Fourth Sunday after Trinity—Mercy, Forgiveness, and the Christian Life
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Word from Luther
I wanted to share with y’all a little bit of a kind of a concluding thought from Luther on in his sermon for this Sunday's gospel.
"So that is a summary of the meaning of this gospel reading, namely, that we are to be merciful even to our enemies. Now we who want to be Christians and brothers should also apply this to our lives. It is also very necessary for us to preach this admonition, for even though we are called evangelical, I'm afraid that most among us are heathen under the Christian name. Well, how can we succeed? We must grant the name to all even if a few bear it in truth. St. Paul says not everyone has faith. And Christ Himself laments that many are called but few are chosen. Therefore everyone who goes to the sacrament and claims to be a Christian should be careful that he does not deceive himself. We certainly now see that there is boasting, covetousness, and greed among those who want to be called Christians. From the lowest to the highest estate we hear about sin and shame. So everyone goes on securely not only giving nothing but also taking whatever he can get whether rightfully or wrongfully. Thus the word give in this gospel reading has almost faded away." (Martin Luther, Postil for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity)
These words of Luther are worth pondering this morning.
Are We Holding to the Confession?
Do they apply to us? We who call ourselves evangelical and say that we hold to the unaltered Augsburg Confession—because that's what UAC means in our name. We who hold fast to the Scriptures, or say we do, and to this Augsburg Confession. Are we actually holding to it in practice beyond just holding to it on paper?
Our Lord began the gospel reading this morning, "Be merciful just as your Father also is merciful," but it was missing a word when they cut it out. They didn't put the "therefore." What He says there is a conclusion based on something He said before when He says, "Therefore be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful."
And what He said before that "therefore" is this:
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, do also to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful." (Luke 6:27–36, NKJV)
That's what mercy is. What I just read to you above. That is mercy.
The Father of the Merciful
These words are spoken to us who are Christians. Only those who trust in the heart that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead—only those who believe that in the heart—can call God Father. And that's why Jesus says, "as your Father is merciful." Your Father. Not "as the Father is merciful."
So as true Christians, who have become sons of God by faith and have put on Christ in holy baptism, take the words of our Lord this morning to heart concerning the kind of mercy you must show to all people. Whether they be just or unjust.
What Kind of Judgment Is Forbidden?
"Judge not, lest you be judged" is an oft-misused phrase in our age. And I'm sure you've heard more than one sermon clarifying what that actually means. So that's not what I'm doing this morning. Instead, I want to talk about what sinful condemnation and judgment looks like.
There are situations in which a Christian must judge and condemn according to their office. And as it has to do with open and manifest sins—not things hidden in the heart. So you think of your duty as parents. There is condemnation and judgment that happens there. Or the government—arresting, imprisoning, and even executing criminals when necessary. Or the pastor, as the representative key holder in the congregation—excommunicating someone. Not for hidden sins in the heart, but for open and manifest sins.
And this is what we say in our confessions about excommunication, just as an aside:
"That true Christian excommunication is this: Open and hard-hearted sinners are not admitted to the sacrament and other fellowship of the church until they amend their lives and avoid sin." (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XXVIII.12)
So it has to do with open public sin.
So what condemnation and judgment does Christ condemn here? If according to our office it might be appropriate to judge and condemn, our Lord forbids us from condemning and judging our neighbor when it is not our office to do so, and when it is not for their improvement, correction, and edification.
"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29)
"Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." (Romans 14:19)
There is a proper time and place for godly condemnation and judgment to be performed by the Christian. But if you are speaking that condemnation and judgment for your neighbor's destruction rather than for their building up and improvement, you are engaging in the sort of judgment and condemnation that will lead to you facing condemnation and judgment from the Lord Jesus.
I'll say the last part again: If you are engaging in the sort of judgment and condemnation that is for your neighbor's destruction rather than their improvement and their building up, you are engaging in the kind of judging and condemning that Jesus here condemns.
Even Saint Paul, who has authority as an apostle, says this: "Even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed." (2 Corinthians 10:8)
Even the apostles are not given their office and their authority for destruction, but for edification.
Withholding Forgiveness
That's sinful condemnation and judgment. That's what it looks like—not for your neighbor's improvement or building up, but for their destruction.
Now, what about sinful withholding of forgiveness? What does that look like?
When our Lord says, "Forgive and you will be forgiven," He uses a word for forgive that means to release—to release from a debt. And that is the disposition that every Christian ought to have toward their neighbor when they sin against them in every single situation.
I say that because this type of forgiveness—this release—does not mean that when someone is openly, manifestly sinning against you and continues down that path and has no intentions to make things right, you don't go and say, "I forgive you." You don't pronounce absolution on them and say, "I forgive you, your sins are forgiven for Christ's sake." That's actually unmerciful because they haven't been called to repentance yet.
That's like if in some of these—this has actually happened before, and I can't remember which mass shooting it was—but there were Christians who had signs saying, "We forgive you" in the names of the shooters. Okay.
There's a sense that a Christian does release their neighbor from their sins when they've sinned against them. But we do not give a blanket absolution to someone who is in open and manifest sin unless they have demonstrated in an open way that they have turned away from that.
But you are still called to release them from this debt. And how this works is, if you could imagine, the person who sins against you—no matter how it might look, no matter how bad it might be—you've got a release of debt or a release of promissory note that you've signed your name on for that sin and it's on the table. And all that is left is for them to put their name on it.
They do not owe you anything anymore as far as you are concerned. And that is whether they have told you they're sorry or not. You release them from that debt.
And to withhold that release from them is what Jesus condemns here.
