26 February 2018
Monday of the Second Week in Lent
No one would mistake me for God. No one would even mistake me for a demi-god. And yet here Jesus is saying “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36). Jesus, who knows my limitations, wants me to be every bit as merciful as the all-loving God. But I can hold a grudge, I can still feel pain and anger when I recall how I am wronged. None of this goes away. This seems almost like a cruel trick—a standard I can never live up to. Why would Jesus make such a demand?
Because now mercy is not just about me. I cannot be merciful just so that people will think I am a nice guy. I must be merciful so that people can experience the Father’s mercy. And the more I realize that the mercy I give is not mine, but the Father’s, the more I realize that it is not up to me whether or not I bestow it. I realize that my feelings and my grudges have little to do with whether I should be merciful—but solely whether the Father would want it. Slowly but surely, showing the mercy of the Father makes me more like the Father. No one will think I am our Father, but perhaps they will see a family resemblance.