Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
There is a Disney movie made in the 1960’s based on a book by Eleanor H. Porter named Pollyanna. The story is about a young orphan girl who is reluctantly taken in and mistreated by her aunt. Pollyanna’s favorite thing to do is to play the ‘glad game’ which basically consists of finding the silver lining in everything and the good in everyone. Eventually her infectious optimism changes the attitude of the all the people in whole town, including her pernicious aunt. One of the best lines from the movie is, “When you look for the bad, expecting it, you will get it. When you know you will find the good—you will get that…” I remembered this while reading today’s Gospel and thought about how different things are when I live my life looking only for the good in others.
In the reading from Matthew’s Gospel the passage begins chapter seven which is the last part of the Sermon on the Mount and everything that Jesus says in this, and subsequent passages, is stated as a directive. They are not suggestions or invitations but rather authoritatively mandated as part of the life of a follower of Jesus. Jesus says, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged”. How easy it is to feel convicted when I read these words. It seems like reflexive thinking at times and when I am stressed or tired or not depending on God (read: ‘not prayed up’) I find I am particularly vulnerable and am liable fall into doing this. Later in this passage Jesus says, “the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” Honestly, I do not want to follow a directive given by the Master because I am afraid of what will happen to me if I fail to do so. In fact, I do not even think Jesus wants me to live that way. I think he wants me to recognize what I have been given, what has been done for me, and how much mercy has been shown to me. And in the abundance of that particular grace I will find I meet my brothers and sisters in kindness and compassion and mercy as well—looking only for the good—and I will never be disappointed or judgmental.
I cannot know what another has experienced in their life…what wounds they carry, in what way they may be in need of God’s healing. I cannot know these things, even at times with those closest to me. Just as I can be very quick to defend my own actions or words or even my thoughts, I must be even more eager to defend others—even if it is only from my own skewed judgment about them. Who can truly know a person’s heart except God? And who, therefore is the only one capable of judging anyone? Even if I can see others’ shortcomings, even if I think I know what they need, my calling is only to love—look for the good in others. My personal brokenness will always cloud my vision and this fact must always inform how I meet others. Perhaps the best I can hope for is that my God will grant me the grace to begin to reflexively meet others, viewing them first and always as good… a beloved child of God, created by him, loved by him, held in being by his boundless grace. Today I pray I can live looking only for the good in others knowing that, by the grace of God, I will always find it.
--Gail Lyman