Miserliness and Christian Life
When we hold on to the sins of others rather than releasing them, we deny the fact that we have been released from our debt. We withhold forgiveness when we still speak of the sins of others in ways that we know aren't meant for their improvement—like we've already talked about—but to make us feel more righteous in ourselves, to destroy their reputation, and to win others over to our side of the fight.
If we can sully their reputation, then there'll be more people to make us feel good about ourselves and that we didn't do anything wrong.
There is no forgiveness of sins for the one who continues down that path.
Now, what about this failure to give or miserliness? I like the word miser. It makes me think of that Christmas movie. But miserliness—when our Lord says, "Give and it will be given to you," He is calling us out of miserliness to a way of life from beginning to end—a way of life that will be one of giving our time, treasures, and labor for the good of our family, congregation, and neighbor from beginning to end.
The Evil of Miserliness
The opposite of Christ’s command here is to live in miserliness. Miserliness is to be withholding, to be cold and calculating with the things that the Father has given us, which is everything. Your body, your soul, your time, your money, the afflictions that you endure in this life—it’s all been given by your Father for your good.
And to be miserly with it is to be withholding with it, to be cold and calculating with what you perceive to be yours—your own, your precious possessions.
"There is one who scatters, yet increases more, and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. The people will curse him who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it." (Proverbs 11:24–26)
Miserliness is to have an evil eye.
"A man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him." (Proverbs 28:22)
You think you're saving time because you get to go and do what you want instead of what you know you should do. But in the end, you will lose it—the same as you will lose money, the same as you'll lose your body.
It is a lie to think in yourself that you have done enough and now it is time for others to do their part. That is a lie.
It is greedy and miserly to think that once you give a certain amount of yourself for a certain amount of time that you can retire with a good conscience, even while there is still breath in your lungs—as if that's how the Christian life worked. That may be how the world thinks—that you work till you can draw Social Security and then you can check out. But that is not how you learned Christ.
Mercy That Reflects Christ
What Christ does to bear our condemnation and judgment, what He does to release us from our sins, and what He gives shows us what we have learned in Christ.
We Christians are not to condemn and judge because we know that "when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)
He did not come to condemn the world but to save it. And that includes us.
We Christians do not keep our neighbor in prison until they should pay the last penny to us for their debt of sin against us. We cannot bear to do such things, because:
"Even when you were dead in your trespasses and sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. God erased the record of debt, our debt, brought against us by His legal demands. This record stood against us, but He took it away by nailing it to the cross." (Colossians 2:13–14)
How can we remember the sins of those who have sinned against us when Jesus’ blood has made the Father say, "I will remember your sins no more"? (cf. Hebrews 8:12)
We Christians cannot tolerate the thought of grabbing our neighbor by the neck and demanding payment when our Lord and Master has shown such mercy and forgiveness and release from an unimaginable debt to us.
No Retirement from Mercy
And finally, we Christians cannot entertain the idea that we would graduate or retire from loving and serving our neighbor according to our stations in life. We cannot bear the idea as Christians that we could arrive at a point in this life that we have suffered enough pain and loss to exempt us from service.
Have we suffered as much as Christ? No? Then we're not done yet.
That we have learned enough concerning Christ that we no longer need to gather together with our fellow Christians to receive the means of grace? Or that we have done enough and that now it is the turn of others, time for them to do their part?
Thanks be to God that Jesus never spoke that way about us when we were dead.
We Christians cannot abide such selfish thoughts because we know "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that through His poverty we might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)
You know, as a Christian, as Peter tells us:
"You were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18–19)
And hopefully you also know:
"By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8–10)
And you're still alive. So there's more to do. Our showing mercy in thought, word, and deed will not end until we breathe our last.
Rest for the Merciful
For you, dear Christians, bought by the blood of Jesus—retirement will be when you draw your final breath in this life. That's when it starts.
And then, and only then, because of the great mercy your Father has shown you in not condemning you, not judging you, in releasing you from debt, and giving His most treasured possession for you—His beloved Son—because of all of this, when you finally do retire, you will be able to hear these words with a good conscience:
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "because they will rest from their labors, for their works follow them." (Revelation 14:13)
In that day, you will not just rest from the labor you are given to perform in this life, but the same Lord who has carried you along in this life, released you from your sins by His blood, nourished you with the means of grace, walked beside you in your suffering—this same gracious and merciful Lord will dwell among you there.
"They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:16–17)
That is the retirement we are living for—not one in this life, but in the one to come.
Let us pray. Let us pray. Lord God, heavenly Father, You are merciful and through Christ You promised us that You will neither judge nor condemn us, but graciously forgive us all our sins and abundantly provide for all our needs of body and soul. Righteous and eternal God, You who are eternal and true Love, how high, rich, and mighty is Your mercy. As a father has compassion on his children, so also You have compassion on those who fear You. You know what sort of creatures we are; You remember that we are dust. With Your grace, You surpass the fidelity and love of all our mothers, so that even if they forget us, You still hold us engraved in Your hand. Not only do Your radiant Word and promise attest to and preach to us of Your mercy, but also the great deeds, such as the creation of the world, of heaven, of earth, of all creatures in the air, water, and so on. Our bodies, souls, and lives extol Your mercy and the mighty blessings which we enjoy every moment from Your mercy. And above all this, we behold the wellspring of all Your goodness and grace in the bleeding wounds of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whom You have made unto us as wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. By Your Holy Spirit establish in our hearts a confident faith in Your mercy and teach us also to be merciful to our neighbor, that we may not judge or condemn others, but willingly forgive all people, and judging only ourselves, lead blessed lives in Your fear. Grant that we, confirmed in faith, comfort, and strength by Your mercy, may hasten from the misery of this life to You, our true and eternal Father, through Jesus Christ, our true Redeemer and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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