Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, has long had a reputation for liberal-speak and theological confusion. For example, in a column he wrote for the National Catholic Reporter at the end of January 2023, Reese wrote “I just don’t believe in transubstantiation.” To be fair, the liberal Jesuit did maintain belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; but in his mind, the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation is wrong because he doesn’t believe in “prime matter, substantial forms and accidents that are part of Aristotelian metaphysics.”
In 2018, Fr. Reese argued that pro-life Catholics should embrace birth control as the “lesser of two evils” in reducing the number of abortions. In response, Cardinal Timothy Dolan expressed serious reservations, calling Reese’s proposal a “capitulation to the abortion culture, and a grave weakening of the powerful pro-life witness.”
But in a column in early March at the Reporter, the priest exhibited a new level of chutzpah – by apparently “correcting” the Son of God. “Actually,” Reese wrote, “Jesus is wrong.”
In his article, which focuses on the readings for Mass on February 19, Reese writes (his words, not mine):
Jesus continues his commentary by commenting on the commandment, “You shall love your neighbor but hate your enemy.” Actually, Jesus is wrong. There is no Old Testament injunction to hate your enemies. Leviticus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and makes no reference to enemies.
What Jesus is criticizing here is the common narrow definition of neighbor as only one’s friends or countrymen. This narrow interpretation is alive and well all over the world.
What Reese is trying to do is to demonstrate the sinfulness of racism, antisemitism, Christian nationalism, Islamophobia, homophobia, tribalism, sexism, bullying and partisanship. What he does, though, is set his understanding over that of Jesus himself.
To what was Jesus actually referring? Well, it was not, as Fr. Reese implied, the book of Leviticus. Jesus was not quoting the Old Testament nor the rabbinic tradition. Rather, he was commenting on the common beliefs of the time, drawn from the ancient Qumran Community Rule (also called the Manual of Discipline). Jesus’ challenge to his followers, as written in Matthew 5:43, is that they not follow the Community Rule.
Dr. Douglas Ward of The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies explains in his article “Who Taught ‘Hate Your Enemy’ and Why?”:
The Community Rule begins by saying that members of the community should be taught to seek God and to obey Moses and the prophets so that “they may all love the sons of light, each according to his lot in God’s design, and hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his guilt in God’s vengeance.”
…The sectarians arrived at their narrow interpretation of Lev 19:17-18 by comparing these verses with Nahum 1:2, which states that “the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.” While it is wrong to hate or practice revenge against a brother, they reasoned, hatred against an enemy is endorsed by God’s example, which they were called to follow (Lev 19:2).
Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM, Cap., a prominent theologian and a former member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, said that Fr. Reese had it wrong when he claimed that Jesus was referencing the Scriptures. “He’s not referring to the Scriptures,” Fr. Weinandy explained, “…but to the common opinion of the day. Fr. Reese is mis-referencing Jesus. I think Tom Reese, it would seem to be, is referring not to a passage in Scripture, but to what was common belief among Romans and pagans.”
With regard to Reese’s earlier misstatement concerning the mystery of Transubstantiation, Fr. Weinandy again disagreed. “The Church,” Weinandy said, “is not dealing necessarily with Aristotelian metaphysics. You don’t have to be an Aristotelian to talk this way! Everybody believes that everything is ‘something’ – everything possesses a certain kind of ‘whatness.’ Whenever we talk about substances, we’re talking about ‘whatness.’ So a chair has ‘chair whatness’; a bird has the ‘whatness’ of being a bird.
“So Jesus picks up a piece of bread, but then he says, ‘This is My Body.’ So the ‘whatness’ of the bread has now changed into the ‘whatness’ of his body. The same is true when Jesus picks up the chalice filled with wine. What it is now is the blood that Jesus has poured out. When we talk about Transubstantiation, we’re talking about ‘whatness’; what it is now is the Body and Blood of Jesus. But this has nothing to do with Aristotelian metaphysics.”
Dr. Matthew Ramage, Professor of Theology at Benedictine College and editor and author several books, including Jesus, Interpreted: Benedict XVI, Bart Ehrman, and the Historical Truth of the Gospels (CUA, 2017), was perplexed by Fr. Reese’s statement. “I’m not quite sure why he is saying Jesus is wrong,” Ramage says. “Does he really think that, or is it to rhetorical effect? Perhaps, since he proceeds to try to say that Jesus was right in some way. But it’s all rather confused, admittedly.”
Dr. Ramage offered these thoughts on Reese’s confusing statement:
When Jesus says “You have heard that it was said,” this does not necessitate that the saying in question was explicitly from the lips of God. What we have here is a quotation that combines Leviticus 19:18 with a contemporary Jewish “interpretation” appended to it that does not proceed directly from the Old Testament. Certainly, it would not have been difficult for Jews at the time to piece together various Old Testament sayings and draw the conclusion that God wants us to hate our enemies (see Psalm 139:21-22, for example). Indeed, the community of Qumran on the Dead Sea explicitly taught hatred of enemies (read: Gentiles).
However, Jesus’ precise point here is that the righteousness of the old law (including misplaced, overzealous interpretations of it) is no longer sufficient. While in his divine pedagogy God allowed hardness of heart in times past, Christ proclaims that now is the time to learn complete purity of heart so as to love God and become perfect even as our heavenly father is perfect (Matthew 5:48) – which requires us to love even our enemies, especially Gentiles.
At the conclusion of his most recent essay, Fr. Reese writes, “It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. Anyone who thinks it is, is simply not listening to him.” Or, in some cases, even believing what he says is correct.
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