Homily on Mercy and Judgment

1Brothers, the world that forgets God is ruled by injustice toward its neighbor and inhumanity toward the weak. As the divine Apostle says: “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do what is not fitting. They were filled with every kind of injustice, wickedness, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and evil-mindedness; whisperers, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, without natural affection, without mercy” (Romans 1:28-31). But those whom God leads back to godliness he teaches both to abstain from evil and to care for mercy toward their neighbor. So the prophet Isaiah taught, speaking from the person of God: “Stop your evil deeds; learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16-17). The law had many commands about not harming one's neighbor, and also commands about being kind and showing mercy. If someone abandons one of these, the other is not enough to set a person right. For neither is a good deed to the needy from unjust gains acceptable to God, nor is the one who abstains from injustice praiseworthy if he shares nothing of his own. About those who commit injustice and still try to bring gifts to God it is written: “The sacrifice of the ungodly is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 15:8). And about those who show no mercy: “Whoever shuts his ears so as not to hear the poor, he also will call out and there will be no one to listen” (Proverbs 21:13). Therefore the Proverb advises: “Honor the Lord from your righteous labors, and offer him firstfruits from your fruits of righteousness” (Proverbs 3:9). For if you are about to bring an offering to God from injustice and robbery, it is better neither to acquire such a possession nor to bring an offering from it. For a pure gift will carry the prayer, as it is written: “The prayers of the upright are acceptable to him” (Proverbs 15:8). And again, if you acquire from righteous labors but do not bring offerings to God from which the poor are fed, it will be reckoned to you as robbery. So he says through the prophet Malachi: “The firstfruits and the tithes are with you, and the plunder will be in your houses” (Malachi 3:8-10). Therefore you must mix mercy and justice together: acquire with justice, and spend for mercy, according to what is written: “Keep mercy and justice, and draw near to your God always” (Hosea 12:6). For God loves almsgiving and justice (Psalm 33:5). So the one who attends to mercy and justice draws near to God. From here on, let each person examine himself, and let the rich person look at his own sources of income from which he is about to bring gifts to God: Did he oppress the poor? Did he force the weaker? Did he exploit the one under his authority, using power instead of justice? For we are commanded to keep what is just and fair even toward slaves. Do not use force just because you have power, and do not exploit just because you are able. Rather, since the means of authority are available to you, show the deeds of justice. For you will not give proof of your obedience to God and your fear of him in what you cannot do, but in what you are able to transgress and do not transgress.

2But if you take from the poor and then give to the poor, it would be better for you neither to rob nor to give. Why do you defile your own wealth by bringing unjust gains into it? Why do you make your offering abominable by trying to offer it from injustice, when you intend to show mercy to another poor person with it? Show mercy to the one you wrong. Use your kindness on him; give to him, and you will fulfill mercy with justice. For God will not share with greed, nor is the Lord a partner of thieves and robbers. He did not leave the poor to us because he is unable to feed them, but because he seeks from us a just and kind fruitfulness, for our own benefit. Almsgiving does not come from injustice, nor blessing from a curse, nor good deeds from tears. God says to those who cause the tears of the wronged: “You did what I hated; you covered my altar with tears, with weeping and groaning.” Show mercy from your labors, and do not wish to commit injustice, making injustice a pretext for bringing mercy to God. Such things are vainglory, aimed at praise from human beings, not at the praise that comes from God, toward which one looks. For this reason the Lord rightly says, “not in order to be seen by men” (Matthew 6:1). For if you practice almsgiving as though God sees it, you will guard against doing it from greed, knowing that you do not gladden God the overseer. Let us practice almsgiving in this way, so that we may receive back from God. God gives back to those whom he praises, and he praises no greedy person. You cannot bring gifts to God if you have grieved your brother. “If you are offering your gift at the altar,” he says, “and there remember that your brother has something against you, go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Remember the tax collector Zacchaeus, who resolved to repay fourfold whatever he had defrauded, and then distributed half of his remaining goods to the poor. For he knew that he wished to receive Christ, and Christ would not accept his generosity toward the poor unless the greed against those he had wronged was dissolved. And so the Lord accepted Zacchaeus’s uprightness and said, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9). These words are for those who practice almsgiving but do not take thought for fairness. But to the one who guards against committing injustice yet neglects to show mercy, we say: “Every tree that does not produce fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10), and such a tree will never please the heavenly gardener, who says, “He came seeking fruit on the fig tree and found none,” and orders it to be cut down so that it will not use up the ground (Luke 13:6-7). The one who does not return a pledge to the poor also appears condemned before God, and a threat is made against such a person. “If the one who has not received back his pledge cries out to me,” he says, “I will hear him, for I am merciful” (Exodus 22:27). It was also a terrible and lawless thing to reap the harvest a second time, to gather the vineyard again, and to glean the olive grove, because these things had to be left for the poor. But if these things were commanded to those under the law, what shall we say about those in Christ? To them the Lord says: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

3For this reason the Apostle urges us to share with those who have nothing not only from fields and revenues but also from the work of our hands. “Working,” he says, “the good with your hands, so that you may have something to share with the one in need” (Ephesians 4:28). To the one who wishes to follow him, the Lord also directed that he sell all his possessions for the benefit of the poor, and in this way follow him. For his followers and the perfect he commands the complete and immediate fulfillment of almsgivings, so that after completing the service that comes through money they may move on to the service that comes through word and spirit. For the rest he commands continual sharing and giving from what they have, so that through these things they may be found imitators of God’s kindness, showing mercy, sharing, and giving freely. “Give,” he says, “and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). Through these things he also promised them sharing with himself. These are the ones who stand at the Lord’s right hand, to whom the king will say when he comes: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me; I was sick and in prison, and you came to me” (Matthew 25:34-36). When the righteous marvel and say, “When did we do these things for you, Lord?” he will say to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). For eagerness toward the saints is reverence toward Christ, and the eager servant of the poor is found to be a sharer with Christ—not only if he shares something great because he has much, but even if he possesses little and brings that, and even if he gives only a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple (Matthew 10:42). For the disciples’ poverty in the world is an occasion for true wealth for you, O rich man. Through these you are found a fellow worker with Christ. You feed Christ’s soldiers, and you feed them willingly, not under compulsion. For the heavenly king does not compel, nor does he demand tribute, but he receives those who are eager, so that by giving they may receive, by honoring they may be honored, and by sharing in temporary things they may be called to share in eternal things. Let these things be in our memory at every moment and before the eyes of our soul, so that we do not let the opportunity that falls to us pass by, nor put off the present and wait for another, lest while we wait and delay we be overtaken by the end. May the Lord grant that we be found fruitful and watchful, remembering his commandments, ready and unhindered for his glorious meeting, in Christ himself our God, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, and honor, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.