Reflection
My kids used to say I know everything. Admittedly, I’m smart, educated, and constantly learning. Yet I increasingly realize how little I really know and how fleeting my “knowledge” is. In fact, much of what I learned before has been superseded by new information. In all things, we must hold our certainty lightly.
This is especially true in relation to God. The lust for certainty, and the black-and-white reasoning that accompanies it, gets us in trouble. In God, very little (if anything) is binary – not even good and evil.
I sometimes find myself saying that because of what this or that “bad” person has done, they don’t deserve to be happy, to be loved, or, in my darkest times, even to be alive. At other times, I find myself saying that a certain “good” person doesn’t deserve to have all the hardship and losses they’re enduring. In all those times, I set myself up as a binary judge, deciding who is good and who is bad, who “deserves” to suffer and who doesn’t, who’s in and who’s out. And oh my, it makes life easy! No need for compassion or listening to the other’s story or placing myself in their shoes. No recognition that the line between good and evil runs straight through every human heart. Just put everyone in a box and act accordingly toward them.
That certainly isn’t the way of Jesus. He tells us to love our enemies, to forgive, and to act with unconditional mercy and generosity toward all. We are to leave all judgment to God, who knows every human heart, including ours.
Yes, “including ours.” God knows my heart and its contents. I can’t hide anything, even the deepest dark recesses that I deny or don’t want anyone to see. And yet, I don’t need to! Indeed, God sees the hurt, abused, vengeful, self-righteous, and judgmental parts of me. But God thoroughly, fully, and totally loves me anyway. God says I deserve love, joy, peace, and healing. God accepts my good, my bad, and my ugly, and then forgives me and calls me on to become something better than I could ever be on my own. It’s mind-blowing.
The rub? God then challenges me and all of us to do the same. Bring justice to all people. Work against poverty and oppression everywhere. Work for peace and equality. Work for the reign of God on this earth. But do so with love, generosity, strength, and faith, not verdicts about who is deserving, not hatred, vengeance, or pre-labeled boxes. Binary thinking and judging will never result in a peaceful world of shared resources and non-violent resolutions.
So, this week, let’s try to be acutely aware of judgments, positive and negative. Let’s concentrate on being kind, merciful, and loving even to those who don’t love us. Let’s pray that God form our hearts to be more like Jesus. Sometimes it seems impossible, but let’s give God a chance.
