2nd week in Lent, Monday – 9th March 2020 – Lk 6,36-38
Do’s and don’ts for Eschaton rewards
Two prohibitions, “do not judge,” and “do not condemn”, are followed by two positive commands, “forgive” and ‘give” ending with an expanded explanation on the measure of giving. In the first prohibition Jesus is forbidding not all forms of human evaluation (6,41-42) but rather condemnatory judgment. The second prohibition intensifies the first, perhaps prohibiting condemnation in a more formal and judicial sense. The purpose of these prohibitions is that divine judgment will be withheld from those who avoid unjust condemnation (Rom 2,3; Jas 2,12-13; 5,9). The same logic occurs in the next two imperatives: “forgive” and “give”. The result is again the reward of divine forgiveness. The aspect of giving reiterates the teaching of the Golden Rule (Mt 7,12). Jesus reiterates his call to his disciples to imitate God’s unlimited generosity, in the hope of an unlimited divine reward in the eschaton. Jesus assures that if we imitate the Father, we will know forgiveness; we will receive God’s abundant generosity in our lives.
