Be merciful just as your Father is merciful

Luke 6: 27-38

“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit [is] that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as [also] 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.”

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever tried to consciously love an enemy? If so, how did things turn out?
2. Where do you struggle with the teaching Jesus gives in this gospel passage and how are you opening to transformation in these parts of your life?
3. How is what Jesus tells us in this gospel on your mind and in your responses as you move through your day? Are these not the A-B-C’s, of following Jesus?
4. The rewards God gives us are often not what we would expect or even think to ask for. When have you experienced a “spiritual reward” from loving others without expectation? Tell the story.

Biblical Context

Dr. Margaret Nutting Ralph PHD
Luke 6:27-38

Today we continue the sermon begun in last Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus has come down from the mountain (this sermon is often called the sermon on the plain), and has been speaking to the newly appointed Twelve, a large group of disciples, and a crowd who are probably discerning whether or not to become disciples.

Notice that Jesus begins, “To you who hear I say ” Jesus isn’t referring just to one’s ability to hear sound, but to one’s ability to comprehend, to take something to heart, and to act upon it. People will have to listen very carefully to Jesus to understand what he is saying because, on the surface, Jesus’ advice doesn’t seem to be good advice at all.

Jesus tells the crowd, “… love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” It is extremely hard not to feel resistant to this teaching because it seems to go against human nature. Our enemies are the last people on earth we want to love. If a person strikes us, we want to hit that person back, not offer the other cheek. If a person takes our coat we want to get it back, not offer him our sweater as well. If people ask us for something, we think about whether or not they deserve to have it. We wouldn’t want some lazy person to have a free handout. If someone takes what is ours without asking, the last thing we are going to do is let that person keep what has been stolen. Jesus’ advice seems way off the mark. Don’t we have a right, maybe even a duty, to protect ourselves and our property?

Jesus seems to understand that the crowd is feeling resistant. Jesus points out that it isn’t at all difficult to act lovingly toward another if we expect some benefit to ourselves. If, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we love only those who love us, and we lend only to those who can we love only those who love us, and we lend only to those who can pay us back, we are not distinguishing ourselves from sinners. There is no particular virtue in acting generously only for the sake of being repaid.

Then Jesus returns to his original instruction: “… love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High” If we love our enemies we will receive a reward after all. However, this reward will be a spiritual, not a material reward: we will become children of the Most High.

Why is becoming God’s children the fruit of loving one’s enemies? Because when we love our enemies, we are acting like our heavenly Father acts, who is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” We are to give others an experience of God’s love by the way we treat them. We are to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus then teaches his disciples that the way we treat others is the way we ourselves will be treated: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” If we do not hear and follow Jesus’ instructions, instead of entering a new and deeper relationship with God we will experience what it is like to be treated as we treat others, in a judgmental and unforgiving manner.

Now, after originally telling the disciples not to act with the hope of reward, Jesus tells them that if they love their enemies their reward will be great. “Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.” Those who become Jesus’ disciples, who hear and follow his instructions, will be all the more open to receive God’s bountiful love, love that God pours out even on our enemies.

Living Large

Reflection
Fr. Michael K. Marsh

Are you teaching your kids the values in today’s gospel or are you teaching values of power, violence, winning, and just deserts? Do your role models live these values or something else? Does today’s gospel represent not just our beliefs but our practices? Are you and I doing what Jesus says? If today’s gospel is what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, how’s that going for you?

I like what Jesus says. It’s beautiful and inspiring. It’s how I want to live and the way I want our world to be. But what do you and I do when we meet someone unlovable, hurts us through an unforgivable act, or is deserving of our judgment and condemnation? It’s often not this gospel.

I wonder if this gospel even makes sense in today’s world of enemies, haters, cursers, and abusers. I’m not saying we don’t need today’s gospel, we need it more than ever. But, is it possible to live like that? Here’s why I ask that question.

Have you ever ended a relationship, or refused to see or speak with someone, because he or she betrayed your confidence, spoke critically of your child or spouse, or didn’t do what you thought should be done? From whom are you withholding forgiveness these days? When have you condemned or made a judgment about someone else’s life and then enjoyed sharing the dirt with another? In what ways have you hit back with thoughts, words, or fists? Have you ever wanted to get even and hurt someone because they hurt you or someone you love?

I don’t think Jesus intends his words to be a “how to” lesson. He’s not telling us how to love, reconcile, forgive, be merciful, or offer generosity. That’s ours to figure out, not his. His words are intended “to stir thought, trouble sleep, and provide some wider perspective” (Hollis, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, 15). He’s not telling us what to see, he’s teaching us how to see. He’s not giving us the answers, he’s inviting us to ask better questions.

In each of our lives, there are contradictions between who we say we are and who we show ourselves to be, between our beliefs and our actions, and between our life in Christ and our life in the world. How are you holding that tension and which side is winning? What parts of today’s gospel conflict with and challenge your politics, your words and actions, the messages with which you grew up, and the values that direct and drive your life?

We often think of faith as being about what we believe, but what about our behavior? What if faith is about how we live? What if it’s about doing the gospel? What if our behavior is an indicator of what we believe and who or what matters to us?

Look at your actions and listen to your words in light of today’s gospel. Where is there alignment and where is there misalignment? What consequences are your words and actions having on others? Is what you say and do congruent with today’s gospel? What behaviors do you need to change or stop for the well-being of another or yourself? How might you better embody and align yourself with Jesus’s words today? Do you want to?

Every day you and I make one of two choices. We either choose to be large or we choose to be small. And what we choose affects others. If we choose to be small, we will keep score, act with violence, seek retribution, and make our relationships conditioned on who the other is and what he or she does.

If we choose to be large it will be in recognition that something other than security, protection, power, reciprocity, and balancing the books is seeking our attention and animating our lives. It will call us to be less fearful, less suspicious, less anxious, and less needy. It changes our attitudes toward others. It creates space for others.

One of the things I know is that the pain of the world is great. Everyone has a story of pain hidden behind the life she or he shows to the world. I can never really know what is going on in the life of another. Maybe that’s why Jesus tells us not to judge or condemn but to be forgiving. Maybe that’s why Jesus tells us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us. Maybe that’s why we are not to return violence for violence. Because we don’t know the other’s story.

You and I may not be able to diminish or take away the pain of the world but neither do we have to add to it. That’s the bottom line for me in today’s gospel.

Chances are there is someone in each of our lives who is hanging on by a thread; a family member, a friend, a colleague, a stranger, someone who is a fixture in our life, or someone who is just passing through. Sometimes we know they are hanging on by a thread, other times we don’t. They need love, mercy and forgiveness, prayer, a blessing, compassion, generosity, the benefit of the doubt, an open heart, and open hands. We all know what that’s like, we’ve been there too.

Let’s not be the scissors that cut their thread.

Selections from Breaking Open the Lectionary: Lectionary Readings in Their Biblical Context for RCIA, Faith Sharing Groups, and Lectors—Cycle C, by Margaret Nutting Ralph, Copyright © 2006 by Margaret Nutting Ralph. Paulist Press, Inc., New York/Mahwah, NJ. Reprinted by permission of Paulist Press, Inc. www.paulistpress.com.

Reflection excerpt from, Interrupting the Silence. Fr Michael K. Marsh

www.interruptingthesilence.com