Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
February 18, 2007


When was the last time you performed an MRI?

I used to think that MRI’s were solely the realm of doctors and skilled technicians. Controlling massive machines with powerful magnets, these Magnetic Resonance Imagers – MRI’s - could unlock the secrets of the brain and the body, giving a clear picture as to what is inside. MRI’s probe what doctors used to not be able to find out until after they opened a patient up. Now, by use of this wonderful technology, they can peer inside a human body to find what lies within. It is an amazing science, and an amazing machine.

But early this week, I found out about another kind of MRI, one that also reveals what is inside a person. It is human resource lingo for the Most Respectful Interpretation. People who are good at this kind of MRI generally become good managers of people. When a person attacks your project in the workplace, instead of presuming that they are your enemy, an MRI begins a conversation to discover what is going on in that person’s life.

A woman got on a subway car on a quiet morning. At the next stop, a tired young man surrounded by two noisy kids got on. The kids proceeded to run up and down the entire length of car, creating more and more of a ruckus. The man was oblivious. “Young YUPPIE,” she thought. So busy working two jobs, he’s probably a terrible father, and doesn’t really care about his kids. Finally, after being run into for the third time, the woman said: “Sir, can you do something about your kids?” It seemed to snap him out of his fog, and he called them over. He apologized to the woman. “I’m sorry, I just left my wife in the hospital room where they told us she has cancer. I guess I am still in that hospital room…” Suddenly the woman’s perception of the whole situation shifted. He had given her an MRI – the Most Respectful Interpretation. When you can’t see what is going on in someone’s life, rather than judge them, do an MRI.

David, in the first reading, makes that choice. Saul, the first king of Israel, had grown jealous of David’s popularity. Dangerously jealous, so much so that he was hunting David to kill him. Today’s story picks up in the middle of that hunt. David has Saul delivered into his hands, but rather than view Saul as an enemy, he chooses to see him and react to him as God’s anointed. Instead of killing Saul, he takes a jug, to let Saul know he could have done so, but won’t. And you sense that he is trying to move Saul to a conversion. He gives Saul a chance to respond a different way. I am not your enemy. I am your friend, your brother. And you are God’s anointed. That is who you are. He knew how to give the Most Respectful Interpretation.

The sayings in today’s gospel are the most difficult commands that Jesus ever gives to anyone who would be his follower. “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you.” I have a long way to go on those. A long way to go.

But Jesus was not done. “Stop judging, and you will not be judged.” But it is so much more fun to jump to conclusions without the data. I wonder of all the hoopla about Anna Nicole Smith’s death centers around the opposite of an MRI – an MDI – the most disrespectful interpretation. Or how often in my dealings with a parent or a teacher or a family member, I jump to the worst possible conclusion and question motives and make up all matter of fanciful interpretations – which may or may not be true.

The vision that Jesus hold’s out for us, as difficult as it may be to achieve, is a world where the first response and the second and the third is always COMPASSION. Always love. Because Jesus sees it as the only way to stop the cycle of violence that has so plagued humankind. Only when we can see an enemy as someone to be loved will we stop demonizing them and stop the cycle of violence that goes on and on and on. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Do not judge. Forgive. Be merciful. That is what it means to be a disciple.

So, this week, do some MRI’s in the situations you find yourself in.
When you don’t know what is going on inside of the other, or even when you do, instead of judging them, find the Most Respectful Interpretation, and act from that space. Act in a way that turns enemies into friends.