Today we continue to listen to the Sermon on the Plain from Luke’s Gospel. Now Jesus announces how deep our conversion must go. Look at how we try to justify our hatred of others, and our actions based on that hate. In English the main phrase is translated ‘love your enemies’ and in Spanish the translation says, ‘amen to your enemies’. Amen is a word that means: ‘I agree’ or ‘Let it be so’. In Spanish “Amen to your enemies” is peppered through this reading. If I hate someone or have an enemy, how can I say: ‘I agree with my enemy’ or ‘I am on the side of my enemy’. What a shocking way of life! Becoming truly Christian involves a deep change in us and our way of relating with others.
The last part of today’s reading is even more surprising. Here we have spelled out of us how our final judgement will be. It will be a judgment based on our own way of life and our own style of judgment towards others. This is our part of our joy as Christians. We know in advance how we will be judged. Each day of our lives is part of a large tapestry that we are knitting together. If the main color of thread in the tapestry is love and forgiveness, then we will be judged with love and forgiveness. If the main color of thread is selfishness, violence, greed, power, vengeance, or hard justice, then we will be judged based with stinginess and violence.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.
Image: https://redeeminggod.com/bible-theology-topics/love-your-enemies/