2 Cor. 9:6-11
Luke 6:31-36
It is true in
everything we do: the more we put into
something, the more we get out of it. No
matter what we say or think, if we do not invest our time, energy, and
attention in something, it is not very important to us and we should not expect
much from it in return. Many people have
learned that lesson the hard way in marriage, family, work, and school. Above
all, we need to ask ourselves if we are really investing ourselves in the life
of Christ. How we treat our enemies is a good test of whether we are truly doing
so.
St. Paul made precisely this point
to the Corinthians: “He who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully.” Gardeners who plant only a
few seeds cannot expect much of a crop, while those who plant more can expect a
better outcome. Likewise, we enter more
fully into the life of our Lord when we bless others with the mercy that God
has shown us. That is how those who
share with others “will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which
through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
Becoming a blessing to others is
the way to be blessed ourselves.
Jesus Christ gave His disciples this
message in today’s gospel passage, for He called them to demonstrate the mercy
of God to their neighbors, even those whom it is very hard to love. He told them to treat everyone as they would
like to be treated. He said that they
should love not only their friends, but also their enemies. They were to do good even to those who had
treated them poorly. They were to lend
to those unlikely to pay them back. By
doing so, their “reward will be great” and they “will be sons of the Most
High.” That is what it means to “Be
merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
With these words, the Lord calls us
to enter fully into His life and thus to manifest personally the mercy that He
has shown to the world. He calls us to
become like Him, to be so closely united to Him that His holy love becomes
characteristic of who we are, even as we relate to those we do not like and who
do not like us. That is an important dimension of what it
means to become His sons and daughters, to be “partakers of the divine nature”
by grace.
As with so many of Christ’s hard
teachings, we may find it impossible to believe that we could ever fulfill these
commandments. If you are like me, you
fall into anger and judgment toward others very easily and find it more
appealing to hold grudges than to forget past wrongs. We may say that this is simply
human nature and excuse ourselves, but the Lord reminds us that this is simply the
way of sin. Even terrorists and gangsters
are good to those who are good to them. We must not rest content with being like them.
It may seem normal and natural to us
in our world of corruption to hate our enemies, but that is not the life for
which we were created in the image and likeness of God. Christ is the Second Adam Who restores our
fallen humanity, and He expects and enables us to live in a way that is
different from business as usual. But if we are to grow in obedience to Him, we
must not view His teaching as simply another set of rules to follow according
to our own ability. The Savior called
His followers to be more righteous than those who thought of God’s commandments
as a long list of requirements that could be satisfied by going through the
motions. He reinterpreted the Old
Testament laws in ways that called for a transformation of our hearts and souls
as we become more like Him. That is a fulfillment
so profound that no one can achieve it as some kind of accomplishment gained merely
through will power.
If the goal is truly to become like
God, truly to share in the divine life, love, and holiness that have conquered
sin and death, it should be clear that we will not reach it simply by trying
really hard. To become the sons and daughters of the Most High, we must be born
again for the life of the Kingdom. We must be empowered for a new life beyond
our ability by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
We must put on Christ and participate to the depths of our being in a
blessing and healing well beyond our own ability. That blessing is always God’s
gracious gift, never a reward that we have deserved.
The good news is that members of
Christ’s Body, the Church, already share in His life and have the spiritual
strength to hear and obey His commandments.
Here is where we must remember St. Paul’s words on the importance of
sowing bountifully, of investing our lives deeply in practices that open us to
participate more fully in blessedness. If we have not done so, then it is no
wonder that we so often fall short of loving our enemies, giving to those who
cannot pay us back, and treating everyone as we ourselves would like to be
treated. Our failure and frustrations are reminders that we have not sowed
bountifully, that we have not invested ourselves diligently in the practices of
mercy and forgiveness, and that we have not produced much fruit for the Kingdom
as a result. We have not been good
stewards of the spiritual strength and power He has given us.
If that is where we are today, then
we must use our weakness for our salvation, humbling acknowledging that we are in
constant need of the mercy and grace that we so often refuse to show
others. We have wanted blessings for
ourselves that we will not share with our neighbors. We have sown sparingly and greatly limited
our own participation in the healing and blessing of Jesus Christ. Of course, we can never earn His grace, but
we can put ourselves in the place where we are open to receive and participate
in His mercy, where we will be “enriched in every way for great generosity,
which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” In other words, we can do what we have the
spiritual strength to do in helping, forgiving, and otherwise being reconciled
with our enemies. We must sow as
bountifully as we can. When we fall
short, we must ask for God’s forgiveness as we rise up again to do what we can
to bless those we find it hard to love.
In other words, we must continue the journey in humility, investing
ourselves in the ways of the Kingdom as we plead for greater strength to become
more beautiful icons of God’s mercy for the world.
Through this process, we will be blessed
as we become blessings to others. If we
extend to our neighbors the same mercy that we humbly ask of God, we can trust
that we are becoming more faithful sons and daughters “of the Most High; for He
is kind to the ungrateful and selfish.”
Yes, that includes sinners like me and you who struggle, often
unsuccessfully, to “be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” What does it mean to invest ourselves in the
life of Christ? It means to keep up the
struggle to love, forgive, and serve each day, and never to give up.
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