As I'd Like It

PIxabay

Perhaps it was because yesterday was such an extremely windy day here in southern Ontario, that these lines from As You Like It repeated themselves over and over in my head all day:

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind as man's ingratitude...

I confess I don't remember even studying Shakespeare's play in which these words appear, but the lines are engraved in my brain nonetheless.

I wonder if Jesus ever felt what William tried hard to express?

He lived among an ungrateful people. Their ingratitude was, at least in part, why He had come to dwell among men in the first place. As the sinless Lamb of God, sin repelled Him. But it also drew Him toward sinners so that He could deal with that sin and restore fellowship between His Father and all of us who had rejected His loving favour to follow other gods.

But those to whom Jesus came rejected Him as well.

Despite that He tells His disciples in Luke 6: "...Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not without your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you...love you enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (6:27-31, 35, 36).

I was particularly struck by: "...he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

Ingratitude does bring a chill to our hearts, hardening them bit by bit until we really don't want to continue to be kind to those who return the favour with a slap in the face or total disregard.

The instruction given by Jesus is clear. But if we do manage to ignore the instruction, the example still stares us in the face and pricks the conscience. Jesus responded to the ingratitude of those who crossed His path, not by washing His hands of the whole miserable lot, but by continuing His journey to the cross so that mercy would still be available when the ungrateful and the wicked finally realized their dire need.

Being kind oftentimes means making a sacrifice for those who could care less. But to demonstrate that we really are "children of the Most High" that kind of sacrifice is required. How will anyone understand the mercy of God unless His representatives on earth show them what it looks like?