A Lenten Word - Recompense

Homily for Saturday of the First Week in Lent

“For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?”

The Gospel text that we proclaim today comes from the discourse that is usually called “The Sermon on the Mount.” This discourse focuses its attention on the commandments – the statutes and decrees of which Moses speaks in the first reading.

Matthew makes the point that obeying the commandments does not merit a reward. We will not be compensated for our obedience. Moses, on the other hand, does speak of a compensation for the obedience demanded of the children of Israel. If they obey, they will become a people peculiarly God’s own. This notion of reward or recompense for our obedience gives rise to the theology of retribution; namely, that God will do good for those who are good and will repay the evil with evil.

When Jesus appears on the scene, this kind of thinking is completely rejected. If God does good for those who are good, why would Jesus – the best human person there ever has been – be called upon to suffer the ignominious death of crucifixion. Some may respond to this statement by saying that God does reward Jesus by raising him from the dead. Yet it makes no sense to apply this to ourselves. We love God and obey God’s commandments not out of a sense of duty or in search of a recompense, for God has already given us the greatest gift we could ever receive. God has shared life with us; that life is grace. The very word “grace” speaks of a free gift.

Loving our enemies does not earn us a life that God has shared with us. Merit has no place in our theological expression of our relationship with God.