Second Sunday before Lent
“ 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.”
Overview
Second Sunday before Lent
Last week Jesus invited us to stand on “level place” with him: encouraging us to step down when we find ourselves above others and to step up when we find ourselves beneath others. This week it looks as though we are being urged only to step down, to take the lower place. In our Old Testament reading, Genesis 45:3-11, 15, Joseph is not seeking revenge, but only reconciliation with his brothers. He does not hold them responsible for their actions against him. In our gospel, Luke 6:27-38, Jesus urges us to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, give the shirt from our backs. Such texts need to be handled carefully. They can be, and have been, used to exhort the downtrodden to stay down. In their own context though they offer something subversive: a Roman soldier could make a Hebrew carry his pack for one mile but not two, could take his cloak but not his shirt. By giving more, Jesus' hearers were engaging in civil disobedience, revealing the injustice at the heart of the law. To be generous in the face of greed, to love in the face of hate, is to refuse to be defined by that injustice, but instead to commit to a different way of life.
FIRST READING
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’
And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
GOSPEL
Luke 6:27-38
“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.”
