Luke 6:39–42

Luke 6:39-42 

English Standard Version 

  St. Augustine said that the church isn't a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.

  Humility is hard.  We talk of it often, but it's a hard thing to look at yourself and admit your faults and failings.  We like to hide them, to sweep them under the rug, or to find someone else who has seemingly worse faults and make ourselves feel better by comparing ourselves to them.  

  Jesus is giving us permission to admit our faults.  God knows them all anyway.  So when we humbly admit them, our pride doesn't get in the way of our relationships.  We can admit our weaknesses and help one another.  As someone said, the church is simply one beggar telling another where to find bread.  We're all hungry, we're all broken, and the more honestly we're able to admit that, the better we can serve one another.

Luke 6:37–38

Luke 6:37-38 

English Standard Version 

  This reminds me of a psychological point that I read years ago.  When we make mistakes, we tend to attribute it to circumstances -- when we cut someone off in traffic, it's because we're late for something very important.  When others do it, we attribute it to their character -- they're bad people and should be punished.  We mentally don't extend the grace to others that we give to ourselves.

  Jesus is warning us about the dangers of judgment -- it hardens our hearts towards others.  We judge them for their actions, and we assume things about their character that leads us to putting up walls.  That's not how God treats us, and it's not how we're called to treat one another.  We're called to extend the same grace that's given to us, the same love that's poured out on us.

Luke 6:32–36

Luke 6:32-36 

English Standard Version 

  I suppose everything is credit card based now, but I remember being in a different country years ago and having different money that didn't spend there.  You had to get your money changed so that you could spend it, because the system of exchange was entirely different.  

  Jesus is pointing towards the difference in the Kingdom of God.  The world uses a system based on rewarding those who are good to you.  If that's all we do, we're no different than the world.  But God's Kingdom is defined by mercy, and that mercy is generous, given to those who don't deserve it.  It's a different system of relationship.  It has different rules.  It's not merely a transaction -- to love and serve without expectation of a reward, without it having been earned, is to reflect the love and tender mercy of God.  

Luke 6:27–31

Luke 6:27-31 

English Standard Version 

  This doesn't exactly align with how we usually live, does it?  Our instincts towards our enemies don't often lean towards selfless love, and when others curse us, we're often not responding with blessings.  

  Jesus is trying to help reorient the ways we interact.  We often default to defensiveness, and we're worried about trying to keep the scoreboard even (or tilted in our favor), which means that if we're slighted, we need to take revenge.  We often interact based on how someone else is treating us.

  That's not how God responds to us.  We were enemies of God due to sin, and God reaches out in grace, seeking to heal the relationship, to build a bridge where we built barriers.  God acts in grace even when we don't deserve it.  If we can recall that, it can soften the ways we interact with one another.  Not that we're being set up to be taken advantage of -- but leading in grace, as God led with grace towards us.  When love is our default, which can happen when we contemplate the great love with which God loves us, then our interactions change.  It's a different way of interacting, but that's what Jesus is calling us into -- a different kingdom, defined by God.