in opinions, have misunderstandings with people, or strongly disagree with them but we must not wish them harm but instead continue to show them respect and treat them with humility and love. Kahit di mo na maubos maisip kung bakit, ganoon sila mag-isip, hindi pa rin tamang manghamak ng iba. Respeto pa rin. Pero huwag naman yung galit agad pag tinatanong lang kung bakit siya iboboto mo. Nagtatanong lang naman.

David is a good example of one who practices restraint in the passage from the First Book of Samuel. Saul was out to kill David, and so humanly speaking David would have been justified in killing Saul, if he chose to. No one could blame him. Parang self-defense lang. Kung tutuusin, madami nang kasalanan si King Saul kay David. Ginagawan ng ng kwento, pinag-iisipan ng masama, niloloko, at ngayon ay pinapapatay na siya. Nagkataon at mapapasailalim na sana sa kamay ni David si Haring Saul. However, David chose not to take advantage of the situation and spared Saul’s life. He believed that judgement is in God’s hands. For David, Saul was God’s anointed and is thus answerable to God alone. David says: “The Lord will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness.” (1 Samuel 26:23)

Para kay Hesus, walang kakaiba sa hinihingi Niya sa atin. Ganoon na Siya magmahal kaya patunay lang ito na hindi imposible ang Kanyang hiling. Jesus does not ask from us something which He Himself did not practice in His life. Jesus exemplified this self-sacrificing love when He laid down His very life for all of us. We call to mind one of the Seven Last Words of Jesus while He was hanging on the cross. In Luke’s crucifixion account, we are told that Jesus prays to the Father for His persecutors: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In this prayer, Jesus is telling us that we should pray for that which our enemies lack: an awareness and recognition of their fault.  Kung sakali mang, mayroon kang tunay na katunggali o kaaway, sabi ni Hesus, patawarin na lang. May pinagdaanan sila sa buhay na nagtulak sa kanilang pagkabulag na nagiging balakid sa pagiging makatao. Their blindness and ignorance often make them do things that hurt others. Maaring sabihin nyo na “Naku, Padre alam niya ginagawa niya. Nagbubulagbulagan lang yan.” Maaari, pero kadalasan ang di magandang pakikitungo sa kapwa ay bunga ng insecurity, kakulangan sa pang-unawa o pagkapoot sa sarili. To love as Jesus does means genuinely wanting the good, the well-being of the other person. Yes, we denounce the evil done but we need to pray for the conversion and for the healing of the perpetrator. We have to pray that they will have an open mind and an open heart so they will realise their fault, their misgivings, their shortcomings; be sorry for them and make serious amends. 

As a people who are very much a work in progress in terms of loving and living the Christian way of love, let us pray for generous hearts so that we may learn to love as God loves. In the concluding verse of today’s Second Reading, St. Paul assures us that we can attain such perfection in loving through the power of the risen Lord, whose image we all bear as Christians. Through God’s grace, let us continue to strive to heed Jesus’ tough instructions on loving others and pray even more for the grace in order to discover and to fall in love with God so that we can respond out of love even when we are not treated lovingly.