Scripture Scribbles: February 23, 2025

the Gospel

Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

the scribble

Radical Mercy!  

Imagine living this way?

Imagine the freedom we would feel if we could start, from this moment on, living with radical mercy?  The way Jesus lived, the way Jesus loved.  Would this set us apart? Would people notice if our love for others was radical and forgiving?  

What stings a little when I read these really hard words is Jesus saying, 

“And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?”

It's easy to love our family, it's easy to love those who love us….that's the easy part.

One of the things I like to remind my kids is,  we were made to do hard things, I was made to do hard things. We were not made to only do the easy, the comfortable, the “expected.” We were made to do hard things, and this “thing” that Jesus is asking us, is HARD!  This way that Jesus is asking us to live is….hard!  I don’t think it's even humanly possible. I mean I can think of so many situations that I am sure Jesus is not asking me to love certain people, or is He?

It’s strange isn’t it, how one minute when all is well in the world and things seem to be going right in our lives, you can think about God and his goodness,  love is easy to give and receive.  You can wrap your head around, ‘we are all made in His image and likeness.’ Or this one,  ‘we are ALL created on purpose for a purpose’…this, to me, sounds like hope. This thought makes me want to rejoice.

Unfortunately, the very next moment you hear a news story that is talking about a purely evil event that just took place and you are snapped back to the reality that there is evil in this world. It exists and it is real.  Does that mean that the other statement ‘we are all created in his image and likeness” is less real?  I don't believe so, I think the realities of good and evil exist in this world simultaneously.

Jesus is asking his followers, us, to be radical!

Not to act like the world acts.

If we are insulted, do not return the insult,  (although in our heads we are thinking up some doozies!) If we are mistreated, don’t let that lead you to mistreat others.  We don’t get a pass on how badly we have been treated so we get to go out and treat others badly.  Jesus is saying be merciful and you will be shown mercy. He says stop judging and you will not be judged!  Don’t we hate being judged? Aren't we quick to judge?  How about we free ourselves from judging others?  Instead, this Gospel is inviting us to pray, pray for those who “know not what they do.”  Isn’t this what Christ did on the cross?  He is our finest example of radical mercy. As he hung there, bloody and beaten, humiliated and hated, he was asking the Father to, “forgive them.”  Can we ask the Father to, “forgive them.” 

“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

I’m going to start checking my measurements, and I’m going to ask God to help me in this radical mercy that I know one day I will want to be shown myself. 

God bless you, and I pray that beautiful gifts will be overflowing and poured into your lap!

Today’s devotion was written by Beth Brennan