13th Sunday C Lk.9:51-62 Dealing with Mistreatment On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of hid journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them and they journeyed to another village” (Lk.9:52-56). Jesus was headed toward Jerusalem and on the way came into a Samaritan village but they did not welcome Him. They were prejudiced against Jesus and felt they were racially superior to Him. When the disciples James and John saw this they reacted and asked, “Lord, do want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” James and John were called Boarnerges, which mean sons of thunder, a name which suggests impetuous temper or hotheaded. They can’t let this slight on Jesus pass and they wanted to take action, which to them was a praiseworthy thing to do. They offered to call in divine help to blot out the village. Yet, Jesus turned and rebuked them. Unlike His two disciples, Jesus dealt with the situation patiently and peacefully. How do we deal with people who reject us or treat us shabbily? One day while walking in a crowded city, a guy in front of me was smoking while walking. Naturally, I sniffed the smoke and it ticked me off. I ran past the guy, looked back and hollered at him, “I hope you get cancer!” then I scrammed. (The guy was bigger than me, it’s better to run fast). Almost everyday we are put in situations where our patience is challenged and we encounter people who annoy, upset, and infuriate us. If we believe in the principle of non-violence perhaps we don’t actually call for a fight but we can’t move past it without at least wishing bad things to happen to them, and mutter, “I hope you drop dead.” Our temper is so short in such aggravating circumstances. But what’s the right way of responding to it? Like James and John do we need call down fire from heaven to consume them? The right way to respond to prejudice, slight, rejection, rejection, indifference, and mistreatment is to deal with them the way Jesus did - patiently and peacefully. Jesus is teaching us the duty of tolerance. For some, tolerance is a lot of virtue but our tolerance must be based not on indifference but on love. We ought to be tolerant not because we care less but because we look at the person with the eyes of love. When someone wrongs us, it is his or her problem. When we return evil for evil, when we fight back, then we too have a problem, for our reaction is intentional. If someone wrongs us we must not regard the person as an enemy to be destroyed but a friend who has strayed and has to be recovered by love. There was an old Chinese emperor who wanted to conquer the land of his enemies and kill all of them. Sometime later people saw him sitting down, eating and joking with his enemies. “But didn’t you tell us that you wanted to do away with all your enemies?” The emperor said in reply, “That’s right. I did away with them. I made them friends.” Abraham Lincoln was criticized for being too courteous to his enemies and, thus, was reminded of his duty to destroy them. His great reply was, “Do I not destroy enemies when I make them my friends?” Let us learn from Jesus. Let us destroy our enemies not by attacking them nor wishing them bad things but making them our friends. Rev. Fr. Clod V. Bagabaldo
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 02:00:56 +0000
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