Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
When I was just 20 years old I graduated from a diploma program as a registered nurse. I remember when I began working on the post-ICU unit how thrilled I felt. The work was demanding and I loved every minute of it. Most surprising to me was that the most challenging aspect was not the actual nursing care, technical aspects, or responsibility but working daily with the other staff on my unit. Sometimes I had difficulty getting along with certain coworkers and I found myself unconsciously categorizing them. I could work really well with one person while I would avoid asking another for help. One person was my friend and another was someone to tolerate. What was this all about? The funny thing that happened was that, over time, as I got to know the people that I was initially put off by, I developed great affection for them. They were just like me. They were imperfect and they were doing the best they knew how in the only way they could. It was much later in my life that I began to realize that if everyone of us wore sticky notes (or tattoos!) saying how we had been hurt or in some way ‘unloved’ or suffering in the present time we might be much more merciful and kind towards one another. I’m not sure about tattoos, but yeah, that sticky note thing might be a good idea.
Today’s first reading from Genesis relates Abraham’s and his family’s journey to the land of Canaan. Abraham and his descendants had been chosen by God to be God’s people. Thanks to Holy Scripture, we are well aware not only of Abraham’s immense stature but his shortcomings as well. Not one of us would pass judgment on him as we know who he was in the eyes of God. The Gospel passage from Matthew, a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount, reminds us once again that we will be judged as we judge. It reminds us that we probably do not have the whole story as we size up another person so quickly. It challenges us to look at ourselves and see how far short we ourselves fall short and Jesus is asks us—no tells us—as people chosen by him we must approach one another in love always. It is so darn easy to write people off or categorize them. It takes so little effort and we can be done with it. But God has not treated us in this manner. God has faithfully stood by us, walked with us, cared for us, and never written us off. God has done nothing but be true and patient and merciful to us. And, as part of God’s chosen people, that is what God asks from us as well. We may never know what another is suffering now or how their past sufferings affect them still.
There are a hundred and one ways to judge another person. I have probably tried ninety of them. Not once has it made me more superior or brought me peace or joy. On the other hand, when I have purposefully assumed that every person I meet in a day will be a broken and limited and beloved child of God—just like me—I have felt I’ve done the right thing and I feel at peace. It always feels like a chance to truly bring my Jesus to life in this world. I have never been sorry to assume the best in a person and I suspect that a few people have been helped in some small way by this. By the grace and mercy of God, I hope to always realize I have a ‘wooden beam’ blocking my vision so that I am able to refrain from pointing to the splinter in my fellow’s eye. And I hope to keep in mind that, whatever I may think or feel about another, I cannot truly know where they are coming from; I can only choose to operate from a place of mercy and love and acceptance. I can choose to always remember that ‘sticky note’ thing.
--Gail Lyman