Today’s reading from Luke 6:36-38 presents both a challenge and an instruction. Jesus commands us to stop judging, criticizing, and condemning other people. His teaching is that we should learn to be merciful and forgiving. We are not like God, who promised to forget our wrongdoings, but we can learn to forgive even when we don’t particularly want to erase something from our minds and hearts. This takes courage and sincere dedication to following God’s example. Simple acts of love can erase criticism.

Jesus is encouraging us to make judgments, that we have a duty to judge others – but judgments with a twist. Our decisions concerning others must be based on our common sense of right and wrong, truth and error. Being merciful is the first rule when it comes to making judgments. It is not up to us to cause punishment to someone we decide needs it. When we make the choice to judge and criticize, we often find ourselves falling into the same bad habits as those we condemn. If we choose to be unmerciful in our opinion of others, God may cause the same thing to happen to us. Maybe our rulings will come back to haunt us. It’s not easy to judge correctly but God has given us rules to guide us. We should judge honestly and mercifully and having judged, forgive. As we measure others, so shall we be measured.

Finally, who are we to judge? We rarely know the circumstances present in another’s life. Have we walked a mile in their shoes as the saying goes? Are we better or superior to them? Are you a person Jesus would call merciful?

Let us Pray:

Loving God, during this Lenten season, help us reach out to those who are hurting in any way. Your children are suffering all around us. Help us to be sensitive to their needs and moods. Teach us to be present to another as you are to all of us. Help us make a difference and bring a sense of you, a sense of joy, and love to their lives. Amen.