Lk 6:36-38
A good measure: The gospel is part of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain which is addressed to a predominantly Gentile Christian audience. At its core is Jesus’ teaching on love of one’s enemies and love of one’s neighbor. Jesus’ proclamation is clearly an invitation to view reality from the perspective of God’s abundant goodness and mercy.
To be “merciful as the Father is merciful” (v 36) is to enter into the sphere of God’s unbounded mercy and experience God’s generosity. Judging or condemning blocks this experience. One who judges or condemns submits the other to close scrutiny according to one’s own standards, norms, and expectations. In short, one measures with one’s own self-righteousness.
But God’s measure is different from—in fact, far greater than—the measure of human beings. To judge others according to one’s measure is to risk being judged by God according to his measure! To use one’s yardstick to condemn another person is to put oneself before the yardstick of God’s justice (Lk 7:36-50).
On the other hand, to give generously and to forgive are acts that call down God’s abundant mercy and overflowing goodness. They open one to a tremendous experience of the outpouring of God’s graces. To follow Jesus is to enter the sphere of God, to forsake the narrow limits of one’s judgment, and to view the world as God does: with eyes full of compassion and love.