Posted by The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Emil Lim SVD – Catholic Trade Manila
Friday 20th Week in Ordinary Time
Photo: A mother brings her children to an open air mass with the Bishop of Butembo-Beni, North Kivu, Congo
Intellectual pride is the overconfidence of one who thinks that he/she is superiorly knowledgeable than others; therefore, he/she is always right, and the others are often wrong. Do you know someone like that? Look at the comments on Facebook and other social media, and you will find many examples of people pretending to be experts and intellectually superior over the rest of humanity.
That’s the attitude of the Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees when they maliciously tested Jesus with trick questions so they could accuse, charge, and arrest him. So far, their pride failed against Jesus’s wisdom. The Pharisees made the final attempt at asking the ultimate question about the greatest commandment.
In response, Jesus gave us an important lesson about God, the whole of scriptures, and religion. Caritas! And as profound as his teaching words are, the example he set by his attitude should inspire us. He treated his enemies with love.
Jesus knew his accusers’ malicious intention, yet he sincerely wanted to teach them, hoping that they would open their hearts to the truth and allow themselves to be changed by the tenderness of love rather than by the judgment of the law. Jesus returned love for malice. That is how to love our neighbor even if they present themselves as our enemy. We still wish them good rather than evil.
Jesus answered not to overcome, defeat, or humiliate those who came to destroy him but to win them over. It is with love that Jesus dialogued with the Samaritan woman by the well, the rich young man who walked away from him, the crowd who turned their back on him, and finally those who crucified him.
It is challenging enough to love even those who are good to us, but true Christian love is absolute and inclusive even to those who are not good to us.
