Friday Gospel Recharge
A Reflection on Luke 12: 54-59
(29th Friday in Ordinary Time, Year A of the Liturgical Calendar, 2023)
Mercy: one of the many wonders of God
In
this Gospel, Jesus wants to teach us about the blindness of the crowd: they
know how to recognize natural phenomenon around them such as changing weather
patterns yet they could not fathom the phenomenon of God’s works in the person
of Christ before them. God’s action is not found in revenge, as the audience of
Jesus time would welcome, to overthrow their Roman occupants; it’s not found in
an arduous adherence to the written law, as the Jewish authority would expect
from their Jewish population. Instead, God’s business is one of mercy. This is
what Jesus teaches us here in this Gospel.
Now mercy is not easy business; it conjures muscle to say sorry or to accept one’s apology. If we are hurt our emotions are involved, and when we allow them to guide our will and not our intellect, the chances of exercising forgiveness becomes more arduous - and I’m convinced this is why Jesus implores us not to judge others unless we be judged. However, Jesus extolls us to repent, to not let our emotions run havoc preventing every chance of reconciliation. It’s important for many reasons, one thing reconciliation does is bring peace and healing into peoples lives, perhaps even the restoration of a broken relationship, two noble reasons to settle any dispute we have with our neighbour.
While repentance can be difficult, Jesus nevertheless encourages us to try giving activity to forgiveness, to exploit the opportunity while time is on our side. His exhortation comes with a grave warning: anyone who does not try and instead holds grudges by continuing to live unrepentant lives, the day of reckoning will devastate them. The measure they have shown will be the measure they will receive; God will not let us get away with the pain and misery we cause others. So, when Jesus tells us that we will have paid the very last penny, he reminds us that God keeps a tab on our lives, and on the last day will issue a non-negotiable infringement and have us pay the debt of sin back, in full. God’s mercy shouldn’t be presumed. God is just and will always do what is right by us, and sometimes that means allowing us to undergo a just punishment.
The church in our modern world has lost a sense of sin, and forgotten the beauty of and the need for the sacrament of confession. Confession is a wonderful sacrament. Its effects restore our relationship with God. If you read scripture, you will discover that throughout human history it is wrought with sin and God’s efforts to restoring people’s relationship with him. Today, the story remains the same: people continue to abuse their freedom choosing sin instead of good choices, upsetting their relationship with the Lord. When we break relationship with God the only right choice, we can do is settle the matter with him, just as Jesus tells us in this Gospel.
If you haven’t been to confession in a while, consider yourself lucky, for the opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness is still on offer. The offer remains so long we are alive. Take a moment therefore to reflect on your lives, noting down your faults and taking them to confession, before it’s too late and the Lord your judge, hands you over to the bailiff who in turn throws you into that place devoid of the presence of our loving God.
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