Once, while Jesus was speaking to a crowd, a woman shouted out, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed. Jesus replied, ‘Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Lk. 11: 27-28). There are a few of Jesus’ words that reveal the real challenge of our faith in him more simply or more clearly. This is the fullness of what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. The evidence of our faith in him is found most powerfully and most clearly revealed to others in the way we live our lives in accord with his word. This simple sentence can be directly connected to everything Jesus said to us in the Gospels.
For example, in Matthew’s Gospel we see Peter asking Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times’ ” (Mt.18: 21-23). He then recounts the story of a king who has a servant who owes him a substantial debt and has no means to repay it. The king threatens to have the servant, his family, and his property sold to pay off the debt. The servant then falls on his knees and begs for mercy. The king, in an act of true compassion, forgives the servant’s debt and lets him go. The servant, in turn, goes to another fellow servant who owes him a much smaller debt and demands an immediate payment. That servant appeals to him in the same way that he had appealed to the king, but he responds by having his fellow servant thrown into prison until he pays back the debt. The original servant is reported to the king by others and the king responds by calling the first servant back and saying to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you” (vs. 32-33)?
The king in this passage represents Jesus, and the servant represents us. The message is pointed directly at us, and we are to hear it in the same vein as the passage from Luke’s Gospel that opens this article. If the first servant had forgiven his fellow servant’s debt in the manner that the king had forgiven his much larger debt, he would not have just heard the word, but he would have “kept” it. For us, listening to this word, we are challenged to remember that Jesus, in his compassion for us, forgave the whole debt of all of our sins by giving is life for us on the cross.
To reinforce this idea, we are challenged to remember Jesus’ words to us, “Be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate. 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 portion, packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing, will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return” (Lk. 6:36-38). Those who hear these words and keep them by living them openly with their lives are blessed indeed. The opposite is also true. In other words, where there is no compassion for those in need, for the wounded and abandoned among us, for the widow, the orphan, and the alien among us, God is not present. Where there is no pity, no forgiveness, no generosity of possessions, no hospitality of heart, God is not there, for his words are not being kept. If we hear the word of God but do not keep it, that is, put it into practice, our faith is as good as nothing. If we do keep and practice the words of Jesus in our daily lives, our faith is not only alive but vigorous and full of God’s grace, and his grace enters the world in and through us.
Finally, in John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus saying to the disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for a friend” (Jn 15: 12-13). Is it not curious that Jesus uses the word “commandment” here? As the old joke says about the 10 Commandments, “This is a commandment, not a suggestion.” It is meant to be more than merely “heard”. It is meant to be kept in our living actions of compassion, pity, and forgiveness toward others. As the Apostle James writes, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2: 26).
Lord, help us to be your living word for those who are close to us and for those who have the most need. Give us the courage of faith, the energy of hope, and the compassion of your love so that we may not only hear your word with great joy but keep it in all that we think, say, and do. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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