Forgiveness

What a challenging gospel we have before us this week! Jesus is calling us to love our enemies. To give and not expect any return. Not to judge. To turn the other cheek. To share our cloak and our tunic. To give and not to count the cost. To always show mercy and compassion. Is this being realistic or is Jesus asking too much of us? What is the love Jesus to talking about?

Today we associate the word ‘love’ with a feeling or an emotion. Jesus isn’t talking about an emotion or feeling when he calls us to love. To love is to wish the good of the other. Let’s look at how we can love in this way.

Loving our enemies entails good actions. We don’t return evil for evil. We respond to evil by doing good to the person. If a person wishes evil on us or curses us we respond with a blessing. We express the desire for good upon the one who curses us. We are called to pray for those who abuse us. We pray that Gospel will bless that person. These are some of the ways we can love the good of the other. As Brant Pitre says, in his commentary on this reading:

Jesus isn’t calling us to purely natural virtue. Jesus is calling us to much more than natural virtue or natural love. Jesus is teaching us the way of the cross. As he hung on the cross he prayed, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Jesus blesses his enemies, he prays for them.

In the last part of the Gospel, Jesus says: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned.

What does Jesus mean when he asks us not to judge? He doesn’t mean you cannot judge the moral value of an action. But you cannot pass judgement on the person. We cannot make a judgement on the state of a person’s soul or the destiny of the soul. The only person who can condemn is God. He is the final judge of human beings and humanity. You might remember Pope Francis called for a Year of Mercy in 2016. In his letter introducing the year, he gave a reflection on today’s passage. He wrote:

The Lord asks us above all not to judge and not to condemn. If anyone wishes to avoid God’s judgement he should not make himself the judge of his brother or sister. Human beings, whenever they judge, look no farther than the surface whereas the Father looks into the very depths of the soul. How much harm words do when they are motivated by feelings of jealousy and envy! To speak ill of others puts them in a bad light, undermines their reputation and leaves them prey to the whims of gossip.

Lord give me the grace to love as you love, to forgive as you forgive and fill me with your mercy and compassion