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Reflection on the Gospel – Tuesday, June 17, 2025
This is one of those Gospel texts where it’s clear that Jesus isn’t trying to be politically correct or careful like any good leader or politician would be. He ends up saying something so radical that it feels completely out of place.
You wonder: who were His advisors to let Him say things like this?
And then it makes sense that Jesus ended up the way He did—dying on a cross, rejected and misunderstood. There was really no other way.
Back then, just like today, the world was full of borders and divisions. Even though the Roman Empire ruled most of the known world, there were still walls—separating people from each other: one people from another, one family from another, one tradition, one religion, one language from another.
And we all know that “the other”—almost by default—is seen as a threat, as an enemy.
Even after two thousand years, not much has changed. We’re still surrounded by barriers. We build walls—not to stop goods from coming in, but to stop people.
And especially when it comes to immigration, nobody—least of all politicians—really knows what to do with it.
People looking for a better life are often seen as a threat, as people coming to take what’s “ours,” or as possible criminals. In short, as enemies.
And immigrants are just one example. There are divisions everywhere—within families, between fans of one sports team or another, between different political views.
Walls are everywhere.
And then here comes Jesus, telling us:
Love your enemies.
It sounds impossible, but it’s true. That’s what the Kingdom of God is like.
And if God IS love, there’s no other way. He loves everyone—no exceptions, no conditions.
And He invites us to follow Him and do the same.
In God’s Kingdom, human caution doesn’t count.
What matters are open hands, hands that bring peace, reconciliation, and brotherhood.
Because if love isn’t the foundation—the glue—of God’s Kingdom,
what’s left of it, really?
being close, forgiving us, and always letting us start over again—as if nothing had ever happened.