In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

It is not particularly hard to be kind to those for whom we have an affinity. It can actually, in many cases, be something of a pleasure to be kind, understanding, forgiving to someone that we like, that has fallen short in some way. It's a way of giving them a gift that we feel glad to give.

And on the other hand, with a little care, a little bit of protection of our understanding, we can also shrug off the offenses of those who to us are utter strangers, that we have no relationship with whatsoever. They do something, and what was that nonsense, that crazy thing? Shrug your shoulders and move on, because you expect never to encounter that terrible person ever again.

The real challenge comes when we come into conflict with those who are close to us, the ones that we feel should agree with us or understand us, and yet do not—those who should know better but disregard our wrongs. It's in that middle area that the real struggle comes, where we grit our teeth. We say, "Nevermind, it's fine," while inside it's not fine. And we just put one little notch on the card. And the next time is another, and another, and another. And meanwhile, we're telling ourselves, "I'm being kind. I'm being understanding. I'm being reasonable in the situation," until some moment when somebody does something comparatively trivial and you react with great anger or resentment, frustration. And everyone looks at you and says, "What's happened with you?" But you know in your heart all that accumulation of frustration, of resentment, of offenses, of things given and not returned, of showing grace and receiving back thoughtlessness and maybe even cruelty, of asking things to be done according to a way that is reasonable and having them done in some foolish or destructive way instead.

These are kinds of things that can really ruin relationships. And we so often are having this understanding inside us that if only those around us would actually just see things rightly—the way that I see them, of course, as I see rightly—then we would all have peace. And yet somehow that's not what happens. Somehow those who ought to know better, those who are close and dear to me, seem to be the ones that in important ways are most far off, the ones that drive me the craziest.

And we find ourselves stuck, terribly stuck in our families, in our relationships, in politics, in all sorts of areas of life where we're slowly boiling up, maybe keeping things cool on the exterior until some moments when it just boils over in outrage and misery.

But brothers and sisters, what Jesus is firmly telling us in the Gospel today is that he is giving us a new standard. The way that we find so natural and reasonable is one that is of this world. It is of this life that is not true life. It is not connected, ultimately does not belong to the life of God.

Now if we're simply in this exchange of "I receive good, so I give back good. If I have been paid back in the past, I'll lend to you now because I expect you to pay me back now. If I'm merciful and generous to those who've been merciful and generous to me," he says that is nothing special. That has nothing to do with God, because sinners do that all the time.

But instead he lays out the standard of mercy that belongs to God: Be merciful as your Father is merciful. Not starting with our own hearts, our own understanding, but beginning with the Kingdom of Heaven. Because what we need to recognize is that as long as our hearts are fixed upon the failings, the offenses, the wrongs that others have done to us, then our hearts, our sight, our lives are not fixed upon the Gospel. They are not fixed upon the will of God for us.

And to take it one step further, we need in our humility to recognize that there are many things that we do not know. We do not see into the secret hearts of those around us. Those that we imagine we know very well are in very important ways an essential mystery to us. We don't even know our own hearts very well, not to mention other people's. And so many times we tell ourselves stories about why other people are doing what they do, and it's a fiction. We don't actually know one thing about it. And those fictions, as we accumulate them, all prevent us from seeing truly.

And so we come instead to this new standard, this new measure for our life that our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ has given us: to do good, to love even our enemies, to lend expecting nothing in return. "And you will be sons of the Most High," God says.

Now does this mean that somehow it doesn't matter whether any of us do good? Should we not bother to give thanks? Since God is kind and generous to the ungrateful and evil, does that mean that there is nothing then to do that is worthy and good? No, of course not. We should be above all seeking everything that is good and right and worthy of God at all times, but following the pattern that he has shown to us.

Now we hear from the apostle today the other side of this picture that we need to hold at the same time: that we do not by showing this kind of mercy pretend that wrong is right or nothing really happened or such a thing. All of those are also false. They are also fictions that do not allow us and the other person to confront the reality of what has happened.

St. Paul goes at great length to warn us that we are temples of the living God. And we have nothing—as he says, "What agreement does the temple of God have with idols, with these false sources of worship, these objects of adoration that we place in our lives?" We are sons and daughters of the Most High, he says. And that reminds us of our very high calling, that we are to work out the perfection of our lives with the help of God, being made into temples of the Holy Spirit, dwelling places of God—that everything that we do is accountable to that great work that is being done in us.

And so when we are confronting those around us who are doing wrong, who are inviting us to enter into things that are corrupt, evil, slanderous, impure, we are called to this higher standard, to be sons and daughters of the Most High, to remember that we belong to God and are his dwelling place. And so we hold fast to that as we confront these dark lures, temptations, and offenses in our lives, but doing it not with self-righteousness, but instead patience—the patience that our Father has shown us.

Because if we recognize what is wrong, if we notice that someone is doing something that is hurtful, harmful, offensive, destructive to my own life or to someone that I care about, God surely sees more clearly than I do. And he sees the things that are going on in my own life that I hide from, that I'm afraid to confront as well. And still he sheds his mercy abroad. He is generous and kind to the ungrateful and the evil, even to you and to me.

And so that is the pattern that he expects us who seek to be his children to follow: that if this is the way that he has shown patience and kindness and mercy to us, that we would do the same with others—that we would not confront them and overpower them and bully them and condemn and complain and criticize, but rather would patiently and humbly lead others towards what is good and right, helping them to recognize ways in which they have done harm and injury, but doing that with forgiveness and generosity and mercy of knowing how much work I have to do myself in my own life. And so let's work on our lives side by side, rather than me being the taskmaster over you.

So instead, brothers and sisters, we are called upon to fix our eyes upon what we know to be right, the way of God the Father that has been set out for us, to practice his love, his truth faithfully as best we know how in our own lives, and finding the way to bring clarity and truth into our own hearts so that we can communicate that with peace and humility to those around us, with firmness of purpose, remembering that you are sons and daughters of the Most High God.

And so therefore, be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful and loves all mankind. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.