In today's Gospel, Luke 6: 36-38, Jesus says to us: "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 e pour into your lap. for the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
"Just as your Father is merciful!" God models mercy and reveals his merciful self in Jesus! Jesus challenges the sinner but does not condemn. In fact, in his own words, Jesus tells us that he came, not to condemn, but to save us, showing us how to love others as ourselves, how to be compassionate as God is compassionate, how, in short, to forgive ourselves and others.
Jesus reveals that His Father, and He himself, is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and quick to forgive. He does so on the cross when the good thief turns to him and says: "Remember me in your kingdom" and Jesus replies: This very day you will be with me in my kingdom. When a woman caught in adultery is dragged before him and her accusers are ready to stone her according to the law of the nation of Israel, Jesus admonishes them, asking: Which of you is without sin, cast the first stone. No one stoned her! When a deaf man was brought to him for healing, and Jesus was asked "who sinned, the person or his parents", Jesus states clearly that no one sinned. He indicated that misfortunes are not the result of our sinful behaviors. Jesus shows mercy and heals the deaf person.
God is about mercy, wholeness, and healing. He takes no pleasure in people suffering in any way. That is not God's thinking but ours!
What attitudes do I need to change within myself? Am I quick to condemn, to judge, to find fault with another when misfortunes occur, when illness same to take possession of another, of myself? How caring am I? How loving am I? How forgiving am I? Does compassion direct my thoughts?
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