Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful. (Lk 6: 27-38)
This verse in Luke refers to Leviticus 19:2, where it says: " Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy!" Holiness means separation, being different, otherness. God is holy by definition. His specificity is precisely this being separated, different and otherness from anyone else. Here he reveals to us that His specificity and uniqueness, these differences and otherness, is MERCY. For Israel, mercy is an attribute of God (cf. Ex 34, 6; Dt 4:31; Job 4: 2), which was an expression of the goodness and love of God forgiving his people when justice requires punishment, leading them out of slavery, caring for them and carrying out his salvation plan for them.
The mercy of God, revealed in the person and deeds of Christ, is an absolute novelty. The entire inaugural speech of Jesus, first pointing out who is blessed (happy) and then calling for the love of enemies as the only alternative to man, is directed to the revelation of the Father, who is MERCIFUL and is the source of merciful love capable of loving enemies. Already here all the limits of human understanding of love are exceeded, especially when Jesus enters the CROSS. It will be a scandal to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles (cf. 1 Cor 1:23).
The term oiktirmon, used here by Luke to refer to the merciful, indicates an external manifestation of mercy, expressed in compassion and concrete action. Regarding God, the term is used in the NT only here and in James 5:11 (the Lord is compassionate and merciful). The Septuagint usually translates the Hebrew heset as eleos, which expresses feeling and emotion, while the word oiktirmon express the Hebrew rachamim, which means womb. It is the boundaryless love of a mother for her child, a love that stems from the deep knowledge that the child is both of her and not of her. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Pt 1: 3).
Christian love is not about doing something extraordinary more than others. Jesus did not institute any additional laws or orders, nor did He remove any from the Law. When he says, "Love your enemies!"; “To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.” he does not add a new commandment, but calls us to be witnesses of God's limitless love for ourselves and for all people, to be the bearers of love.
An authentic search for God and His kingdom will eventually lead to an encounter with Him in Christ, because man will be faced with the truth about himself, demanding God's mercy, which comes and is realized towards us in the person of Jesus Christ and in the gift of His Spirit. This is what Saul experienced, who later wrote the significant words: “For through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” (Gal 2: 19-20).
Living with mercy is a completely different reality than doing "good deeds". Here you have to leave your own life, your own territory and enter into the life of the other person. We cannot enter by force as an uninvited guest, so we must approach other person with such love, acceptance, tenderness and delicacy that we will be invited inside, to be consider his own. One must be able not to be scandalized by the life of one's neighbor and be able to listen first. Listen, not to give a prescription. Listen and want to feel the pain and weight overwhelming our neighbor, even touch his death, what is killing him: despair, sadness, helplessness that is inside him. Not to give him what is disposed of, but to give away a part of our own life. Like Jesus, who "being in the form of God, did not take the opportunity to be equals with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like men. And in the outward appearance, recognized as a human being, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death - death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him above all things, and gave him a name above every name” (Phil 2: 6-9).
If you let God's mercy overwhelm you - Jesus Christ, who wants to live in you today and work through you, giving you his Spirit, then you too will be able to be merciful and not a doer of "good deeds", you will be able to give yourself out not from what you don't need : money, free time, but you will smile sincerely, show a gesture that you do not have to show, you will selflessly give what will restore life and dignity to others. By losing yourself and from yourselves, you will become more and more like the Son of Man. This only fulfills us, and it is not a cheap emotion, but an experience of moving towards full humanity.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george