Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

We commonly hear someone speaking about another person say, “He’s a good man.” Rarely does the sentence stop there, though. It’s usually, “He’s a good man, but he’s kind of cheap.” Or, “He’s a good man, but he has a bit of a temper.” It’s always, “He’s a good man, but” something.

And that makes sense. We are all sinners. But I think it’s that “but” that Christ is talking about here in the Gospel.

We look at people and compare them with the world in general. We notice that people are good in many circumstances. They’re good to people who are good to them. They love those who love them. They show mercy to those who show mercy to them. They do all those things which Christ assures us every sinner does.

And yes, there are people in this world who are so truly wicked that they are awful to everyone. But that is not the average person we meet. Most people are good to the people you would expect them to be good to. They struggle with everyone else.

That’s what Christ is pointing out. Our standard as his followers is not the world. It is not the way sinners live: being good to those who are good to them and hating those who hate them. That is the world’s standard. Treat everyone you like well, and either treat everyone else poorly or forget about them and don’t worry about it.

Christ is revealing to us the way of God himself, who shows mercy to everyone and love to everyone. Whether you are the greatest of saints or the most wicked of sinners, God loves you. God shows you mercy. He offers his gifts and his blessings to absolutely everyone, regardless of how they act and behave. That is the love with which God loves the world. And it is the standard by which Christ says we ourselves will be judged.

It doesn’t matter if you love your family. You’re supposed to love your family. Almost everyone loves their family. We even love our difficult family, because they’re our family.

You do not prove anything by loving your friends. That’s why they’re your friends: you like them. If you didn’t, they would be your enemies. You show nothing by doing that.

We prove who we truly are, our character, and our willingness to follow Christ by loving difficult people—by loving the people who, in any other circumstance, we would consider our enemies. Showing them compassion, understanding them, and showing them mercy truly develops love within our souls, so that we can love as Christ does.

We need to remind ourselves of this, because far too often we fall back on the world’s standard and say, “Well, I love the way everyone else I think is pretty decent loves, so I must be okay.”

But that is not the case. The average person is good. They really are. Despite all their flaws, the average person tries to do good, tries to tell the truth, and tries to love the people around them who are easy to love. But the average person is very far from perfect, very far from loving as God himself loves. And that is what we are to strive for.

So we should honestly evaluate ourselves and ask: Am I really living up to that standard, or have I fallen back on the world’s? Do I truly try to love my enemies, have patience with people, and show compassion even in the most difficult situations? Or do I write them off and focus only on the people who are easy to love?

If we do not try to love our enemies and those who challenge us, we will never grow. We will just be like the world. And we see where that has gotten it.

If we want God’s kingdom, then we must strive to love as God loves. If we truly want all the things Christ has to offer us, then we must follow him in his every example and his every word.