An upside-down world

This passage from the Gospel of Luke, which follows and extends the message of The Beatitudes, always evokes a great deal of emotion. It is best to read it little by little, taking plenty of time, time to really listen, and the time to allow questions to come to the surface.

Firstly, there is an historic element to this text. Bible experts are almost unanimous in thinking that Jesus of Nazareth actually spoke these words, although perhaps not all on the same day or in the same place.

But Luke, like Mathew, gives an almost “copy-paste” presentation of Jesus’ utterances. Reading and listening to these words, it is as if we could reach out and touch him. Despite the centuries that separate us, an incredible proximity is created in this passage.

There is another reason that this passage from Luke is deeply moving.

Along with The Beatitudes, the text gives us access to the very kernel of Jesus’ way of thinking, the essence of his faith in the God he called Father (Abba). Reading these words today, it seems as if they are being spoken to us directly, going straight to the fundamental message.

Let us first think about what is not said here.

There is no allusion to religion or how it should be practiced. And apparently Jesus pronounced these words not inside a synagogue, but outside, among ordinary people. He did not institute a new religion and did not ordain any new priests.

What Jesus says here is startling in that it completely overturns our way of thinking and acting in the world, everything is suddenly reversed: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”

Everything is inverted, and we’re left wondering if Jesus has gone mad, as some of his disciples, his brothers, suspected at one moment or another.

Jesus of Nazareth instates a radical paradigm shift. Although what he says has clear impact in the political, social, and even cultural spheres, first and foremost its implications are felt in the relationship between individuals. This relationship is one of equality with the other.

It acknowledges alterity and highlights our individual right to difference.

It is a relationship that implies greater recognition of the subjectivity that feeds our desire and curiosity, and which makes each person a unique being in the world.

The other is another “self” who should be treated as we would be treated. The rule being preached here is one of hospitality to strangers.

But what we have to understand is Jesus’ vision, one in which each individual finds him or herself as naked as Adam and Eve, completely disarmed and vulnerable before the “other”, but at the same time, in a remarkable place of freedom.

This freedom can reveal real life, a life of love, of giving oneself to the other, giving which allows us to fully realize the other’s truth and reality.

Where does it come from? In the Old Testament, there are passages in which God is compared to a father. But men never called God “Abba.”

What defies our human comprehension is that Jesus of Nazareth conceived of God the “Father” as the “father” of all men and women without exception.

All distinctions and barriers are abolished. We are only “men” or “woman” in as far as we consider ourselves “brothers” and “sisters” of all. And God is only “God” if he is the father of all.

What Jesus does here is open up a new way of conceiving of humankind and God. It is a liberation.

This is the Good News he announces to the world in a vision of “salvation” and desire to create a fraternal community. His words, spoken with the Spirit of continual renewal, carry a message of humankind’s universality, beyond religious difference.

Many societies are currently experiencing massive upheavals; sociologists are describing the deep social ruptures brought about by waves of technological revolution.

More than ever, the Church and our collective creativity have a crucial part to play in forming the right response, as we find ourselves in the heart of modernity.