Gospel Reflection For The 26th day of February in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Luke 6:36-38
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 37 Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. 38 Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.
Once more, our Lord turns the Torah Law as understood by the religious Jews of His time on its head. The Law was full of condemnation and penalties. Those who violated even seemingly minor points were considered unclean and cut off from Temple worship. Sacrifices and ritual were necessary for them to be forgiven, cleansed and have access to God. Worse still, serious offenses against the Law required harsh punishment and even death. Such was the case when the religious officials brought the woman accused of adultery before Him and demanded He decide if the Law of Moses should be carried out and she be executed. Our Lord knew their trap though… they cared nothing for the woman or for justice. Israel, at that time, was under Roman rule and the woman could not lawfully be executed under Jewish Law. If Jesus said she should be stoned to death, He would violate Roman law. If He did not, He would violate Torah Law.
Our Lord answers that if anyone present was without sin, he should cast the first stone. Meaningfully, the only man present without sin was Jesus. After the others left, knowing that their own sins were guilty of punishment under the Law, Jesus shows mercy. Although He had full right as author of the Law, being without sin and God incarnate, He did not condemn her. He forgave her and told her to sin no more. The Law had no mercy. The Law had only condemnation and punishment. But, Jesus not only desires mercy but is mercy itself. Jesus is also justice, itself. All sin and all are deserving of punishment. Yet, Jesus came in human form and took on the ultimate penalty for all of our sins and each of our sins, individually. He was tortured, killed and even descended to hell. If we embrace His sacrifice, we may be saved. If we reject it, we are lost.
As the poet Alexander Poe wrote, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Today, God calls us to imitate Him in forgiving others and promises that if we do so we will be judged by the same measure. The mercy we show is the mercy we will receive. Jesus calls us to be like Him. Just as the Eucharist fills us with His holiness, to desire not sacrifice but mercy, to forgive rather than to demand restitution, is to live in imitation of Christ. Again, faith alone is not enough. Mercy is a work demanded by our Lord and as in all aspects of Christian perfection, it is super-human and only possible through the grace of God living within us.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.