OFFER NO RESISTANCE TO THE WICKED


MONDAY, ELEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

1 Kings 21:1-16; Ps 5:2-3,5-7; Mt 5:38-42

Offer the Wicked Man no Resistance

We continue with the sermon on the mountain of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sermon is the foundation of the City of God, or the Church of the living God, just as the Laws Moses gave was to form the foundation of Israel as the People of God. Our Lord restructured the foundation of the new City in line with its mystical nature. Hence, the recurrent pattern of his teaching is the line: “You have learnt how it was said: ... But I say this to you: …” The Lord himself explained why this new foundation is necessary. It is because an old wineskin cannot contain the new wine. The fresh wine will burst an old wineskin, and the skin and the wine will be lost. The reality of grace, which is in abundance in the New dispensation, would overwhelm the narrow structure of the Old Law due to its incompleteness. But the New encompasses the Old and completes it in every respect. In the Old Mosaic Law, the specific teaching of Jesus in the Gospel would make no sense. “You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance.”

Why are we not to fight back blow for a blow? The reason is that we are now part of the mystical City of God. The mystical City is constructed solely by God and without any human effort. It comes down from above, designed and built by God alone. We cannot contribute to its building because we do not know its design. The entrance into the mystical City of God is through baptism into the death of Jesus Christ, which signifies our death to self. This is what the parable of the seed sown by the farmer, which sprouts and grows without the farmer’s effort or contribution, signifies. The kingdom of God grows in each of us through divine power and gifts of faith, hope, and charity. These theological virtues represent channels of God’s activities in us, causing the word sown in us to sprout, grow, and mature to fruition. The only contribution we are to make is to remain dead to ourselves. We must channel our human understanding and efforts toward acceptance of God’s grace and will. So, by offering no opposition to the wicked, we allow the power of God to flow through us to overcome evil and its stranglehold on the soul of our assailants.    

Our lack of resistance to evil makes us God’s channel to sow the seed of the Gospel or grace in the souls of our assailants. We sprout when we fall to the ground like a grain of wheat because the word of God is within us; unless we fall to the ground, we cannot bear fruits. This is the wholesome doctrine of the Lord. “On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.” We need to emphasize the note of death to self, which is central to the Christian Gospel, as a requirement for receiving the promised kingdom of heaven. This was lacking in the Old Law, for the promise of the Old Law was understood to be a physical kingdom or Land of Canaan. In that light, we must understand the righteousness of Naboth, who refused to sell his heritage. “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors!” They received the inheritance from God; they considered it holy and not to be traded for anything or place. But we have received an eternal, mystical, divine inheritance that cannot be taken away. The Lord instructs us to trade every earthly thing, our mortal life not excepting, for the imperishable inheritance.  

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to penetrate the heavenly treasure your wholesome doctrine is pointing out to us, that we may embrace your word with true faith, be ready to give up everything earthly in hope of the heavenly kingdom, and embrace you now with love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts.

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