Readings: Daniel 9:4-10, Ps 78:8-9, 11, 13 (R: Ps 102:10), Luke 6:36-38
‘Give, and there will be gifts for you ... because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back’ (Lk 6: 38). We are asked to be generous to others in the understanding that our capacity in that way is related to our own salvation. What is the nature of the exchange here? Does Jesus ask good works of us in order that we might earn eternal life? We should remember when reading this passage that Jesus is preaching to his disciples: he is forming the first Christians, who will have the responsibility for passing on his teaching. That message is not that we can deserve God’s grace. The good works that Jesus asks of us are the fruit of Christ’s own sacrifice and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The pardon that we can offer to others is a reflection of the redemption which has been won for us by Jesus himself. Through having compassion towards others, we become people who act with the knowledge of that redemption; who enter into the love of God for the world. As Christians, living in a world that understands religious acts to be onerous duties offered to God in expectation of a reward, our call is to live in the spirit of what God has blessed us with in Christ. We have nothing to give to others, except a small part of what has already been given to us by God in Jesus' life and self giving.
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