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Gospel Reflection for Sunday, February 23, 2025
Love Your Enemies
The message of today’s Gospel is straightforward. We only need to read it calmly to understand what Jesus wants to tell us. However, this does not mean we always agree or that it is easy to follow. Therefore, it is good to meditate on this Gospel and the other readings.
Sometimes it seems Jesus is asking for the impossible. We do not want to go around getting slapped and offering the other cheek, nor do we want to keep buying coats to give away. This message is serious and should not be taken lightly. We might be tempted to ignore it, thinking that the Ten Commandments are enough and more reasonable.
But this text is in the Gospels because it was considered useful for believers of all times. The Ten Commandments alone are not sufficient, especially if we live them superficially. In our journey, we might encounter people who insult us, curse us, injure us, or hate us. How do we respond evangelically? Do we follow the ways of the world or the ways of the Gospel? The natural instinct is to react with violence and vengeance. This Gospel text was preserved to teach the disciples, then and now, how to respond.
In the first reading, there is a conflict between human logic and God’s logic. Abishai, David’s loyal servant, wants to avenge his master by killing their pursuer. But David chooses the «Gospel way,» forgiving his persecutor and respecting Saul, who is anointed by God. This choice of forgiveness is a significant step towards the love of enemies that Jesus would later preach.
To reflect on this text from Luke, we must remember last Sunday’s words: «Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you, insult you, and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day, because great is your reward in heaven.» This is not just theory but applies to daily life.
We can also recall the stories of many martyrs who died for their beliefs, like the Blessed Claretian Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. They told their executioners, «You can take our lives, but we have given our will to Another. Our conscience is not at your mercy.» Martyrs did not ignore this Gospel passage. To die for Christ is to live the first commandment, «Love God with all your heart and soul,» and forgive those who kill you.
This does not happen automatically. Saint Paul reminds us that «first is the earthly, then the spiritual.» We must walk a path with Jesus’ help. Only a deeply reconciled heart, a gift from God, can accept this enlightenment of the Spirit, reacting peacefully to aggression, controlling impulses, and avoiding responding to evil with evil.
The examples in this Gospel should not always be taken literally. We can defend ourselves if attacked. Jesus wants his disciples to be moved by God’s Spirit and be witnesses of God’s unconditional love. He gives examples like the slap, the coat, and the beggar to emphasize generosity, like God is with us. Breaking the cycle of «eye for an eye» and not turning away from those asking for help.
This text can be seen as an «emergency manual for times of crisis and normal times.» It teaches us to respond as Christians to daily challenges, not letting others’ weaknesses or wrongdoings sour our mood, and not letting anger consume us. This wisdom and courage to overcome evil with good is a gift from the Resurrected.
Why should we behave this way? Why does Jesus invite us to this path? Because you are God’s child, and God behaves this way. He makes the sun rise on the good and the bad and the rain fall on the just and the unjust. The question today is, do you want to be God’s face in the world? Our society needs God’s faces. Live generously, live the paradoxical response. Why? Because you are a disciple of Jesus. You know how Jesus lived: his life was marked by generosity and paradoxical responses. Aware of our need for correction in our thinking and our weakness, we are ready to confess our faith and pray.
Your brother in faith,