Evangelical Reflections - Saturday of the First Week of Lent - February 27, 2021

Saturday of the 1st Week of Lent
Matthew 5:43-48
I like to sum up today’s Gospel in one word: yikes!
Why “yikes”? Because Jesus tells us to be perfect, just as our Heavenly Father is perfect. I’m not sure about you, but I know that I fall short of perfect every single day. Perfect is a tall order.
However, Jesus tells us exactly what we need to do in order to be perfect: we have to love our enemies. We have to love those who don’t love or like us, those that persecute us. I look around at the world today and I’m not sure that many of us are even giving this perfection a try (myself included). All it takes is to look at one social media political article and BAM, there’s hatred and negativity everywhere.
Think about a person or group of people right now that just makes you angry. Maybe they have different political beliefs than you or some other reason. Now ask yourself, “when was the last time that I listened to that person?” And when I say “listened”, I don’t mean that they were talking and I was already thinking of my response in my head. I mean to really listen, to put myself in their shoes. Sometimes all it takes to bring love into a situation is to listen and allow the other person to be heard.
We may say, “but they don’t listen to me, why should I listen to them?” And to that, Jesus would say, “if you love those who love you, what reward is there in that?” We cannot control another person’s thoughts, feelings or actions. We can only control our own and do what God is calling us to do.
I know in my own life when I have backed down and truly listened to what someone is saying that I disagree with, my whole attitude towards them has changed. I usually will not agree with them still, but my heart has been softened and I am able to show that person love and compassion.
Let us ask the Lord to show us His love in our hearts that we may love those who need His love the most, that our enemies may become our brothers and sisters in Christ.