Receiving the grace of God in vain is a perennial problem for Christians. It helps to note that grace, from the Greek word charis, as in “charisma,” means gift. The gift of grace is not truly received until it is passed on. Unlike a box of chocolates, the gift of grace is multiplied, not diminished, by sharing it.
Of course, it is easy to be nice to people who are nice to me. But what about people who not only aren’t nice to me but those who take the trouble to be mean even cruel, someone who, in a word, makes herself my enemy? In our Gospel today Jesus gives us a pretty straightforward answer to this question.
In our Gospel, which comprises part of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, Jesus bids his followers to forsake the so-called lex talionis, which requires an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. As Tevye, the main character in The Fiddler on the Roof observes, the result of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is that everyone winds up blind and toothless.
Living according to the lex talionis is to see life as a war of attrition. Today's Gospel, short as it is, presents us with the Lord’s most difficult teachings. Even in the context of his own time, such teachings were a provocation. Provocation means for (“pro) your calling (“vocation”).
You received your vocation in baptism and confirmation. This call to be Jesus’s disciple is issued again in every Mass. Being a Christian not only means not being an enemy but, in all circumstances, seeking to be a neighbor.
It is only by living in this way and by seeking God’s pardon when you fail that you receive the grace of God in a fruitful, as opposed to vain, way. Even when speaking of seeking God’s forgiveness, it bears pointing out how egregiously presumptive and even arrogant it is to seek forgiveness without a willingness to forgive.
Jesus bids those who would follow him die to self to become the person he redeemed you to be. Holding grudges, seeking to get even, or exacting revenge have no place in God’s kingdom. What this requires you to do is swallow some pride. Pride is nothing else except a large portion of one’s self.
In our reading from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the apostle, by describing his own approach to ministry, gives us a pretty concrete idea of what Jesus’s call to discipleship, which is a summons to the cross, looks like. When lived in a Christian manner, life is humbling, not humiliating. By living this way, you humble yourself in Lord’s sight in the confidence that he will lift you up, thus making known his salvation.
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