For Sunday
Proper 19A
Collect
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
Reflection
Mercy is one of the most attractive and difficult aspects of faith. We love the idea that God is merciful to us. And we want to be merciful people. And, for people of faith, that wanting to is a really big deal.
We receive a message about mercy for the very reason we think we need that reminder.
Matthew 18 begins with a question about greatness in heaven. Which, as Jesus keeps repeating, looks like the opposite of greatness in our world.
What it looks like in our world is domination, vengeance, and pride. And it looks like rejection, division, and oppression. Ignoring the needs of the lost and casting out the one who doesn’t get the program.
Jesus invites them to welcome, instead. Forgive the penitent. Without attaching strings. No proving they’ll go to rehab. Or that they’re poor enough to need the help. Helping just because they ask for it.
Jesus’s reminder for the one in a position to offer mercy is that God showed mercy on them. And where in the Kin-dom would they be if God had treated them like they chose to treat others? What pain and hurt in the world are we responsible for? And what joy and health could we be if we were so merciful?
We transform the world with who we are. With who we choose to be.
So, yes, we could be cruel, selfish, or full of justification. And foster a cruel, selfish, and justified world. Or we can be merciful. Forgive. Love. And with us, find the Kin-dom.