Today, I am going to discuss a passage that even unbelievers like to quote—or, as we will see, misquote. It is a powerful passage that tells us a lot about God’s love and our response to it. This is part of a longer passage where Jesus explains how we are to love those who can do nothing to help us, to give with no thought of repayment, and even to love our enemies. Today, I will focus on three verses from this longer teaching from Luke 6.

But love your enemies, and do good,

Showing kindness and generosity toward all, even our enemies, is not an outrageous and burdensome command. In this passage, we see that we are to do all of these things to reflect who God is to the world. God is generous and loving to all, even those who hate him. Jesus even forgave those who were killing him. We are to be sons of the Most High. We are to be like our Father.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

To understand these two verses, it is helpful to think about Biblical poetry. Read this teaching as you would Proverbs, and the parallel repetitions will help you understand what Jesus is trying to say. We have all heard people say, “Judge not!” when they really mean, “Shut up and mind your own business.” But when we take these parallelisms together, we see a different picture. The passage begins and ends with the mercy of God. God is merciful. We are to show mercy if we want to have mercy shown to us. To put it more clearly, we must reflect the mercy God has given us to others.

The two couplets, “judge and condemn” and “forgive and give,” are paired together to help us understand these two ideas. The judgment Jesus is forbidding is not discernment or discretion but rather the condemnation of others. That is not to say we should not speak to others about their sin. Remember, the main message Jesus and the disciples preached was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is a recognition that only God is the final judge, and we all stand or fall by His mercy.

We can’t take God’s mercy for ourselves and deny it to others. This brings us to the last line. “For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” There is an unmistakable justice in the system of mercy. We must forgive as we have been forgiven. We must show mercy as we have been shown mercy. We will be measured with the same ruler we use on others.

This Week

Our correction of others must always be with their best interest in mind. Not flippant condemnation intended to harm them while making ourselves feel superior. Once again, love is the answer. Love is — benefiting others at my expense. It is what God has done for us. It is what Jesus gave us on the cross. And, it is what we must give each other. To know love, we must show love. To know mercy, we must show mercy. To know forgiveness, we must forgive.

Let’s help each other with a generous attitude this week. Knowing that the more we give, the more we will be given. We are truly rich in God’s mercy. We can afford to be generous to others.

Have a great week!