You Know Who

Not mentioning our enemies by name

03/14/2022

Lk 6:36-38 Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Pope Francis, like all respectable religious leaders, continued to condemn the invasion in Ukraine during his Sunday blessing yesterday. I read an article in “The Guardian”, though, that made this curious observation. It said: “The pope has not used the word ‘Russia’ in his condemnation of the war since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24.” The article continued: “However, his choice of words, such as ‘armed aggression,’ and ‘no valid strategic reason,’ appeared to be aimed at contesting Moscow’s justifications for the invasion.” In other words, in a small but very noticeable way, the pope was practicing Jesus’ teaching to hate the sin but love the sinner by not mentioning names.

That genuine gesture of love by the pope reminded me of Archbishop Sartain’s gentle correction when I wrote my first book of homilies. He wrote the “Foreword” to the book, but first he read the whole book. He made a friendly suggestion in one homily where I mentioned a bishop in Germany who had a reputation for luxurious living. In my homily I had mentioned the bishop by name, but Archbishop Sartain recommended I might consider omitting using him as an example because I really did not know the circumstances of the bishop’s life and ministry.

He was right. I had hated the sin, but I had failed to love the sinner. In other words, when we mention someone by name while criticizing them, we equate the sin with the sinner, and we condemn both. It might seem like a small thing to do not, to mention someone's name, but it is really a very hard thing to do: to hate the sin but love the sinner, especially today while we watch the war in Ukraine.

In the gospel today, Jesus urges his disciples to exercise not only love but mercy. He teaches in Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” (his counterpart to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount), Jesus saying: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” I think Pope Francis and Archbishop Sartain were putting that teaching into practice by refraining from referring to people by name. But Jesus goes a step further in the last line of the gospel, where he adds: “For the measure with which you measure will in return out measured back to you.”

In other words, how would you like people to speak about your name, especially in public? We all naturally want everyone to use our name with respect and honor. Don’t drag my good name through the mud. And if they are going to criticize something we did wrong, they should understand and sympathize with all the extenuating circumstances that made us do it. Put simply, when someone utters our name, we hope they will love the sinner even while they hate the sin. Sometimes the best way to strike that delicate balance is not to mention someone by name, and focus only on their actions, which is what the pope did.

I am convinced that a person’s name touches somehow the mysterious depths of a person, and they are depths we will never fully understand. Thus we read in Jer. 17:9 (one of my favorite passages): “More torturous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?” The Jews acknowledged the hidden depths of God’s plans and purposes, the desires of his heart, when they refused to pronounce is divine name, “Yahweh.” It was the four-letter word, YHWH, the tetragrammaton. Instead, they represented it in writing with simple the four letters YHWH, and in speaking they substituted the word “Adonai” which means “Lord.” That is, do not pronounce the name of God because you really do not understand God.

Here is a rather mundane example from the popular novels called “Harry Potter.” Do you remember the person whose name was so powerful and awe-inspiring that no one ever uttered it? Rather, they whispered fearfully, “You Know Who,” or they said with dread: “He Who Must Not Be Named.” Even with a villain as wicked and cruel as Voldemort, his name was shown respect and deference. Even with him maybe J. K. Rowling was suggesting, like Pope Francis and Archbishop Sartain, we should show mercy, and love the sinner and hate the sin.

We love it when people remember our name. We pray that they will respect our name, even when we do sinful things. And we pray they will love us (the sinner) while they hate our sins. And we should extend the same courtesy to others. Why? “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!