REFLECTION FOR THE 24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C
Throughout sacred scripture, God’s unilateral mercy and compassion are on display for us. The Sodom and Gomorrah stories are few and far between. From the moment that God cut a covenant with Abram, God reaching out to Israel through the prophets, to the Incarnation of Jesus, God’s relationship with humanity is less about fire and brimstone, and abundantly more about God’s love, mercy, and compassion. We hear so often that God loved humanity so much that God’s only Son was sent to redeem us. The Lord’s Prayer is all about God’s unlimited love and compassion.
The only ceiling that God’s mercy and compassion has for us is determined by us. Jesus tells us that the love and mercy we give to others will be the standard by which God’s love and mercy will be given us. This is very important. In the judgment of the nations (Mt 25:31-44), Jesus graphically describes what eternity will be like for those whose love, mercy, and compassion is like that of Christ’s and whose love, mercy, and compassion is contrary to that of Christ’s.
Our
starting point is that of the apostle Paul in his 1st letter to
Timothy. He writes, “Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully
treated,
so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all
his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for
everlasting life. (1 Tim 1:15b-16)
If we are to receive the fulness of God’s love, mercy, and compassion, we must not be blind to our own sinfulness. We, like Paul, must acknowledge it and own it. One of the greatest gifts of married life with my bride, Ruthie, is her ability to affirm me for being loving and to address me at those times when I am unloving. She keeps me honest and grounded in my humanity.
There will always be those for whom we have absolutely no sympathy, much less want to extend our love, mercy and compassion. Oh, how much we may want God’s wrath blaze and consume them, as described in the first reading. Think of how the early Christian community regarded Paul who was implicated in the murder of the deacon, Stephen, and countless other Christians. Do you not think they might have harbored feelings of resentment and even hatred toward Paul? Yet, God called them to forgive Paul, and he, in turn, became a mighty champion of the Christian faith.
I am no different than anyone. There are those toward whom I feel great resentment for wrongs committed against me. Yet, in spite of all this, I, as a disciple of Jesus, have to acknowledge that Jesus loves them as much as Jesus loves me. They might be the lost sheep after whom Jesus leaves his flock to recover, and over whose repentance all the angels will rejoice.
It may irk me that as much as they might repulse me, and I might generate enough ill will that I would wish them to account for their sins in eternal darkness, Jesus thinks otherwise. Am I as able as Jesus to forgive all the harm they may have caused me? I don’t know. I hope so, for it is what Jesus is calling me to do (though I may vomit a little in my mouth as I am doing so … alas, I am still human).
The scriptures make it clear to us that if we are ever to heal from the injustices and harm others have caused us, that healing can come only by forgiveness. Those who have witnessed the execution of those who murdered a love one will attest that the satisfaction the death of the murderer provided is at best temporary and heals nothing. In the end, vengeance only consumes our lives and makes us bitter. True healing is only found by walking a path of forgiveness. Jesus commands us to love one another and pray for those who persecute us. To love as Jesus loved requires us also to forgive one another as Jesus forgives us.
