Fourth Sunday after Trinity AD 2024
Saint Paul says in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, recounting his trials, among other things: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.” The reason for “forty stripes save one” was that according to the Law of Moses it was not allowed to punish anyone with more than forty stripes, and to avoid the possibility of accidentally messing up the count, it was customary to give one less stripe just in case.
Similarly, I remember from my childhood when I went to the farmer’s market with my grandmother that when we bought something by weight – be it potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries or whatever – it was customary for the sellers to add some vegetables or berries after the weighing to prevent the buyers from accidentally get less than what they had paid for.
It is said that to err is human, and since God knows this far better than we do, there may not necessarily be anything wrong with erring – as long as we err not to harm or deceive anyone, but for their benefit. Just as it is written by Saint John Chrysostom: “It is better to err by excess of mercy than by excess of severity. Wilt thou become a Saint? Be severe to thyself but kind to others.”
Jesus says in today's Gospel: “Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
“Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.” Jesus wants to make sure that we never give less, but more – and that if we should err, then not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others. This is the only way we can be the children of our Father, because giving belongs to His nature, and He always give abundantly. God doesn’t measure to us with the same measure we measure with but blesses us with immeasurably more than we can ever receive, let alone pay for.