The ethics of the kingdom

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - 18 February 2007

Readings: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Psalm 102; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38

David’s restraint, as recorded in the first reading, is striking. Saul, who is seeking to kill David, falls into his hands, and yet David does not kill him. This is because he is the Lord’s anointed. There is a third point of reference apart from David and Saul. This third point of reference is God, towards whom David has certain responsibilities that prevent him acting against Saul. He cannot live as if God did not exist, or as if Saul had nothing to do with God or God with Saul.

The teaching of Jesus about turning the other cheek, giving to everyone who begs from you, lending while expecting nothing in return – all this can seem idealistic and quite unrealistic for the rough and tumble world in which we live. Jesus is here sketching the ‘ethics of the kingdom’: where God’s love reigns people will find themselves living in these ways. But, as long as we are living in a fallen and struggling world, many feel that such a way of living remains an ideal beyond human ability. And it is. In ourselves we find the ‘first Adam’ and the ‘last Adam’, the old man and the new man, and the struggle between them is never fully resolved in this life.

But when we love, we find ourselves able to live in the way Jesus asks. Where we like people, are fond of them and want to remain in friendship with them, we find ourselves turning the other cheek, giving whenever we are asked, and lending without expecting anything in return. It is only where we ‘fall out of love’, or lower our sights from the goal of loving, that we begin to count the cost, measure what we give in terms of what others are prepared to give, and then begin to judge and condemn others.

We are ‘of dust’ and we are ‘of heaven’ and are pulled around as a result. We must look above and beyond the particular situations and relationships in which we find ourselves, to God and His way of loving. God is our ‘third point of reference’. From God we experience forgiveness for ourselves and learn how to be merciful to others.

Reprinted with permission fromThe Pastoral Review January-February 2007