The first reading for mass today is quite shocking. The brutality of the whole crime of murder seemed to have been carried out without remorse. It doesn’t sound like Ahab would have actually committed the murder against Naboth, but his wife had no qualms about it. Ahab wanted the vineyard next door to be his vegetable garden, and offered Naboth fair payment for it. When Naboth refused, Ahab was unhappy about it, but that’s all. He probably would have gotten over it eventually, if his wife hadn’t stepped in and arranged for Naboth to be stoned to death. What a crime. A man was stoned to death, simply because someone else wanted his ancestral lands. Land that had been in the family for generations, was brutally seized from him and his family, because of his murder.
Jezebel was Ahab’s wife, who arranged to have the landowner falsely accused and murdered. But, when she told her husband that Naboth was dead and he could have his land now, the scriptures said that Ahab left and went to take possession of the vineyard. This man could not have been that naive to think that Naboth’s death had nothing to do with him. He surely must have known that his wife arranged his murder, and yet Ahab went along with it. It seems not to have bothered him at all.
In modern times, Jezebel would have been prosecuted for murdering Naboth and her husband may have been prosecuted along with her. We do not know the extent of his knowledge of the murder, so all we can do is guess. It sounds like they both got off scott free. Justice wasn’t served.
However, God is both just and merciful. We are also called to be both just, and merciful too. Pope John Paul II visited the man in prison, who shot him. He told him that he forgave him, and that God will forgive him too. The man who shot him also had the opportunity to tell the pope that he was sorry for what he did to him. They healed what happened between them and made their peace with each other. However – Pope John Paul II did not lobby for his release from prison, nor did he ask the legal system to reduce his sentence. Saint, Pope John Paul II demonstrated the nature of God, who is both just and merciful.
When we move on and read the gospel today, at first glance it may seem that Jesus is telling us to let people get away with the sins they commit against us. He said:
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well.”
Do you know why he said this? From all accounts of what we just read about Naboth’s murder in the first reading, his family would have been justified in seeking retribution for his murder, and because their ancestral lands were taken away from their family. They had a right to justice. But, it could have made the entire situation a whole lot worse if they had sought retribution. Sometimes a feud like this can go on in families for a hundred years or more, and affect countless other people in the process. The life of Saint Rita clearly demonstrates how evil can get out of control in families, and entire communities, and turn into an endless round of violence and aggression.
Jesus gave us this teaching in today’s gospel, in order to minimize the effects of evil. Evil escalates when we respond back to it sometimes. A small situation can get blown so far out of proportion that it can cause entire nations to go to war, at the cost of a great many more lives. Even in everyday life, when someone wrongs us, the situation can blow up and get out of control, destroying marriages, families, friendships, and even entire communities sometimes. It can even endanger your own life, if you respond back to the evil another person inflicts on you.
This verse is sometimes used to justify living in an abusive relationship, or tolerating abuse for the sake of the family. “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” Jesus understood that responding to violence with more violence, only causes it to escalate further. It’s like throwing gasoline on a fire. For those who live in an abusive home environment, or a domestic violence situation, Christ’s teaching is a good temporary means to help keep the violence to a minimum, but it is not meant to be a permanent coping mechanism. When it is safe to do so, the person who is being abused should separate themselves from the person who is abusing them, and seek counseling if that is possible. All human beings, including yourself, are made in the image and likeness of God and are worthy of respect.
There is a way to work out problems, even the problem of evil, if we react to it calmly and do not do anything that would cause the evil to escalate. Sometimes the lesser of two evils, is to not respond back to the evil acts that are done to us, and seek a better way to resolve the situation. Violence can become an unending cycle, until someone decides to change the situation with an act of peace.
Let us strive to be people of peace.
Click Here to read Pope Francis’s Invocation for Peace.
Daily Mass Readings:
Kings 21: 1-16 / Psalm 5 / Matthew 5: 38-42
