Fr. Michael Williams

What Jesus says to us today is extremely challenging for each one of us. It’s always worth remembering that what Jesus preached He also practiced. There is no separation between His words and His actions. Can we say the same? So when Jesus says: ‘If anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well’, He will practice it. He does it when He is beaten by the Roman soldiers on the first Good Friday, which we will hear on Passion Sunday in April. St Matthew writes: ‘they spat on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head with it’. As the prophet Isaiah will tell us on Good Friday: ‘Harshly dealt with He bore it humbly, He never opened His mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter house’.

Jesus never uses violence against His oppressors, He only prayed for His persecutors, and so followed His own injunction: ‘Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you’. As a Jewish man- according to local custom- Jesus was supposed to hate the Roman soldiers with a passion as they were pagans occupying Israel. Yet, Jesus looks beyond the national differences and sees the Romans as sons of our Father in Heaven.

Our Lord’s teachings today do not mean that Jesus is weak and wavering. On the contrary it shows His strength. Jesus did not compromise the Truth that He taught, and that He is, rather He just refuses to resort to violence when offering His Truth. And one of His fundamental truths is that all people are children of the one Father in Heaven. And are made in the image and likeness of God, which gives all men and women a supreme dignity, whatever their nationality or culture.

In this often harsh and cruel world, we too are called to be lambs like Christ; lambs who do not resort to violence with words or actions. We could never be like lambs without the Lord’s help; we need His grace to help us become more like Him; we receive that grace especially in the Sacraments.

To practice the teachings we have received from Our Lord is never going to be easy. But we know it is possible from the lives of the Saints and from the lives of Christians today. Think of Gordon Wilson whose daughter was murdered at Enniskillen. A few hours after the bombing, when interviewed by the BBC, Mr. Wilson forgave those who had killed his daughter. He said that he would pray for them. He also begged that no-one took revenge for her death. It was a monumental move forward for peace in Ireland.

We pray for the grace to put Our Lord’s teachings into effect, and so help transform the world in which we live.