[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Thursday, 13 September, 2012, 23rd Week, Ordinary Time
CHRISTIAN COMPASSION GOES BEYOND HUMAN RIGHTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 COR 8:1-7, 11-13; LK 6:27-38

It was Blaise Pascal who said, “…the heart knows the reason that reason does not know.” Indeed, in the world today, it is recognized that EQ is more superior to IQ. Whilst the latter can get you a job, because of your knowledge and expertise, it is EQ that determines your promotional prospects, because it helps you to get the right people on your team and to get them to work together better. It is significant that in any political election, it is often not the technocrat that wins the heart of the people but the politicians, because most people vote with their hearts and not their heads.

Why is that the case? This is because, as St Paul said, “’We all have knowledge’; yes, that is so, but knowledge gives self-importance.” So knowledge leads to pride. This explains why today educated people are always speaking in terms of human rights and justice. Although it is certainly important to respect human rights, yet such recognition can be over-exaggerated. It can lead to self-centeredness. We think too highly of ourselves. Many today are no longer as receptive to the Church’s teaching on doctrines concerning morals and faith. Many Catholics, whilst professing themselves to be Catholics, are selective in what they believe; some are even working against the Church from within. So much so, the enemies of the Church sometimes are not so much from without but from within, as dissenting and disgruntled Catholics seek to impose their unorthodox beliefs on the rest of the community.

The other danger is that some of us become calculative in the way we serve God and His Church. Many of us are making demands on the Church, even those who purportedly gave themselves freely for the service of the Church. We insist on our rights and privileges. Sometimes, one cannot but wonder whether people serving in Church organizations are serving themselves or Christ, since they place so many conditions before they agree to serve. What has happened to the generosity of heart, giving without conditions and serving without recognition?

Behaving in this manner makes us behave like pagans. This is what Jesus warned us in today’s gospel. Such is the way of the world, a logical and calculative spirit of reasoning. Hence, Jesus challenges us to reflect further: “Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to get back the same amount.” Indeed, we must go beyond merely a human form of love, which is conditional and self-seeking. Christian love is to give and serve without expecting anything in return. Christian charity flows from the abundance of a heart of compassion and love. The joy of Christian giving is pure joy, not based on the results or benefits received but on the joy of giving.

Paul understood the ministry in the right perspective when he said, “it is love that makes the building grow.” Our works of service and charity are basically to communicate the love of God. We cannot therefore be too insistent on our rights. This is what Jesus is inviting us to do. He said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you.” We are called to give up our rights for the conversion of others. We are called to conquer demanding and mean people by our unconditional love and a love that goes beyond the call of duty. Christian love is not exacting and calculative. By not resisting, we show our magnanimity and, as a consequence, enlighten and edify those who are self-centered.

St Paul lived this exhortation of Christ concretely in his own life when he warned the Corinthians not to insist on their rights to eat food that had been offered to idols. He said, as Christians “We know that idols do not really exist in the world and that there is no god but the One. And even if there were things called gods … still for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist.” St Paul urges tolerance and sensitivity to others, even at the expense of giving up our rights at times, lest because of our insistence, we scandalize the weak and innocent.

Accordingly, St Paul said that if “your knowledge could become the ruin of someone weak, of a brother for whom Christ died. By sinning in this way against your brothers, and injuring their weak consciences, it would be Christ against whom you sinned. That is why, since food can be the occasion of my brother’s downfall, I shall never eat meat again in case I am the cause of my brother’s downfall.” Hence, Paul gave up his rights to do something that was right. Because of a greater good and for the sake of charity, he refused to exercise that right.

How can this attitude also be a part of our spiritual life? We must understand the love of God! St Paul advises us, “A man may imagine he understands something, but still not understand anything in the way that he ought to. But any man who loves God is known by him.” So, only love will enable us to go beyond simple human logic and strict justice. Only those who know the love of God understand the true meaning of justice, which encompasses charity.

Today, Jesus reveals to us the heart of God. Compassion is the heart of God. God’s justice goes beyond strict human justice. It is compassion that triumphs in the end. So the justice of God is His compassion. Divine justice encompasses the compassion of God who treats each person individually and uniquely. Divine justice cannot be reduced to human justice, which interprets the laws according to the letter and not the spirit of love.

When Jesus said: “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourself”, He was telling us who the Father is. Divine justice is motivated by love, not logic. God does not seek revenge. He overcomes evil with goodness. He loves all, for He “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Indeed, this was also the way of Jesus. He emptied Himself of His divine rights and assumed our humanity in order to save us.

We are called to imitate the heart of God. It is not enough to be compassionate to our loved ones, but such compassion must be extended to all. In truth, we tend to apply strict justice to others whom we do not know whereas for our loved ones, we treat them with compassion because we see them as individuals rather than as strangers. Divine justice requires us to treat each one individually and uniquely. Thus, Jesus exhorts us, “Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return.”

Truly, by loving with the heart of God, we become like God. That is why Jesus said, our reward is that we “will be sons of the Most High.” Indeed, He said, “Grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.” To the extent we love like God, to that extent, God lives in us and we share in His heart of compassion and love. Or else, we can only be known as pagans, not the sons of God! Each one is called to reflect the compassion of our Father in our lives.