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Morning Reflection for Eastertide
May 14, 2025
Reading-Luke 6:27-36
‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
This is one of the most difficult texts for Christians to truly abide by; and probably one we would happily dismiss. It brings to mind two recent statements by political and religious leaders: JD Vance’s comments in February regarding a hierarchy of devotion, derived from Thomas Aquinas’s “order of love”, or ordo amoris. The second, our Presiding Bishop’s letter on Monday regarding the Episcopal Migration Ministries(https://www.episcopalchurch.org/publicaffairs/letter-from-presiding-bishop-sean-rowe-on-episcopal-migration-ministries/). In both cases there is a response to our relationship with others that should be steeped in love. As many Christian commentators have remarked, Vance may have misunderstood both Aquinas and the Gospels in his interpretation of how we are called to encounter others with a loving heart.
Vance believes we take care of those in our inner circle first and then move outwards cylindrically, suggesting we care for others the furthest away, last. Regardless of their circumstances. I agree it is primal to protect and care for those who are connected to us first; intuitive even. It is counter intuitive and awkward to consider those the furthest away, and certainly counter-intuitive to protect our enemies; and in that way Vance’s argument is sensible. However it has no place within a Christian understanding, as the text above reasserts.
Presiding Bishop Rowe on the other hand wrestles with the difficulties of being a Christian organization that attempts to honor Christ’s teachings within a political construct that blatantly rejects it.
In this way we can see how prescient our Founding Fathers were to separate Church and State, as they inherently work for different objectives. The state does work to protect its own, while the Church has another job.
In Luke 18:18-23 a young rich man asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him he must follow the commandments, which he tells Jesus he has done since he was a young boy. Jesus then commands the young man to sell his possessions and give all his money to the poor. The young man leaves the conversation feeling despondent. Many people read this passage as a directive, or a warning. How difficult it is to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I think just as the passage above(Luke 6) feels beyond our ability, so too should this one. Who are we to think we have any control over our access to Heaven? Only God can make all things possible. There is no human length we can go to, no commandment we can fulfill, to control this outcome.
Loving our enemies doesn’t feel possible. And maybe that’s the point. In my entire life I do not believe I have ever lived in such polarized times as I do today. I can think of anyone in my life and they are either for or against: The Trump administration, Biden, Israel/Gaza, Ukraine/Russia, DEI, Trans rights, Elon Musk, the Tariffs, Andrew Tate, Black Lives Matters, the #MeToo Movement, etc. Pick one of these issues and consider loving the opposition. How does this make you feel? When you start there and try to take baby steps towards loving that enemy you begin to achieve the goal of Jesus’ teachings. He is asking us to reorient ourselves. He is asking us to find that God-given love or grace within ourselves, that he has given to us without warrant; and to apply it to those we hate, or even just don’t care about-like the refugees on the other side of the world. It is upside down. It is hard. And when we do that the hate and resentment within us starts to be overcome by the love and goodness of Christ. We begin to change. That is what Jesus asks of all of us-to keep an open heart and mind. To continue to grow and learn in love.
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