Posted on 09/18/2017 8:17:38 AM PDT by Salvation
The readings from Mass for the 24th Sunday of the Year were a continuation from the previous Sunday, when our Lord taught us of the requirement that we correct one another. Yesterday’s readings remind us that our correction must be done with mercy and humility. Failing to correct an erring or sinning brother is not mercy at all, but correcting in a harsh or mean-spirited way falls short as well.
As an extended meditation on yesterday’s Gospel let’s consider a kind of “mathematics” of the Kingdom of God. In effect, it says, “Pay attention! You will be judged by the same standard by which you judge others. So do the math and realize that you are storing up for yourselves a kind of standard by which I will judge you.”
The key teaching from the Lord in this regard is this: the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you (Luke 6:38). This statement comes at the end of a long discourse in which the Lord summons us to be generous, forgiving, merciful, patient, and reluctant to condemn others severely.
In effect, the Lord says, “Do the math. Realize that if you are merciful, you will be judged with mercy, but if you are harsh and critical, you will be judged by a harsh and critical standard. If you refuse to forgive, you will not be forgiven.
Like it or not, this is the mathematics of the Kingdom of God. It does not mean that we earn salvation, but it does mean that we have a lot of influence over the standard by which we will be judged.
So, if you are going to need mercy and grace on that day (and we all are), it is good to do the math of the Kingdom and store up mercy and grace for that day.
We will all, one day, answer to God. That day, as Scripture repeatedly teaches, is a day about which we should be sober. Sadly, there are many who give little thought to this truth and some who outright scoff at it.
Remarkably, we can influence the manner in which God will judge us, the standard he will use. Here we speak of the manner of God’s judgment. That is, whether He will be strict or merciful. We do not refer to the content. It is an obvious and axiomatic truth that God will judge our deeds. Hence, we should avoid wickedness and grave sins, and repent quickly when we commit such sins.
On the one hand, it would seem that we could have no influence at all on the manner in which we will be judged, for it would seem that God is no respecter of persons, and judges with perfect justice.
Yet, there are passages in Scripture that do speak of ways that we can influence the standard God will use, the manner of His judgment. Let’s look at four areas in which we can have influence and consider a few biblical passages.
I. Whether we show mercy to others
Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7). James says something similar and develops it a bit when he says, Always speak and act as those were going to be judged under the law of freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. So mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:12-13). Thus we are taught that by observing mercy and patience in our relations with one another, we will influence the manner in which we are judged.
Sometimes in life, particularly if we are leaders or parents, we will need to punish and/or assign consequences to those who transgress moral laws or legal limits. Texts like these do not mean that we should never accompany correction with punitive measures. Such a way of living would be unwise and could confirm people in bad behavior. Even when punitive measures are needed, though, it makes sense to be lenient when possible and to attempt less measures before firmer ones are employed.
It is also clear from these biblical texts that it is highly foolish to go through life with severity toward others, with a lack of compassion or a harsh, unyielding attitude. We are all going to need a lot of grace and mercy at our judgment. Therefore, how misguided, how foolish it would be for us to be harsh and unmerciful toward others! For indeed, these text tell us that the merciful will be blessed and the unmerciful will be shown no mercy. Can you or I really expect that we will make it on the day of judgment without boatloads of mercy?
Now, therefore, is the time for us to seek to invoke the promise of the Lord, Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
II. Whether we are strict or lenient with others
In a related text, the Lord Jesus says, The measure that you measure to others, will be measured back to you (Mark 4:24). If we hope for and need a merciful judgment, if we want a merciful measure or standard to be used, then we must do the same for others. The Lord makes it clear that He will use the measure or standard that we have used for others when He judges us. Have we been strict? If so, then He will be strict. Have we been merciful? If so, then He will be merciful. Be very careful before demanding that sinners and others who transgress receive the strongest penalties. There may be a time for such penalties, but it is not necessary that the most severe punishments always be used.
In John 8, the Pharisees wanted to exact the most severe penalty (stoning) on a woman caught in adultery. Jesus reasons with them, telling them that before they demand that He “throw the book at her,” they might want to recall that there are a few things about them that are also written in the book. One by one they drift away, seemingly after considering the foolishness of their demands for the most severe penalty. They finally realize that the measure they want to measure out to her will in turn be measured back to them.
III. Whether we are generous to the poor
Luke relates the following text more specifically to our generosity: Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure that you measure to others will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38). This leads us to a second area in which the Scriptures teach us that we can influence the day of our judgment.
