Book Reviews and More: Sermon Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time 2025 Joonbin Lim

Monday, 14 April 2025

Sermon Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time 2025 Joonbin Lim

Sermon Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time 2025

Joonbin Lim

1St Reading: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-25

2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

Gospel: Luke 6:27-38

Sermon Sermon Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time

(Note: This sermon really struck me. It was an excellent sermon from our transitional deacon. It is posted here with permission.)

If there is anyone who thinks that living according to today’s Gospel is easy, please let me know… If someone were to slap me on one cheek, I would probably slap them on both cheeks.

Today’s readings talk about this difficult teaching of Jesus about loving our enemy. This is the most difficult teaching that all of us would have difficulty to live it out. About 25 years ago, I served in the military. While I learned many things during my service, the most difficult part was having to obey the orders of my superiors. At that time, there were incidents in the military caused by such harassment and beatings. some of them would harass or physically abuse their subordinates for no reason. It was an unhealthy military culture.

Among my superiors, there was one in particular who frequently tormented my comrades and me. As privates, my fellow soldiers and I were beaten almost every night in the boiler room or restroom. There was no justifiable reason for the abuse. Then, one day, a close comrade of mine was beaten so badly that he lost consciousness. When we went on perimeter guard duty, we carried rifles, bullets, and grenades.

From that day on, I constantly harbored thoughts of revenge against that superior. However, I carried a rosary that my father had given me. Whenever thoughts of revenge arose, I prayed. Over time, many things began to change. That superior also changed, and I, too, was transformed. The beatings and harassment gradually decreased. When I eventually became a superior myself, I made sure that such abuse did not happen under my command. It wasn’t that I did anything special, but in my pain and hardship, I earnestly prayed to the Lord. I also endured those difficult times by thinking of my parents at home and the people I loved.

My anger and desire for revenge did not suddenly turn into prayer overnight. It took a very long time of inner conflict and painful moments.

We live in a world that is so divided. Our individual differences have created pillars of biases and prejudices within us that often make us intolerant to each other. Instead of celebrating unity amidst our diversity, it even fosters division and continuously creating our own niche which leads to aversion to those whom we label as the “others.”

Loving someone is only possible when that person meets our expectation. Loving someone is only possible when that person reciprocates everything that we do. Loving someone became so limited only to those who belong to our family, friends, peers, group and community. The rest especially to those whom we don’t like and those who have hurt us becomes our enemy. As much as possible we want to get rid of them.

How can we love those people who caused us so much pain, brokenness and mental anguish? How can we love those people who are the reason of all our pain and suffering?

“Loving the way God loves us is what makes us His children” which is the theme of our reflection today. God loves us very much without conditions. As His children we are ought to love the way he loves us. We are loved even we are sinners. This is how God loves us. Even how many times we disobey him and reject His will, God will never surrender on loving us.

There is no such thing as category when we truly love. Everyone is worthy of our love for it is in loving like God loves reflects of who we really are as his children. But how can we really love like God does.

First, we can only love like what God does if we recognize the goodness in every person. This is the most basic that we need to remember. There is an innate goodness within us because we are created by God in his own image and likeness. Second, we can only love like what God does if we believe that every person is redeemed by God through Jesus Christ. Our innate goodness is ruined by the bondage of sin and this is the reason why we cannot love like God does. It’s not the gravity of our sins that he sees on us but that innate goodness and this can only be restored by his pure and unconditional love through the works of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Lastly, only Jesus in his spirit who can animate and inspire us to love like God does even our enemies. We can only love like what God does if we live out everything what Jesus Christ has done. Jesus gave us something that stretches us from the things that we are used to. He gave us an extra challenge to love not just our friends but even our enemies. This is the heart of Luke’s gospel today when Jesus reminded his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” This is the most difficult teaching of Jesus but once we do it we will experience what true love is and how it feels to be God’s children. This teaching is not just inscribed by Jesus on stone tablets but he engraved it in our heart. We can only love like God does if we follow the teachings of Christ and let it be the standard of what loving is.