Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 440

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly, said G.K.Chesterton. There is so much to ponder in the Lord's "Sermon on the Plain" that we will surely be discouraged and lost if we approach it with fear and trembling. It's a vast cathedral like the Notre Dames of Paris or Cologne, with so much to ponder and consider, that if we take ourselves too seriously we'll not have the nerve to get through the foyer. 

We are welcome in this place despite our sins, and we must go in despite our full realization of their gravity. "You are welcome. You must hear. You must receive this calling, and understand the dignity which these words imply. They are meant for you; dignity has been bestowed upon you by the Word of God, although you feel entirely unworthy, and perhaps unwilling, to accept it. 

It has often been said, on a particular reading of Saint Paul's reassurance, that no one will be tested beyond their strength:

No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Cor 10:13)

We can read this reassurance as, "You can do this. You can read this Bible. You can enter this church, and participate in this liturgy. You think you can't; you have tried and failed because you didn't believe me; but I say, 'You can do this!" 

The same oft-quoted Bible says all things are possible for God. We fail to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, lend without expecting repayment, give to everyone who asks of you, and do to others as you would have them do to you because we don't want to; because we think it's not necessary, because it's not a good idea, because, because, because....

Because we don't believe we're worthy to enter God's presence or capable of doing what God knows we can do. And because we don't want to believe it. 

There is both our lack of faith and our habitual disobedience. And so we plead, "I am not worthy" when our worth has nothing to do with it! If God brings us here then we're obviously good enough in his sight, despite our sins, to be  brought in. And the claim of unworthiness is nothing more than another form of egotism, and a shield against God's gracious mercy. 

Jesus, who is a human being compelled by and obedient to the Holy Spirit, is The Coach who says we can do all those things. We lack only the willingness -- the will -- to let ourselves be strengthened and built into that ready ability. 

The Bible says we are made in the image and likeness of God. The early Fathers of the Church, supposed that every human being is made in the image of God and then becomes the likeness of God as we are shaped, molded, and conformed to his grace. Yes, we can love our enemies and turn the other cheek if we only surrender to his confidence in us.