March 6, 2023 - 10:51am

Lenten Meditation: Monday, March 6, 2023

Lenten Meditation: Monday, March 6, 2023

Luke 6:27-38

Today, Luke gives us one of the most famous of the sayings attributed to Jesus: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Mercy, as Luke understands it, is not just a matter of being lenient rather than punitive. Luke’s version of mercy is so radical as to be absurd. Luke says that if someone steals from you, you should let them and, even more, you should give them things they failed to steal. If someone borrows from you, you should not only not expect them to repay you. You shouldn’t let them repay you. You should give to every single beggar you encounter on the street. You should offer the other cheek to anyone who hits you.

If this seems absurd, it is. God’s mercy is absurd. In Jesus, we have seen God’s mercy. We human beings are prone to hatred and violence. Just look at our world! The reasonable response would be to run. But God’s mercy is unreasonable. In Jesus, God draws close and makes God’s very self vulnerable to human hatred and violence. That is God’s mercy, and Jesus tells us to be merciful in just that way.

Today, we could try to be merciful in the way that God is merciful. We could try to see every beggar and resist our urge to look away. We may not be able to give money to every one, but we can give each one the dignity of being truly seen. We could pray for a person we dislike, even someone we hate. We could do a kindness for someone we know will not appreciate it, let alone thank us. We can be absurdly merciful, just as our Father is absurdly merciful.

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