Jesus’ Ministry
February 24, 2019

Scripture Reading: Luke 6:27-38

 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’ –Luke 6:37-38

We all have some quirky ideas about life and living. We probably do not think they are weird. My sister and I got into a discussion recently about some of our Dad’s unusual quirks and wondered from where they started. He did not believe in surgery, in cutting into human bodies at all. I never discussed it with him and doubt that I would have gotten very far if I had tried. Even though my mother did not share this opinion, when he died my mother refused to let an autopsy be performed because she knew my Dad would not approve. I guess it was a good thing that he never had a condition requiring surgery.

It is unfair to judge anyone for anything without the full story and God is the only entity who has the whole story on anyone. I suppose that is why God gave the judgement assignment to Jesus*. We do need a judicial system to ferret out the various civil and criminal issues of our world, but we must always understand that such systems are limited by their inability to know the whole truth. Such systems are opportunities for us to provide restorative justice to those caught in cycles of crime.  Our inability to know the whole story about anyone’s behavior is also the reason I do not support the death penalty.

Prayer: Lord, help us provide as fair a justice system as possible within the limitations of our knowledge of events that lead to crimes and to always provide restorative justice. Amen.

*Matthew 25:31-46

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.