Scripture for Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Scripture for Tuesday of 11th week in Ordinary Time, year 2. I Kings
21:17-29. Psalm 51:3-4,5-6,11.16. Matthew 5:43-48. Lectionary # 366:

St. Therese of the Child Jesus frequently extolled the mercies of God
felt throughout her short life. So did one of the Cardinals at Vatican II
who was so moved by the Council that he realized the mercies of the Lord
were at work within him, giving him a new springtime of renewal and
dedication. We also have a hymn in the liturgy of the hours that
beautifully entones the mercy of God: "Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends thy word: Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more: Hallelujah!" (Isaac Watts, 1719).
Therese and others experience this mercy in a profound way for "the mercy
of the Lord endures forever."
In our first reading we have a powerful example of God's mercy. The
prophet Elijah is challenging King Ahab for having permitted his wife
Jezebel to murder Nabot, the innocent owner of a small plot of land with a
garden that the king wanted and got through his wife's murdering the man.
In listening to the prophet, Ahab has remorse and repents and does penance.
God is so moved that his mercy spares the next generation of Ahab's
descendants. The mercy of God endures forever.
Psalm 51 is the greatest of the seven penitential psalms and is
filled with God's loving-kindness and mercy. By acknowledging our sins we
like David experience the mercy of God. Our response is "Be merciful, O
Lord, for we have sinned." Then we are led to meditate on this following
verse:"Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned. Have mercy on me, O God, in
your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me."
The greatness of God's mercy leads us to be merciful and kind to
others. Surely, Jesus is challenging us to think big when it comes to
holiness manifested by God's grace of mercy. The recently departed great
Matthean scholar Krister Stendahl, Professor Emeritus of Harvard
Theological School, has a good interpretation of this verse:"In a word you
must be perfected as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Stendahl concludes,
"The Lucan 'merciful' is more suitable to the context of the pericope as
well as to Luke's presentation of Jesus at large; Matthew's teleios
(perfect) may be due to his interest in having a term which fits the whole
of Matthew 5:17-47; cf. also 19:21. 'You" is strongly emphasized, again in
keeping with the antithetical intention of Matthew." (Peakes Commentary on
the Bible, p.777). Yes, God's perfection is seen in his merciful kindness
to all of his people. His mercy is abundantly merciful from age to age and
from person to person forever. Amen.