God's abundant patience, goodness, and toleration

The first reading of today’s Scriptures begins with “…no matter who you are, if you pass judgment you have no excuse.  In judging others you condemn yourself, since you behave no differently from those you judge. We know that God condemns that sort of behavior impartially: and when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing exactly the same, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or are you abusing his abundant goodness, patience and toleration, not realizing that this goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2: 1-4)?  I encourage each of us to reread that passage inserting our names, for example, for me it would read: “…no matter who you are, Dorothy Ann, if you pass judgment you have no excuse. In judging others you condemn yourself, since you behave no differently from those you judge.” In another part of the Scripture, I am reminded that by judging the law I am not  a doer of the law but its judge; and when I stand in judgment over others,  I am acting against the law. Those are powerful admonitions and is why Jesus confronted the Pharisees and scholars of the law (and the Pharisees and scholar in me) in today’s Gospel. The beauty is that we have a God who understands human nature—not excusing us but forgiving us, being patient with us, reconciling us and giving us the grace, over and over again,  to put on the person of Christ, to die to sin and rise with Christ to holiness and new life. Christ does not give up on us and never will stop working to bring about our redemption from fallen human nature.