“Be Merciful, As Your Father Is Merciful” LUKE 6:36

Matthew 5:43-48 You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven …

Matthew 5:43-48 For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 5:43-48 And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Verse 45: So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Verse 46: You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. It is a question of our true identity. We are to be children of our Father.

We are called to be children of our heavenly Father.

John 8 Jesus said: “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did ….”

They said to him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me …. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth….”

The challenge of Jesus is: Who is your father? That is, who do you resemble by your actions?

In Mt, we are to be PERFECT as our Father is perfect. In Lk, we are to be MERCIFUL as our Father is merciful. What’s the difference?

In the OT, mercy is attributed to God, rarely to human beings, while perfection is a goal to be sought by humans. Let’s look at the quality of MERCY.

Mercy by another name: Grace (Greek charis) Charis has several layers of meaning: God’s graciousness Expressed in gracious acts of kindness and benevolence towards us Produces grace-filled lives in us who receive it Leads to thankfulness (eucharistia)

Notice: The origin and source of all grace is God. God is grace. God’s nature leads to action. “Love is a verb. Mercy is a verb. Grace is a verb.” Grace changes us. We become like our heavenly Father.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” In fact, the measure we receive will be more than what we give!

What Not To Do … (Luke 12:16-21) The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?”

And he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”

But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

What have we learned so far? That it is a question of our true identity? Are we truly sons and daughters of the Most High? We are called to be generous with our resources and our lives; to be “rich toward God.” Does God need our riches?

Jesus raises the bar. Don’t just love those who love you, or those who are easy to love. Love your enemies, bless those who curse you. Give to one who asks from you (however unjustly).

Jesus raises the bar. Offer your other cheek. Go the extra mile. Follow me to the cross: my cross, your cross.

How can we do this? How can we be capable of such generosity? Let’s go back to what we have seen about GRACE.

We can be capable of Christ-like generosity as Christ’s life becomes our life. We can be gracious only if God’s grace fills and transforms us.

Is there a difference between mercy and grace?

Mercy = God does not punish us although we deserve punishment. Grace = God gives us his Son (and Himself) although we do not deserve it.

One final point: How might we express mercy today?

Luke 14:12-14 Jesus said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid …

Luke 14:12-14 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Jesus bids us look after “the last, the lost and the least.” Because they cannot repay us, and our reward will be in heaven. Because they cannot repay us, and therefore we show that our love is disinterested. Because they usually have no one else to look after them.

Words of Mother Teresa Our work calls for us to see Jesus in everyone. He has told us that He is the hungry one. He is the naked one. He is the thirsty one. He is the one without a home. He is the one who is suffering. These are our treasures. They are Jesus. Each one is Jesus in His distressing disguise.

Money is not enough. Today, as before, when Jesus comes among His own, His own don’t know Him. He comes in the rotting bodies of the poor. He comes even in the rich who are being suffocated by their riches, in the loneliness of their hearts, and there is no one to love them. Jesus comes to you and to me….

Money is not enough. These are the people we must know. This is Jesus yesterday and today and tomorrow, and you and I must know who they are. That knowledge will lead us to love them. And that love, to service. Let us not be satisfied with just paying money. Money is not enough. Money can be got. They need your hand to serve them. They need your hearts to love them.

Love those next to you. The streets of Calcutta lead to everyone’s door…. I know you think you should make a trip to Calcutta, but I strongly advise you to save your airfare and spend it on the poor in your own country. It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those who live right next to us.

Start with one. Maybe if I had not picked up that one person dying on the street [which started her on her life-long work] I would not have picked up the thousands. We must think, Ek, I think Ek, Ek. One, One. That is the way to begin.

We cannot give what we do not have. I have one prayer for you. Bring prayer back into the family. Make your family a family of love. Love begins at home. We cannot give what we do not have. That is why it is necessary to grow in love.

We cannot give what we do not have. And how do we grow in love? By loving, loving until it hurts. You are I must examine ourselves. Our presence, our voice, what does it give to the people? “Do they look up,” as Cardinal Newman’s prayer says, “and see only Jesus?”

End of Presentation

Share in Small Groups: Grace (charis) has at least 4 meanings: 1. God’s graciousness (“God is love”) 2. God’s gracious actions toward us (“For God so loved the world…”) 3. Our grace-filled lives (“we are being changed from glory to glory”) 4. We “say grace” (give thanks) God. How have you personally experienced any or all of these meanings of Grace? What else struck you from the talk?