Gospel-Homily for Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (2025)

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We Are Good at Measuring.

There I was in the jury deliberation room, holding a 22 caliber for the first time. The other item we had was the judge’s instructions. Between the evidence and the law instructions, we were forced to give a guilty verdict of possession. When the verdict was read, the man behind the defendant lowered his head. He was the dad. It was a heartbreaking moment.

Instead of the law instructions, what if the judge sent the dad to the deliberating room with the family photo album? We would have never convicted the kid. The dad would have shown us the baby pictures and explained how helpful his son is to his sick grandmother. We would have been given the high school football stats, and we would have known that he was accepted to start college in the fall.

Someday, we will be judged. This is what will happen on that day. God, our Father, will enter the deliberating room with the family photo album. This is good for us because God is the greatest judge. He has pictures of our lives and knows us.

I offer this thought because Jesus in the Gospel tells us not to judge. Why can’t we judge? Because we are terrible at it. We do not have the family album; we do not read hearts or have the skills to do it well. So Jesus says, “Do not do something we cannot do well, but do something we can do well.” We can measure, and we are good at it. We know how much sugar to put in our coffee, salt to put in our food, and cash in our wallets.

After fly fishing one early morning, Dad and I went to a diner for a coffee break. When we finished, the waitress left the check on the counter. Dad and I lunged for it, but Dad beat me to it. He said, “I got this,” and went to the cashier. After he left, I thought that I would leave the tip. I looked in my wallet, but I only had a five. A five-dollar tip was a lot for two cups of coffee, but I felt generous. I then got in the truck. A few moments later, Dad arrived and said to me, “I handed her five dollars for a tip, do you think that was too much?” I replied, “No, I don’t think five dollars is too much. I think ten dollars was too much.”

            The story is not over yet. Dad and I returned to the diner a month later for breakfast, and we got terrific service, free refills, extra strips of bacon, and freebies. Jesus’ point is this: do not do something you are not good at doing; do something you are good at doing: generosity. And do not hold back, “Because the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”