Jesus, after rebuking the Scribes Pharisees for their severity and extreme legalism, says to them (who were obsessing about cleaning the outside of the dish), You fools, did not the one who made the outside of the cup make the inside also? But if you give what is inside the cup as alms to the poor, everything will be made clean for you (Luke 11:40-41). It is a daring text, in the light of the theology of grace, and almost implies that we can somehow “purchase” forgiveness. But of course it is the Lord Himself who says it, and He does not say we can somehow purchase forgiveness. Surely, though, He does teach that generosity to the poor will in fact influence the day of our judgment.
Later in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus develops the thought, saying, I tell you, use your worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings (Lk 16:9). It is a complicated text, but Jesus seems to be saying that our generosity to the poor will surely gain advantages for us at the day of our judgment. Indeed, blessing the poor gives us powerful intercessors, for the Lord hears the cries of the poor. The picture painted here is of those poor welcoming us into our eternal dwellings.
Scripture elsewhere warns, If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be heard (Proverbs 21:13). Once again, it would seem that we can have some influence over the manner, measure, or standard that will be used by God at our judgment. To the merciful, mercy will be shown. The generous will experience that their cries are heard, for they heard the cries of the poor. The Lord more than implies that those who have been generous to the poor will have powerful advocates praying and interceding for them on the day of judgment. Indeed, a number of the Fathers of the Church remind us that in this life the poor need us, but in the life to come we will need them.
IV. Whether we forgive others
A final area to explore in terms of how we might have influence over the manner of our judgment is in the matter of forgiveness. Just after giving us the Our Father, the Lord Jesus says, For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:14 – 15).
Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells the terrifying parable of a man who had huge debt that was forgiven him by his master. When the man then refused to forgive his brother a much smaller debt, the master grew angry and threw him into debtors’ prison. Jesus concludes the parable by saying, This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you, unless you forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:35).
So yes, it would seem that we can have some influence over the manner in which God will judge us, the standard He will use. While it is true that God will judge us by our deeds (cf Romans 2:6), the manner in which He judges us, whether with strictness or leniency, does seem to be a matter over which we have influence.
We are all going to need a lot of grace and mercy, for if God judges with strict justice and strict standards, who can stand? We will all have much to answer for. All the more reason for us to follow the teachings of the Lord in His Scripture, so that we can be sure that on the day of our judgment, mercy and the grace of leniency will prevail in abundance. Do we want mercy? Then we must show mercy. Do we want a gentle standard? Then we must measure out gentleness. Do we want forgiveness? Then we must offer forgiveness. Recruit some intercessors for the day of judgment by giving to the poor. They will be the most powerful intercessors for us as we leave this life and go to our judgment.
Indeed, God has shown us how we can store up a treasure of mercy, waiting for us in Heaven at the judgment seat of Christ. There are some good lessons here to heed.
Perhaps you might like to add, via the Comments section, some other ways that we can influence the standard that God will use to judge us.
Here’s an amusing video illustrating that the measure we measure out to others will be measured back to us:
Monsignor Pope Ping!
No. But Jesus can.
Forgiving others is the key commandment. In his “through the Bible” on Matthew 6, Damian Kyle said that it took 20 years for a laborer to earn a single talent. So 10,000 talents is 200,000 years of work.
But for Christ, each of us would be influencing how God will judge us every day of lives - and that’s not a good thing because it would be in the negative. Nobody in their right mind would ever want to get “what they deserve” from God. BUT, there’s good news.......
Living a faith-filled, chaste, good life, doesn’t count?
No. It does not. The most minor sin is vile in God’s sight. We are saved, only, by the grace and sacrifice of Christ who washes away the stench of our sin. Hide in the rock of His salvation. Do not believe yourself capable of standing firm in your own strength before the Lord.
That’s why Catholics have the gift of the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation.
God forgives and forgets in that Sacrament!
Calvinists understand that penance/forgiveness only accounts for the past. It is in the present that we sin with every breath we take.
Yes, it does count. BUT it doesn’t save. Works proves and improves your faith. Those who shun works and the Ten Commandments know they have secret sins they don’t want addressed.
I am not sure exactly the method of judgement but, we are told the books will be opened and we will be judged from them. I am supposing all our acts are recorded somewhere and that we will have to answer for them. Before you flame me please continue reading. . . . .
We, all of us are sinners. None of us deserve any kind of reward, we have all failed the test so to speak. Because God loves us, He sent His Son into the world to be punished for our sins. Taking advantage of that punishment however is not automatic. This is where it gets controversial.
