Last night a fragile agreement was signed by the President and Opposition leaders in Ukraine. It followed three month-long street protests that had started out as peaceful demonstrations but had escalated to violence over time, leading to the bloodshed of recent days. The outcome of the negotiations was threatened, as neither side trusted their opponents and neither side was ready to make concessions, fearing to be seen as losers.
Who wants to be a loser? Which one of you here wants to be a loser? Nobody? Yes, we all want to be winners, or to join the winning side, or – at least – to remain undefeated. Winning is the driving force of many arguments, conflicts and clashes. Unresolved arguments develop into conflicts that become increasingly heated with every blow and counterstrike. Sometimes the two opposing sides don’t even remember what the initial cause was, and when it started. For the people involved, the end justifies the means: dirty tricks, lies, blackmail, and even violence are perceived as justifiable in order to win.
The Old Testament seems to give reasons for such an attitude. The triumphant march of the People of Israel conquering Canaan under the command of Joshua is littered with descriptions of whole local tribes being mercilessly wiped out. Even if those stories were massively overblown propaganda, they were forming the attitude that echoes in the Law given by Moses: eye for eye, life for life – no room for mercy. The win must be total, the defeat must utterly humiliate and in fact dehumanise the losers.
The teaching of Jesus in today’s gospel seems to be completely at odds with a) common sense, b) the Mosaic Law and c) counterintuitive. His calls to offer no resistance to wicked men and to love our enemies seem bizarre and unworkable, making those who follow them vulnerable and doomed to defeat. These calls are the most challenging in the moral teaching of Jesus, and probably the most often sidelined in practising our faith. Recently I was genuinely shocked when a colleague of mine, an ordained priest, wished hell and meeting with Lucifer upon a politician who died last year; it was hardly a Christian approach from someone who was a spokesman for God and setting an example to follow.
What Jesus teaches in today’s gospel is perceived as a proposition for losers. Or is it? Please, recall your most recent brawl. Be honest and think: was that an exchange of logical arguments? Perhaps it was, at the very beginning. But when the argument heated up it became an exchange of blows, hurting and emotionally bleeding the other side. It wasn’t about convincing the other side any more, but about dominance and humiliation. There was enough room for one winner only. But what remained when the emotions had eventually subsided? Deep wounds, weakened or even shattered relationships, distaste. Jesus today calls us to break from that fatal spiral of hatred and revenge because it leads nowhere. He doesn’t reject discussion and exchange of arguments in order to convince his audience and to win their acceptance. But he also is ready to accept that many can reject him. He practises what he preaches; nailed to the cross and dying in torment, he prays for his persecutors. He is the ultimate loser, worshipped by billions of people worldwide. Not a bad end for a loser. Don’t be afraid to be one in order to be an eventual victor. It doesn’t matter about losing a battle when the war is already won.