There is no denying that we’ve all been guilty at some stage of making unsubstantiated negative judgements about others.  One only has to follow social media posts to learn the depths to which some people go in making derogatory comments, directly or indirectly.  Being overtly critical or judgmental of another while maintaining a quiet self-satisfied smugness on one’s own part is an all-too-familiar human trait.  Little wonder that Jesus had a few things to say about this!

The reading from Luke today consists of a number of exhortations of Jesus designed as a type of blueprint for what Jesus meant by the ‘fulfilment of the Law’.  Each of these admonitions projects a strong statement as to how one should shape one’s life and, indeed, how one should conform to this ‘new’ message that Jesus is preaching. 

There is no place in the company of believers – the community of faith – for those who choose evil over good; likewise, there is no place for the one who sees fault in others but fails to acknowledge and seek forgiveness for the faults of their own.

Born out of love and with love at our core, we are drawn into that same love, goodness and mercy of God.  Goodness comes from the heart where God dwells, and ‘out of the good treasure of the heart’, Jesus says, ‘the good person produces good.’

by Gerry Crooks