Posted on febrero 21, 2025 View all Gospel Reflection
“The Lord is kind and merciful” (Ps. 103:8a)
Oftentimes when people are in a conflict they ask for mercy. Or if someone realizes that they have done something against another person they ask for mercy in their judgment. Mercy in these cases is not earned. Mercy is a gift that is received in spite of our deserving another sort of action or punishment.
In Jubilee years, there is always a focus on mercy. If you look at Catholic Answers you will see that “Jubilee” signifies a time of liberation, restoration, and renewal, rooted in God’s covenant with his people. The land was given rest from planting and harvesting, those sold into servitude were released and restored to their families, and lands sold during economic difficulties were returned to their original owners. The ancient Jewish practice was to celebrate a jubilee year every 50 years (7 x 7 + 1) (See Leviticus 25:8-55). While the Jewish practice ended with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70AD, the Catholic Church has continued the practice of jubilee years.
In our readings for today, we see cases where mercy was performed, even though another action could have been justified. In the second reading from Corinthians, we see how St. Paul writes that the second “man” came bearing the image of the heavenly one, to redeem the first man who sinned. Then in the first reading we see David who was fleeing King Solomon’s armies who were hunting him down, spare the life of his king. Despite Abner saying to David “God has delivered your enemy into your grasp today… I will not need a second thrust!” (1 Samuel 26:9) David did not permit it. Instead, he took the king’s spear from King Saul’s very side and then called over to the king’s troops from a distance to come and recover it. But he did so not to tease him, but more to show that he had no intention on killing King Saul – even though he had been delivered into his very grasp. David had mercy on Saul in spite of Saul’s attempts to kill him.
These examples then point us to consider the words of Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel. Jesus says: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27) This advice certainly seems to go against the whole idea of being treated fairly. It also goes against the law that Moses gave the Israelites when he talked about an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (Ex. 21:23-27 and Deut. 19:21). While Moses sought to eliminate escalation and revenge, Jesus wanted us to rise beyond ourselves and be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful. (Lk. 6:36)
In the Gospel Jesus gives us a lot of examples on how we are to respond. Especially in this Jubilee year, we should reflect on how we treat others who have wronged us. Are we able to move towards mercy? Even though mercy is not “deserved” Christ is calling us to live in mercy. In many ways, when we grow in mercy ourselves, it is then that we give hope to the world of the greater mercy that God will have for each one of us. In fact, Jesus says “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” (Lk. 6:37) We pray this every time we say the Our Father (“forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”). That is something to be aware of. Let’s hope God listens to us with a merciful ear. That he might understand and accept our meager attempts to be merciful and in turn bestow his abundant mercy on us at the hour of our death. Let us further reflect on how we treat others, not always wanting to be the one to remove “splinters” in our brother’s eye whilst not perceiving the wooden beam in our own. This week let us pray that the Lord will help us to be more aware of our sinfulness, to grow in mercy, to be aware of how we treat others, and ultimately to reflect on how we give others hope that they too can rely on God to make all things new again and bring us all to eternal life through his infinite mercy.
