Do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back

Col 3,12-17; Ps 150; Lk 6,27-38
12 SEPTEMBER

Between the teaching of the ancient masters of Israel and that of Lord Jesus there is an infinite and substantial difference. The difference is highly substantial because the ancient masters lack the model of true love, true charity and true mercy: Christ Crucified, rather they lack the Crucified God, the God stripped and humiliated, the God who gave us all his life, including his flesh and his blood as the true nourishment of eternal life. The incarnate God who took upon himself all the faults and punishments due to them and has atoned for all mankind nailed to a cross.

“Through all your days, my son, keep the Lord in mind, and suppress every desire to sin or to break his commandments. Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing. For if you are steadfast in your service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly. “Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God’s face will not be turned away from you. Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. if you have but little, distribute even some of that. you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity. Almsgiving frees one from death, and keeps one from going into the dark abode. Alms are a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High for all who give them. Therefore, my son, love your kinsmen. Do not be so proud hearted toward your kinsmen, the sons and daughters of your people, as to refuse to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in such arrogance there is ruin and great disorder. Likewise, in worthlessness there is decay and dire poverty, for worthlessness is the mother of famine. “Do not keep with you overnight the wages of any man who works for you, but pay him immediately. If you thus behave as God’s servant, you will receive your reward. Keep a close watch on yourself, my son, in everything you do, and discipline yourself in all your conduct. Do to no one what you yourself dislike. Do not drink wine till you become drunk, nor let drunkenness accompany you on your way. “Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. Whatever you have left over, give away as alms; and do not begrudge the alms you give. So now, my son, keep in mind my commandments, and never let them be erased from your heart (Cf. Tb 4,1-21).

The hermeneutical and exegetical key of the Gospel teaching is Jesus the Lord who is a gift of the Father for our salvation. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God still today loves the world so much as to give for its salvation every son of adoption, in Christ, with Christ and for Christ. If the Christian does not see himself in Christ as a gift of the Father for salvation, never might he know the true love to which he is called by Christ Jesus. Every disciple of Jesus must be a living Christ today.

“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

It is Christ Crucified the Gospel that the disciple must always read as a key to understanding the other Gospel. If the former Gospel is not read, the latter might never be understood and even lived. Christ Crucified is also the difference between every human love, every love of other religions and Christian love. Christ Crucified is taken away, every love is the same as every other love. Divine and eternal difference.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, give to the Church and to the Christian Jesus Christ Crucified.