Sunday 23 February: Matthew 5:43-47 Matthew 5:43-47 [Jesus says:]5:43 'You have heard how it was said, “You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”5:44 But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; 5:45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? 5:47 And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?’ ContextThese sayings are part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Just before these words Jesus had exclaimed (Matthew 5:17): 'Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them.’ Now he gives some examples. First he tells how the tradition explained the commandments of God (‘You have heard how it is said...’); then he gives his interpretation (‘But I say this to you...’). InformationIndeed in Leviticus 19:18 it is written: ‘You will love your neighbour as yourself.’ The line ‘hate your enemies’ as such does not occur in the Old Testament. But we find some texts which reflect this line. For example: Deuteronomy 23:4.7 forbids strangers to have admittance into the assembly of the Jewish people: ‘Never, as long as you live, must you seek their welfare or their prosperity.’On the other hand, Jesus’ advice to love the enemies finds its reflection in the Old Testament as well. For example: Leviticus 19:34, ‘You will treat resident-aliens as though they were native-born, and love them as yourself...’Apparently, for Jesus the gift of sun and rain for everybody was a reflection of the goodness of God. Picture Meditation The painting is divided into three lines, according to the text of Matthew. In the upper line: vss.43-44; in the middle line: vs.45; in the bottom line: vss.46-47.The basic colour at the background is dark green. Does that mean something?*The head in the middle of the upper line reflects Christ, the Christ of all peoples, all races, all genders.* At top left: an illustration of the words: ‘You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’Do these words reflect certain situations or periods in my own life? There are two persons: one in red and one in yellow. I look at both of them. When was I one of them? What is the meaning of the light blue background?At the right: an illustration of the words: ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Can I agree with Jesus’ advice? Did I indeed ever pray for an enemy? Or the other way round: did I ever experience that my enemy prayed for me?Now the picture shows three persons. Who is the third one?I take the place of each of them: does it reflect a certain moment of period in my life?Here the background colour is light blue and yellow. Does it mean something? The middle section is an illustration of the verses: ‘...so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike.’In the centre: the sun. Can I see that it is shining upon good and bad people? Can I bear the thought that the sun and the rain are granted to wicked people as well?Or did I have ever the experience that I was myself the wicked one and that nevertheless the sun shone upon me? At the right: people with umbrellas. Can I see who are there the good and the bad?Again the background colour is light blue? Does that mean something? The bottom line is an illustration of the words: ‘...For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?’I see three groups of people who are kind to each other.What is the meaning of that little bowed man, almost naked and left alone?Where do I recognise my own situation?Again, the background is light blue. Does it have a special meaning? The God Who Speaks in our Archdiocese Manage Cookie Preferences