Seeking Mercy
Does kindness win out?
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. - Ephesians 4:31-32
In today's reading, Paul tells the Church to be kind to one another, recognizing the bitterness and anger the people hold toward some who may be deserving of it.
it isn't easy to counter anger and malice with kindness, to be forgiving and tender-hearted. It is often seen as a sign of weakness.
And who wants to be thought of as weak?
But Jesus turned the tables on that, showing that kindness and compassion could be strengths.
If we pay close attention to the language of the Gospel stories, we find that Jesus doesn't outwardly blame people for the afflictions they have or the behaviors they possess.
He casts out demons and frees people from disease, as though these things are evils that exist outside of them. I believe he does this for a reason.
He wants us to see each other differently, More like the way God sees us, as children, beloved. When we see each other that way, we have compassion, and we look for ways to free them from the bondage that holds them.
If a stranger commits a crime, I may want him punished, but if my child does the same, I seek mercy.
What if we all sought mercy for one another?
What if we looked for ways to help one another free ourselves from the actions and habits that cause us to stumble and fall?
There is a movement taking place to try to reform our criminal justice system. Some see it as a way to decriminalize minor crimes and put people who commit them back on the street, but I think we need to look at it through Christ's eyes, if possible.
If we are to change the pattern, we need to help one another avoid the situations that get us into trouble.
In other words, we need to look out for one another the way we would for our own children.
We need to think of those who are in trouble as our adopted children. How would we want our children treated?
Wouldn't we use all our wealth and all our power to help them?
Maybe that's the message we need to get from today's reading.
Be kind. Be loving. Be ready to help.
More to come...