38 You have learned: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you not to strike back at the one who is evil. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other. 40 And to him who wants to take you to court to seize your underwear, give him your coat also. 41 And if anyone wants to force you to walk a mile, walk two miles with him. 42 To him who asks, give; to him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn your back.

43 You have been taught, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'44 But I say to you, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who wrong you.'45 In this way you can become sons of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun shine on both the wicked and the good, and gives rain to both the just and the unjust. 46 In fact, if you love only those who love you, what makes you different? Don't disreputable people like tax collectors also do the same thing? 47 And if you greet only your relatives, what is so special about that? Don't the pagans do the same thing? 48 Therefore, learn to become complete beings as your heavenly Father is a complete being.

We are in Ukraine¹, in the city of Izioum, in the summer of 2022, which has just fallen to the Russians after several months of fighting. Serhii Provilov and Yuri Slauta, cousins, who had remained holed up during the fighting, hope to return to a quasi-normal life when the Russian soldiers move in. But one evening, at the beginning of August, soldiers came out of an armored truck parked in front of Serhii's house. Two soldiers dragged him into the backyard, while the others looted his house. Then they beat him, asking where his comrades and ammunition are. After threatening him with a rifle pointed at his forehead, they hit him in the back with a machine gun, breaking his ribs, before dragging him to the tank. Then they went to Yuri's house and forced him into the armored car to go to the Izioum police station, which had been converted into a detention center and torture room.

Days of hell await the two men. Yuri was put in a cell in total darkness with a floor covered with excrement. The smell is so unbearable that he has to cover himself with a torn pillow. He was then hooded and taken to a shooting range where he was tied to the chain hanging in the middle of the room and his ribs were broken by hitting him in the back for almost two hours. Afterwards, he is transferred to the second basement, in a cell even more gloomy than the first one. In the darkness of his cell, days merge with nights, and there is no bed, no soap, no toilet paper. Yuri eventually loses his mind, to the point of being close to death, and it is then that he is transferred to the hospital. Meanwhile, Serhii is in the first basement, not much better treated. It was in September 2022, after the city was taken over by the Ukrainians, that their story became known.

It is in this context, where we are confronted with the mystery of evil, that I propose to read today's gospel. This passage from Matthew is part of the Sermon on the Mount, presented as the charter of the Christian life, where Jesus asks his audience to overcome the attitude of the pious Jews. Our story presents two attitudes that need to be overcome, first the attitude of revenge (an eye for an eye) to be replaced by the attitude of not returning evil for evil, and then the attitude of hating one's enemies to be replaced by the attitude of loving them and praying for them. Let's look first at the first overcoming. We can easily agree that taking revenge only amplifies the cycle of evil and solves nothing. As the saying goes: to hate someone is to drink a poison and hope that the other person dies. But it remains that the three examples given in the first overtaking are problematic: if they slap you on the right cheek, give them the other; if they want to take your basic clothes, give them everything else; if they want to force you to do something, do it twice. This is a very oriental exaggeration, as when we say that a person weighs a ton, and it would be ridiculous to take the words literally. Otherwise it would be like a parent saying to an uncle, "You want to rape my daughter? Take also my other daughter". Or it would be like saying to Vladimir Putin, "You want Ukraine? Take the Baltic States and Moldova too". It is obvious that this is not what is being asked of us. Probably, what is being proposed could be summarized as follows: "Be careful not to play the same game as the one who wants to harm you".

For the second overcoming, Matthew presents us with three justifications: God himself bestows his blessings on the good as well as the wicked without distinction; even people of ill repute are able to love their friends; even pagans are able to greet those who greet them. Then comes the conclusion: "You shall be complete as your Father in heaven". Here the Greek word, which is often translated as "perfect", refers to a being that has reached the peak of its evolution, like a flower that is open and blooming, like a tree that has reached full maturity. Thus, we are invited to reach the same maturity as God.

Having said all this, what is left for us to do in order to face the mystery of evil, to react to those who harm us and hurt us deeply? Of course, we must not play the same game as the one who do evil. Of course, our actions must be better than those of ill repute or pagans. But what else. We have only negative answers, what we should not do.

The first and most fundamental thing is to be aware of how much it hurts when we are wronged. Otherwise, anger takes hold of us and hate finds a breeding ground. I only have to think of someone whose house has been broken into, who has had his or her privacy violated. It hurts, very much so, and we have to accept that it hurts. A second thing that helps me personally is to think about what a loving mother would do if her rebellious son stole and sold to a junk shop her family jewels that went back to his great-grandmother? Pretend that nothing happened? Certainly not? Cut all ties with her son? No, not at all. Only mother's love will patiently find a way into her son's heart. What is that path? Unfortunately, there is no recipe. Because fundamentally, the gospel gives no recipe, but only a direction to find the solution.

The invasion of Ukraine questions us all. The mother of a dead Ukrainian said: "I will never forgive, I will never forget". But the most pressing question is: what attitude should we have in the face of this unprovoked invasion? For now, the answer lies in guns and the call for tanks. What would Gandhi have said? What would Jesus have said? Today, through Matthew, he tells us: "Be careful not to get into the same game as those who want to harm you", and "pray for those who harm you"; but beware, praying has as its ultimate goal oneself, and therefore means here: praying to obtain the necessary light to interact properly with those who harm us. There is no recipe, but a direction. But by following this direction, we will be assured of becoming complete and mature beings, in the image of God, and will contribute to a more mature world.

 

-André Gilbert, Gatineau, January 2023

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¹ According to the story published in La Presse (Montreal, Canada) by Isabelle Hachey, on January 2023. For the full story (French) : Tortured by the Russians