In this morning’s Gospel reading, our instructions are pretty clear.
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
But what is mercy? Patience? Kindness? Forgiveness? Compassion? Can I be full of mercy and not really like somebody? Can I have patience, but not with everyone? About this kindness thing, just how kind are we talking?
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.”
Okay, this is getting trickier. I am going to need to think more about this. I am an expert judge when it comes to other people.
“Forgive and you will be forgiven.”
Not a problem. My wife is always saying that she is impressed with my capacity to forgive. I do not do a great job of forgetting, however, so I could work on that. A friend told me recently that real forgiveness is choosing to love. It is remembering that the reason you first loved someone is greater than your righteous anger.
“Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap.”
This is good news. I like when the Gospels talk about gifts. I like getting gifts. I like giving gifts. I think I am a pretty generous person. It’s nice to know that some of that generosity might be coming back my way…though I guess that is not really the point, is it?
“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
If this means, “what goes around comes around,” I might be in serious trouble.
Perhaps this week I will try very hard not to judge, to stop condemning (even people who might deserve it….there I go again) and to give more generously, forgive more easily, and come to understand more completely what it means to be merciful.
(sigh)
Lent is hard.
~pjd