You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"

 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

- Matthew 5:38-48

In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught (as we read through the Sermon on the Mount):  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.'  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.   And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'  But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.  Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.'  But I say to you, do not swear at all:  neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.  But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.'  For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."  My study bible says that in contrast to the Old Testament (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21), Jesus warns us not to resist violence with more violence.  Evil can only be overcome by good, which keeps us free from compromise with the devil and can bring our enemy under the yoke of God's love.  There is a story from the desert fathers it reports in which bandits were robbing a monastic hermit of his few possessions.  He knelt in the corner of his hut praying for the bandits.  When they left, the monk realized they had not taken his walking stick, and he pursued them for many days -- until he was able to give them his stick as well.  Seeing his humility, they returned everything to him and were converted to Jesus Christ. 

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?"  If we are freed from hate, sadness, and anger, my study bible tells us, then we are able to receive the greatest virtue, which is perfect love.  The love of enemies isn't simply an emotion.  It also includes decision and action.  It is to treat and see our enemies even as the closest members of our own family (See 1 John 4:7-21). 

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."   My study bible calls this verse the summary statement of all that has preceded.  The Christian can grow in the perfection of the Father (Ephesians 4:13), just as we are called to grow in virtue through discipleship and with the help of the Holy Spirit and all the rest of divine help available to us, especially through prayer (see 19:26, in which Jesus says that "with God all things are possible").

While we all may not be able to assume the type of humility that a monk of the desert once did (and quite frankly that may not be advisable with more hardened cases of criminal environments), we can pray for our enemies.  And I must say that, given my own particular experiences, it is surprising what prayer can do.  We should all remember that regardless of what types of interactions we have physically with other people, we are to understand that there is a communion of saints that teaches us about a reality beyond the merely physical.  We are human beings composed not simply of material bodies but also souls and spirits -- and prayer reaches most deeply into each of us.  It's like a connection that exists at our depths, because prayer reaches through a spiritual world to each.  St. Paul teaches, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27).  What this means is that even in our prayer, everything is not simply up to us, and we have spiritual help even to pray when we don't know how to.   At the depth of the heart, and with "He who searches the hearts," we have a kind of communication that surpasses everything else, and touches into the depths of each.  The outcome we desire in others may not necessarily be their changed behavior, but we will know the difference in our own capacity for forgiveness and the freedom that results, even if we must remain separated in circumstances that would otherwise simply cause further harm or more damage to relationships.  What is important, it seems to me, in Jesus' teachings in today's reading, is the standard of love.  We might think that love can be narrowed down to some simple rules, but in my opinion and experience, love in its expression can be as varied as there are human beings.  Love isn't just an emotion, as my study bible says, but it is any number of actions, including prayer and forgiveness.  It might be an attitude of nurturing, or perhaps of guiding and even correcting.  We all have heard of tough love, in which a particular problem is addressed even by enforcing distance and withholding the means, for example, of feeding a destructive addiction.  Therefore we ought first pray to understand and know and to grow in love in God's sight, and the kind of wisdom in knowing how to love that only God can teach us.  None is born perfect in knowing love, but this is precisely why Christ is Incarnate in the world.  His mission is to teach us love and to expand our understanding of what that means.  The Holy Spirit and all the divine ministering help available to us, including in the Church, is meant to be with us to help us grow in the wisdom of love.  This is not a simplistic formula Jesus is giving us.  Rather it is a teaching that love is really the answer to all of our problems, if we but escape from popular ideas of what that means, and delve deeply into the heart where we must realize that above all love wants the good -- even if that means teaching someone what is right when they don't necessarily want to hear it or know it.  Indeed, we might truly see God correctly when we come to understand that the entire message of the kingdom of heaven which Jesus delivers in the Sermon on the Mount is, in fact, a teaching about love and what it is and does, and what it really looks like in us.  That is indeed a lot to ponder, and takes a lifetime of constant learning and discipleship.  Most of all the teaching regarding our enemies is a key not only to resolving problems but also to understanding Christ's life and especially His sacrifice for all of us.   We think we can resolve problems by an equal fight, "an eye for an eye."  But so often we will find that, especially through prayer and with God's help, there are more creative and insightful solutions, which sometimes demand sacrifices from us in God's mysterious way.  We might find things take longer to resolve than we thought -- and apparent simple "justice" is not the way.  But there is one way we seek:  God's way, if we but have the patience, the creativity to think outside the box and be led by our faith, and the internal resources and trust to find a way forward out of something which we did not expect.  God's love is such, I have found, that God teaches us God's idea of good, expanding our capabilities for understanding -- and that can be far different from what we though was good or what we originally wanted.  I once went through severe and disappointing harassment on a job.  Rather than being able to correct the wrongs being done, in the end I left a job I loved.  But that set me out on a long journey of learning new skills and developing talents and opportunities I never would have pursued or assumed possible otherwise, with God's help and encouragement through prayer.  It also set me out on the road of faith.  We are on a long learning curve of love; let us be patient with Christ's ways through all things.