Luke 6:27-38 (NRSV)
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
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"James Breech, The Silence of Jesus, says “Jesus is the most loving and least sentimental man one could imagine.” “Love your enemies” is not sentimentality. This is something that goes right to the heart of it. Jesus says, “do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” And watch what happens. This is a recipe for destroying the little bundle of lies about myself and my society that came into existence the moment my tribe and I found somebody to hate. (Like the Gerasene demoniac.) Following this injunction is not just a nice thing to do. It's a matter of destroying the whole system of mystification which has been the womb in which you've lived and moved and had your social existence. It's the recipe for deconstructing the whole business. We have to recognize the profundity of that."
- Paul Nuechterlein, from notes on Gil Bailie's “The Gospel of Luke” lecture series, tape #4 on the Girardian Lectionary page for Epiphany 7C (https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-c/epiphany7c/)
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"Modern interpreters certainly see that everything in the Kingdom of God comes down to the project of ridding men of violence. But because they conceive of violence in the wrong way, they do not appreciate the rigorous objectivity of the methods which Jesus advocates. People imagine either that violence is no more than a kind of parasite, which the appropriate safeguards can easily eliminate, or that it is an ineradicable trait of human nature, an instinct or fatal tendency that it is fruitless to fight.
"But the Gospels tell quite a different story. Jesus invites all men to devote themselves to the project of getting rid of violence, a project conceived with reference to the true nature of violence, taking into account the illusions it fosters, the methods by which it gains ground, and all the laws that we have verified over the course of these discussions.
"Violence is the enslavement of a pervasive lie; it imposes upon men a falsified vision not only of God but also of everything else. And that is indeed why it is a closed kingdom. Escaping from violence is escaping from this kingdom into another kingdom, whose existence the majority of people do not even suspect. This is the Kingdom of love, which is also the domain of the true God, the Father of Jesus, of whom the prisoners of violence cannot even conceive.
"To leave violence behind, it is necessary to give up the idea of retribution; it is therefore necessary to give up forms of conduct that have always seemed to be natural and legitimate. For example, we think it quite fair to respond to good dealings with good dealings, and to evil dealings with evil, but this is precisely what all the communities on the planet have always done, with familiar results.
"People imagine that to escape from violence it is sufficient to give up any kind of violent initiative, but since no one in fact thinks of himself as taking this initiative - since all violence has [an imitative] character, and derives or can be thought to derive from a first violence that is always perceived as originating with the opponent - this act of renunciation is no more than a sham, and cannot bring about any kind of change at all. Violence is always perceived as being a legitimate reprisal or even self-defence. So what must be given up is the right to reprisals and even the right to what passes, in a number of cases, for legitimate defence. Since the violence is [imitative], and no one ever feels responsible for triggering it initially, only by an unconditional renunciation can we arrive at the desired result:
“And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” (Luke 6:33-35)
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"No one can see that the true nature of violence is deduced with implacable logic, from the simple and single rule of the Kingdom. No one can see that disobeying or obeying this rule gives rise to two kingdoms which cannot communicate with one another, since they are separated by a real abyss. Mankind can cross this abyss, but to do so all men together should adopt the single rule of the Kingdom of God. The decision to do so must come from each individual separately, however; for once, others are not involved."
- René Girard, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, pp. 197-99 (quoted on the Girardian Lectionary page for Epiphany 7a: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-c/epiphany7a/)
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"And what is Jesus saying? Is he saying allow yourself to be walked all over by people? No! [...] The first step is: don't let the bastards get to you, don't let them run you. [Then] start to turn the whole way you are towards them so that you're not reactive to them but on the contrary becoming good towards them, because that's how God is. This is instruction about turning our whole way of being around in the face of hostility, so as to be towards those hostile to us as God is to us when we're hostile to him. In other words, it's very very strictly related to the power of the Creator, us finding ourselves on the inside of the power of the Creator which works in an entirely different way.
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"The measure you give will be the measure you get back. The suggestion behind this is what Jesus is whispering out from underneath this immeasurable generosity that we are being asked to allow ourselves to become part of towards others, however apparently hostile, evil and wicked, just in the same sense that has been pushed [by God] through our hostility and wickedness, to break the [imitative] forms of reciprocity that are mutual protections against violence, and actually open up the possibility of constructing a new world together in which people are not frightened of each other. This is the promise of [Luke's] Sermon on the Plain."
- James Alison, from video "Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022 C" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqBJNqJdxRg)
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