Trinity 4 – Luke 6:36-42 – July 1st and 2nd, 2023
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
So last week Jesus reminded us that “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” This is vital for us to understand, that God rejoices over forgiveness. That God actually wants sinners, sinners like your neighbor and also sinners like you, forgiven. And today we get a text that explains precisely why God wants sinners forgiven, and that is this: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Thus far the text.
So what does this mean? What does it mean to be “merciful” here? The idea is that God likes mercy, that He seeks to show mercy. He takes pity upon people and has compassion upon them. It's not just that God is willing to let a grudge go if you ask Him nicely or kowtow before Him and appease Him – it is that when God sees the sad, messed up state of the world and the people therein, He wants to show mercy and compassion. Think about God coming upon Adam and Eve in the garden after they've sinned – God doesn't grab Adam by the scruff of the neck and start shaking – the LORD deals with them gently and calmly. Or in the rest of the Old Testament, God actually is quite gentle and delicate with people – the whole tabernacle set up was about how sinful people could safely be with God because God isn't really keen on wanton destruction. We think of the Old Testament as full of fire and brimstone, but it's not really. The only time that happens is after several warnings when people are basically literally begging for destruction and for the LORD to abandon them. Even Pharaoh got nine plagues before the tenth one hit. God isn't really out to just get people – He loves the world.
And then, you've got the New Testament. How often does Christ show compassion? How often is He gentle? He'll be patient with Pharisees even when they are messing with Him. About the only time we see Jesus angry is when people are messing with the temple, when they turn His house of prayer to a den of robbers. Even when being Crucified, Jesus calls out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Of course He does – that's what being merciful looks like. That's taking pity on people trapped in sin and death – that's what Jesus comes to rescue you from. First and foremost is this – God is merciful.
So understand what Satan is trying to do to you. Understand how the world and your sinful flesh will attack you. They want you, above all things, to forget that God is merciful. As soon as Adam and Eve sin, they hide – they forget God's mercy. They don't seek forgiveness (no one seeks God, not one) – but rather they run away from God and simply wait to die. That's Satan's plan, that's his desire – to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is our default as sinful human beings. And even though you know that God is merciful, the temptations are going to be bombarding you from without and from within to forget that God is merciful.
This is why we hear Jesus next say – Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. That's not the way the game is played today. Isn't the world full of snap judgments and calls for condemnation? Do you not realize what that is? It's not just politics, it's not just business as usual – it is a spiritual attack leveled upon you by the Devil to twist you away from God and His mercy. It is Satan trying to warp your mind to where you only critique and complain and condemn your neighbor and thus utterly forget and abandon God and His mercy. When you see your neighbor stuck in sin, you get driven to forsake mercy, abandon any efforts at helping, and rather to condemn, to pile on, to hurt and destroy. Do you see them just as an enemy to be defeated, or someone trapped in sin in dire need of rescue? And the thing is, that judgment, that loathing that you feel towards them... Satan will slowly twist it towards you where it becomes self-loathing followed with denial and bluster and pretend while life becomes more and more miserable. This is what we see all around, this is even what Satan is trying to do to you, to your own heart.
But Pastor, isn't God the judge? Well, yes – but what sort of judge is He? Is God out to throw the book at everyone, or does He desire to write your name in the book of Life? Does He go over everything with a harsh, fine tooth comb, or does He rather desire to cover everything, all of your sin, with the blood of Christ Jesus shed upon the Cross? Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. That's how the LORD seeks to judge, that's the wisdom of His judgments. Yes, you sin – but I will be your God and I will rescue you from sin and I will forgive and restore and raise you to new life. Does your anger, does your disdain towards your neighbor, towards your self, point you to your Merciful God? No. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
On the contrary, the righteousness of God, what God deems to be the good and right and proper thing to do is to throw everything under the cross of Christ Jesus and forgive. Forgive, and you will be forgiven: give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. The point is forgiveness. For you, for them, for all. If anyone knows not the the forgiveness of Christ Jesus, it's a tragedy. But Pastor, what about the For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Yeah, what about it? There's forgiveness in Christ, rich forgiveness. If you live in Christ, that's what you receive, that's what you give – forgiveness will dominate your life. If not – you're trapped in the rat race, the scrum, the cruel game out there in the world where it's nothing but anger, animosity, and condescension. Jesus isn't telling you to go out and give it to “those people” - He's telling you that judgment like that is dumb and to flee from it. The point of the Church actually, truly, really is forgiveness – even though Satan does His damnedest to make you forget forgiveness.
Which leads to our brief parable – Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? To forget that Jesus forgives is to be blind, and without forgiveness all you do is end up in the pit, end up in hell. That's just the reality. And if you blind yourself to forgiveness when dealing with your neighbor, you'll never lead them anywhere good, you'll just wreck the both of you. Rather – a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. That “fully trained” is an interesting idea – it's fully refreshed, fully restored, fully up to speed. This is what Christ Jesus does to you – He forgives you, He refreshes and restores and renews you with His forgiveness - for your good, yes, but also for your neighbor's good – so that you will be one who forgives them.
And this whole premise of forgiveness is wrapped up thusly – How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?” You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. You can't forgive unless you've been forgiven. You can't deal with your neighbor rightly unless you deal with them as someone who is forgiven by Christ, as someone who lives in and from Christ's forgiveness. Otherwise instead of cleaning the neighbor's eye, it will just return to that old eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth fight and clamor.
So no – remember and know your own sinfulness. Know your own log. Know how great it is – and then know how Christ Jesus deals with that sin – by dying for it. By shedding His blood for it. By washing it way from you in the waters of Holy Baptism. That's who you are – a baptized child of God, forgiven and redeemed! You're one Christ Jesus has rescued from the hypocritical judgment games of the world – and the result of this is that you see clearly now. If the Holy Spirit reveals to you your neighbor's sin, that's not so that you can crush them, not so that you will know where to stick the knife in – no – the log is out of your eye and you can see so that you know where forgiveness needs to be applied, where forgiveness needs to be given.
This is what we pray for (as we've been instructed to) in the Lord's Prayer – forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Get rid of our logs, O Lord, that we may tend to our neighbor's speck! The two ideas are tied – you receive forgiveness so that you become an instrument of God where by your neighbor receives forgiveness as well. That's the chief, the highest form of love for the neighbor that God works and increases in you – that's the point. Of course it is – because that's who Jesus is. Jesus is determined to forgive you – He came not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him! Jesus came to rescue you – and He has in your Baptism, He does so again and again in the preaching of His Word, in His Supper. Over and over He wrests your eyes away from the stupid fights of the world and forgives your sins and pulls all the cruft and junk out of your eyes. Because He is merciful – because that's what He actually wants to do.
My dear friends in Christ, you are surrounded by such satanic and demonic hate and rage and twistedness – and your Lord knows that this is the case. This is why He forgives you again and again, to rescue you, to restore you, to prepare you to be His voice of forgiveness unto people who desperately need it. And He knows this is messy, so He will forgive you again and again here in His House. Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever. Amen. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
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