Reflection on the Gospel of the Monday In The Twelfth Week Of Ordinary Time |
Matthew 7: 1-5 |
We have all sinned and by right are far away from God’s Love and Mercy, undeserving. But equally true is God’s act of Love, that He has saved all of us, by Jesus sacrifice on the cross. The situation is different, whether we want to get unto the bus, so to say, of Salvation – eternity in God’s Presence. This is a self-choice. But we are not allowed to even self-judge, because the act of salvation is done, and we are all free. Now, no sin can separate us from God. Then why the prevailing of such misery and pain still? This is because not all realise that they are free and can in all freedom, love and be in God’s Presence.
So what is this issue of judging? On one level, we cannot counter say, that is proclaim; someone is condemned to death and corruption, however ugly the person be living, because Jesus has died even for that person, and how God is working in his life we are not privy too. Judging than would be saying Jesus’ Redeeming Sacrifice is limited, and also negate Jesus’ teachings on another level as false. The best example of this being a) the Prodigal Son and b) The Parable of the Sower. Lets delve on the Sower Parable; it is not four soils that are being spoken of, it is the one soil which is transformed by the Word of God over a period of time. But in the meantime, the soil is something less than perfect. so if we condemn if, we are condemning God as being ineffective. We ourselves are in the process of transformation, by God’s Word, and if we label and make anything less than who He is, that effects us, more than the other person. And thus we have cut away God’s grace from our lives, and thus we have self-judged ourselves.
On the other hand, it is proper to approach life from the place of humility, knowing fully that even we are broken persons whom God is putting together. Thus, we need to see those around us in the same way. When we do this, the harshness of finger pointing and condemning attitudes, can change to encouragement. When we see people around us failing, like the Samaritan, extend to them the grace of encouraging them to do better, not to give up hope, and together thank God for the grace of Jesus’ Sacrifice.
