Where You Want to Get to? | Fourth Sunday After Trinity.

Luke 6:36-42

Where you want to get to?

By The Rev. Benjamin Bernier

In the children’s classic Alice in Wonderland there is a scene in which Alice finds a grinning Cheshire Cat in the woods who appears and disappears. At one point, Alice asks the Cheshire Cat for direction.

She says to the cat: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?

The Cat responds: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don’t much care where –

The Cat finally responds: Then it does not matter which way you walk.

In this brief dialog Lewis Carroll’s genius captured the dilemma of our spiritual condition.

Like Alice we find ourselves in this world as she found herself in that strange wood. Like her we feel the need to ask for direction. We know we should be going somewhere, but we are not sure where that is or how to get there.

In that sense we are blind. We do not know the way to get were we need to be. The cat’s conclusion is inescapable. If we do not know where we want to go, then it does not matter which way we take. But it does matter!

The Lord addressed this perplexity in our Gospel lesson with a very short parable, set up as a question: Can the Blind lead the Blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

Like Alice in the wood we are blind concerning the spiritual end we ought to reach and the spiritual way to get there;

Like her we may politely ask the others who appear in the wood to help us, but they cannot tell us what they do not know themselves, and the only conclusion is that it does not really matter. Indifference is a common feature of our age.

But, the truth is that they are as ignorant as we are. We are all blind concerning ultimate reality and spiritual things. That is why we find no sure direction for our steps, and when the blind guides the blind both will surely fall in the ditch.

Only one who sees spiritual reality as it really is, can give us spiritual direction.

Only one who knows can guide us away from the ditch.

When it comes to the spiritual world there is only one who really knows; Only one who came down from heaven and who reveals the true way to the Father and eternal life.

He tells us that the way we ought to pass through this temporal life in order not to lose things eternal is different from what we are naturally inclined to do and think.

First, he tells that if we want to reach the Father, we must become like him.

We must be merciful as the Father is merciful.

Mercy is the disposition of love to give to others better things than they justly deserve.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. Good judgment is the ability to give to each one according to that which they deserve. But Mercy, gives better, Mercy is a feature of grace, unmerited favor to miserable sinners.

We all have a natural tendency to seek mercy for us and judgment for others. We want to receive better than we deserve, while we may become very upset when others receive anything less than the exact measure for their faults. Our tolerance for our failures is great, while very small towards other's faults.

That is why the Lord tells us; "Judge Not, that ye may not be judge", because as we are merciful to others so will we receive mercy from others and finally from God.

The Lord is empathic in this teaching:

Condemn not and ye shall not be condemned:

Forgive and ye shall be forgiven;

Give, and it shall be given on to you.

In other words do to others that which you want others to do with you.

There is a simple exercise which helps us when we are faced with the temptation to judge others without mercy.

The exercise is as follows: ask yourself, how would I feel if it was me in that person's shoes. If it were you who was being judged, what would you like to receive from others? This is the principle of empathy which derives directly from the golden rule: as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them; ie. do to others as you would like others to do with you.

How many conflicts could find immediate resolution if those involved would take the time to follow this simple rule; If the husband was more caring and the wife more respectful, and viceversa; but in our blindness we think that fighting for our rights will lead us forward; when giving abundantly to others that which we would like to receive from them is the real answer.

We must become imitators of Jesus, He lived by the Golden Rule. The key of the rule is to learn to be like Christ.

The disciple is not above his master.

The goal of the disciple is to be like his master. That is what maturity and perfection means. It means to be merciful and kind as our Lord is merciful and kind.

We cannot really help others otherwise.

Without mercy our attitude towards other's faults and needs is bound to be judgmental. We will be trying to help others feeling that we are better than them in the process. We will be trying to remove a mote from our brother’s eye while we keep the beam in our own eye.

But we must deal first with ourselves, before we can help others. Then acknowledging our weaknesses and faults, and God’s infinite mercy towards us, we will be enable to extend to others the same kind of mercy which the Lord has extended to us, free from prejudice or condescension.

It is our own faults which should take precedence in our minds and not the failures of our brethren. If we are to judge anyone it should be ourselves; to receive God’s mercy, repent and amend our lives before is too late, not following the path of the hypocrite bypassing his own faults to appear righteous correcting the problems of others.

That is not the way of Christ. That is not the way which will lead us 'through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal.'

The section immediately preceding our Gospel lesson summarizes our Lord's teaching very clearly:

Luke 6:31 as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

32 "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

In commanding us to love our enemies, and do good to them, God raised the standard of our conduct in this world to a higher level; to a heavenly standard, to a Godly standard; one which those attached to the values of this world cannot see or understand. If we are to find the right way in this world of lies and confusion, fear and manipulation; we need to take Christ's conduct and teaching seriously. We must strife to imitate him both in his kindness towards friends as in his mercy towards enemies. Only then shall we be sure of where we are going and how to get there; of passing through this mortal life, as Sons of the Most High, living the life that comes from above and misses not the eternal reward. Amen.

Let us Pray.

God The protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.