Some say that if you confess Jesus as your Lord then all is forgiven, forever. Others say, well not quite. It is easy to say you confess Jesus but if you only talk the talk but don’t walk the walk then you don’t really get the benefits package after all.
Doctrine according to Joe (that’s me by the way) says that option number two is more correct. Some will say that means you believe that works save you. No, I do not believe works save you. Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ makes you eligible for Grace that He offers to those that FOLLOW Him. The big problem is who follows Him. I think that is what the books are for. When we are kind to our fellow man it is recorded and you can say you are walking the walk. When you are mean, unkind or whatever then you are not walking the walk and that too is recorded. All of us at sometimes do bad things to other people. If we realize our sin and repent and then ask forgiveness of it The Lord will likely scratch that out of the record.
I suspect that there is nobody that will repent of every bad thing they have done but they may have tried. I am very much hopeful that The Lord will give us an E for effort and forgive us even if we haven’t asked but that it will be a judgement call.
I am unwilling, after reading many times the New Testament, to believe in the doctrine of once saved always saved or that simply saying “Jesus is Lord” will save me from anything. While we are all sinners, Jesus abhors sin. If we don’t abhor sin we will not be with Jesus in my humble opinion. If we are constantly doing things we shouldn’t then we don’t really abhor sin. Good luck with that lifestyle come judgement day.
For those who genuinely try The Good Lord will stand with them on judgement day and tell The Father that He has already been punished for those sins and that He will deal now with that person, that person is His. I hope He claims me. I’m trying to be like Jesus, I think that is what it takes.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m trying to be simple here, certainly there must be things you must do to show you are His like being baptized, but following Jesus, trying to be like Him brings us to these things.
We could argue on the points of who can baptize or what method works, but, those things are unimportant until you decide to follow Him, until you feel sorrow for your sin, until you are willing to repent and then ask forgiveness.
I suspect that doing these things will bring you to Christ in the end.
Has works got anything to do with it? No. But if you don’t have any good works I doubt you are trying to be like Jesus.
Well said.
For rewards in heaven when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not for salvation itself when sinners stand before God for their eternal destiny.
Which is not found anywhere in Scripture.
All your *penance* means nothing in terms of attaining forgiveness of sin. You can't earn forgiveness.
If you earn it, it's wages due for work performed and ceases to be forgiveness. You've simply paid a debt you owe. Which you can't anyway cause the wages of sin is death, not penance or suffering.
You either have the righteousness of Christ credited to your account, or you don't and you stand in your own filth.
God guarantees our salvation.
However, I don't know anyone who teaches a doctrine that simply saying *Jesus is Lord* will save anyone.
Where did you hear that?
8The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 103:8-12 NASB
Paul is most helpful in understanding salvation. He talks, as did Jesus, of becoming a new man. Without being born of the Spirit there is no life in Christ. He also spoke about the fruits of the spirit as evidence of salvation. We are never far removed from sin but our sin can be absolved as quickly as it occurs if we are reborn in the spirit of Christ. Our works are truly not ours but are of the Spirith who lives in us.
Paul also spoke of a seared conscience in which repetitive sin hardens us to feeling the prick of conscience. This is the most pernicious of sin because it becomes a principality, an invested body of action/thought/sentiment that must be torn down if we are to survive its power. It is only by being in Christ that we can overcome these terrors. We have brought them upon ourselves and we are incapable of ridding ourselves of them. They are of many sorts: lying, stealing, all manner of perversion, pride, hate, self gratification, and on and on.
We must ask Christ to guide our steps and lead us into the fullness of life He promises. Salvation, life in Christ, is not of my doing. I can take no credit in it lest I boast and believe myself capable of saving myself.
We are each on a journey. Our lives bear witness to our condition.
Funny, I just finished preaching a sermon about exactly that yesterday.
Used the parable about the servant who owed the ten thousand talents (ludicrous money; probably about ten billion dollars if I did the math right, but the short version is that it’s an amount that no servant could repay). The sermon eventually spoke about forgiveness of our brothers, and how little the sin that we commit against each other is compared to the sin that we commit against the Lord.
But the point that matters is that in this thread is that in Jesus’ own words, the debt that we owe God CAN’T be repaid.
Correction: CAN’T be repaid except by the death and resurrection of Christ.
I did the math once and it was like ten billion dollars... assuming that I did the math correctly, and I had to do a lot of estimating.
But in short, it was a crazy amount of money.
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