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"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.
"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For 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? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
- Luke 6:27-38
Yesterday, we read first that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger, woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets."
"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise." My study bible says that this "Golden Rule" is a minimum of Christian virtue, as it places man's desire for goodness ("the natural law of self-love" - Cyril of Alexandria) as a basic standard of how to treat others. It is but the first step on the path to the perfection of virtue. It notes that this perfection is found in verse 36 ("Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful"), where God's mercy, rather than man's desire, is the standard.
"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For 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? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful." We've already noted, as my study bible says, that the "perfection" of Jesus is to practice the type of mercy that God practices. But here I think we have to also step back and understand that He's saying that our own behavior is not merely dependent upon what we find in the world. We are not called to thoughtlessly reciprocate the actions of others. In this way, we also have a Mediator, One to whom we turn to ask for guidance on our own standards of behavior, in a way that is independent of the world, "out of the box," so to speak. We must also remember the phrase in the Lord's Prayer (as it is taught in both the Sermon on the Mount and later on in Luke's Gospel), that we ask to be forgiven "sins," as we forgive "debtors" (as the Greek reads in Luke's version), something intended not absolutely literally but as a metaphor for any form of injury, something we perceive as "taken away" from us and is then "owed."
"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." My study bible tells us that "mercy precludes human judgment. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over are descriptions of how an honest and generous merchant would measure bulk goods. Flour pressed down, for example, would yield a more generous amount than flour fluffed up. The blessings God intends to put into our hearts are more generous than we can possibly contain, yet this also depends on the spirit in which we ourselves give and forgive."
Jesus describes a kind of mercy here that He wants us to understand is to be our routine, our own law for living. It is like a law of grace, that must guide the way we see our lives, our conduct -- how we want to participate in life. As such this is a life mediated by His guidance and leadership. In this sense, as He is speaking to His disciples, we all become disciples. We all wish to live in this Kingdom and to bear it with us into the world. Now, it seems to me of great importance that we also understand that Jesus will teach us not to cast our pearls before swine. We're not supposed to be blind to the realities of the world, and we're not left without discernment either. We also have a responsibility for those things. But they also go back to the Source, to Christ. It is the laws of the Kingdom we're to bear in the world, and discernment is also of Christ as is this basic law of grace through which we are to conduct ourselves. And so, it becomes up to us to learn (as "learners" or disciples) just what that mercy and grace really mean, how to practice the love of this kingdom. That is a lifetime learning curve. But it is a lifetime of learning to walk a closer walk with God, of being a good disciple and citizen of this kingdom. What is most essential is the understanding that we are not judges, but we are responsible for our own discernment. By practicing mercy and grace we are witnessing to something, to the love and grace that we experience from God. Note that this isn't without its guidance and discipline -- far from it. In our very human way of thinking, we're given to think sometimes that pure mercy is just a way of smoothing over or ignoring sin. It's not. It's a way of approaching the world with God's love, a sense in which we determine we are going to be members of a Kingdom whose light we shine into the world. That is where the difference between judgment and discernment comes in. That is where we turn in prayer to face great injustices or harsh treatment. Our priority is God's wisdom, God's love. It is the great leavening, the bottom denominator of how we wish to learn to live our lives. Love wants what's best for everyone, and that doesn't always mean indulgence. One thing is certain, the more we practice love, the more we will learn love from God. Are we ready for this journey? It starts every moment.
