Today's scriptures are so important in light of our year of Merciful Discipleship. In today's gospel (Luke 12:54-59) Jesus wants us to resist the temptation to get an easy win in our arguments and dealings with others. Sadly, I know what the hot button topics are for my friends and family members - and I know that oftentimes it is better just not to engage in that fight. Sometimes it is just so tempting, though, to slip in a snarky comment I later wish I hadn't made.

 

Today's passage from Paul's letter to the Romans (7:18-25a) reminds me, similarly, of me and my temptations to want to get the last word, to do the very things that I know, even as I'm doing them, will not be helpful for anyone, least of all me. 

What is the remedy for this kind of temptation? People have had varying answers over the centuries. Some have said that if only we have enough self-control, we would not do these things. Some have said that if only we concentrated on our reason and let it rule us, we would not do these things. Some have suggested that if we just come up with enough laws prohibiting bad actions, and enough incentives permitting good ones, we would not do these things. 

 

Paul's answer is entirely different: he suggests that our bodies are just not always going to act like we want them too, no matter what we do. The remedy, for Paul, is only in Jesus Christ. Christians are asked to go beyond cheap and petty actions, beyond even legal remedies.  Legal remedies aren't wrong - but Jesus is calling us to find new ways of relating to other people.  In following Christ, we strive to show the world how mercy works.

 

To do this, we cannot rely on ourselves alone; we must rely on Jesus. Living in Christ requires a deep life of prayer - which the Pope does too! - and it requires constant attention to the question, "In the current space I'm in, am I doing things in such a way that I am being merciful?"  

 

The results of this kind of practice of prayer and attention might be surprising. Mercy is surprising. Pope Francis has been pope for two and a half years, and how many of us are still surprised when he deals with the Syrian refugee crisis by inviting refugees to stay at the Vatican - or when he creates a home for the homeless within the Vatican's walls? 

 

Today, let us turn with renewed purpose to prayer, in the hopes that following Jesus will lead us to be more merciful.

 

- Jana M. Bennett