Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity: June 27, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝
Jesus teaches, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” What is mercy? Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. Mercy means that you know exactly what someone else has said and done. If things are right and fair, mercy would not be the expected outcome. Revenge is the expected outcome. Mercy is instead, when you know what someone deserves rightly and fairly, yet you choose to abandon the revenge. You forgive them instead. You don’t give them what they deserve. You showed mercy.
So when Jesus teaches, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,” He is in fact teaching us the Law. Do this. Be merciful because that is pleasing to God. It’s His will. But, He knows perfectly well that we are not merciful. On the contrary we are full of revenge, judgment, anger toward our fellow human creatures. Have there been times when we have sat in church, listening to God’s Word of grace and mercy, while at the same time our hearts have been full of anger, hatred, judgment of someone, maybe one sitting in church with us!
Jesus teaches, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,” and He helps us understand mercy through the 8th Commandment, in our Catechism: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Recall what this means: We should fear and love God that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.
Sounds easy, right? Just like “Be merciful,” sounds easy. But you know it’s terribly hard to put that into practice. Be merciful. Don’t give in to your evil desire! Don’t sit in judgment over others. Many people actually believe that they are not really that bad of sinners. They haven’t really seriously hurt anyone, so what harm can a little secret hatred do? But we hear Jesus’ words “Be merciful” and reflect on the Commandment, and we can’t deny the times we have been unkind, even cruel toward others in our own family, toward those we love, or should love. How often have you opted for revenge instead of mercy?
Joseph’s older brothers were by the time of Genesis 50 well into their grandparent years, but they could not put out of their minds what they did to Joseph at least 35 years before, out of their hatred. The decades-old guilt could not be quenched. They had sold him into slavery and he was taken down into Egypt. Joseph was ripped away from his loving father Jacob at the age of 17. He was later thrown into prison for a crime that was fabricated by his master’s wife.
Now look at Joseph! He’s the one in charge of the whole Egyptian kingdom. All the riches and fame that Joseph had now as the most powerful man in the land, second only to Pharaoh, still couldn’t reverse what his brothers had done to him (so they reasoned). They, too were by this time also living well in Egypt. Joseph was providing for his brothers and their families, and that despite the widespread famine. Joseph had forgiven them, but the brothers were still leery. They assumed that Joseph harbored the same hatred that they once had against him, even after all those years. Now that their father Jacob died, they feared that Joseph would seize the opportunity to take revenge.
Even though they lived so long ago, they knew well the language of our sinful flesh that is still with us today, the way of the world, as it were, that does not allow for love and forgiveness. It just doesn’t make sense, nor is it right or fair. The guilt these brothers had inside made them afraid of Governor Joseph. They thought they were protected by the life of their father, and now that shield was gone. What they had done against their little brother was quite an injustice, and they knew that he had every right to pay them back—that was what they feared.
Yet Joseph showed not revenge but mercy. He said, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. You almost assume that the answer is, No, I am not in the place of God! I have no right to judge or condemn. Jesus echoes this when He teaches further, “Judge not, and you will not be judged.” What He is saying is that none of us stands in the place of God when it comes to passing judgment on others. It is not my job to stand as judge, jury, and executioner over my fellow Christians, or anyone. That is God’s place. My job, if you will, is what I read in the Catechism, my job is to defend my neighbor, speak well of him, and to explain everything about him in the kindest possible way. My place as a Christian is to remember, not that I was offended and hurt, but rather to remember that we all are poor, miserable sinners, with no room to say we’re better than anyone else.
This is a blest teaching: Judge not, and you will not be judged. Yet it can be often misunderstood. Many might take this to mean that Christians may never condemn sin or make a distinction between right and wrong. Some say that parents should never be allowed to discipline their children. Others think that pastors should never point out and condemn false teaching, or speak out against open, offensive sins that the world likes to praise with rainbow-colored pride. It’s clearly now rude and unloving in our culture, especially in the month of June, to point out that gay, lesbian, or transgender lifestyles are against God’s Word. They try to turn Jesus’ own teaching against Christians: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?… You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. He’s really condemning a hypocritical double standard. He’s saying that you don’t hold others to a higher standard than you hold yourself. So what is the standard by which we are all to be judged? The standard is God’s holy Law, not our own petty rules. We all, talking about the big sinners of our crazy world today, and little old us as well, we all stand condemned before God’s Law, which we all break every day.
So we come back to Jesus’ first teaching, Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. What sort of mercy does our Father in heaven have toward us? We tend to judge others based on very little evidence, I look and see a little of what I don’t like in someone else, and I condemn him or her based just on that. By contrast, the Father sees all and knows all. There is nothing hidden from His sight. He knows all your faults and shortcomings, as He knows all of mine, down to the very end. Sin must be avenged. Its guilt must be quenched. It cannot be set aside and forgotten. As Joseph’s brothers could tell you, this kind of guilt is persistent. Your conscience may remind you about something you did, even if that sin was already forgiven. To erase that revenge we deserve, takes nothing less than an act of His marvelous grace.
And that is exactly what He has done! Our Father is merciful! Jesus demonstrates the Father’s mercy perfectly in His salvation mission: He took care of our sin once and for all by shedding His blood to death on the cross. His resurrection proved to all creation that the revenge due on our heads was paid fully by our merciful King of Kings. God did something very surprising. He did not take revenge on us, like we deserved, but He punished Jesus instead, in order to show mercy to you. It wasn’t fair to our Lord at all, He didn’t deserve revenge at all, but out of that gross injustice came the saving of many lives.
It’s very similar to what Joseph said to his brothers: What was intended for evil, God intended for good, for the saving of many, many lives- your life and mine included this time! Our loving Father has this way of turning evil on its head, of reversing the grim reality of death we have to face, and instead bringing forth life through the Gospel—life that is offered to you today. As Jesus breathed His last on the cross, He pronounced total victory over sin and death. You, as one crucified and buried together with Christ, also died to sin, and you are raised each day with Him, through your baptism, to new life.
Because Jesus died for you and was raised from the dead, God now speaks words of mercy and forgiveness to Your hearts. You don’t get what you deserve! Rejoice in the new life you now share with Me because I have won the victory over sin and death permanently. This is mercy of God for you now and forever. Judgment is no more, because true judgment has been fully rendered and satisfied. Anyone crying out for justice and equity in the affairs of this world will be utterly disappointed. It’s not going to happen. The appetite for revenge is just too great. There will always be another enemy in this sinful world who is taking away justice and fairness. But not in God’s kingdom! In God’s kingdom, you have assurance of your heavenly Father’s mercy.
You can tell the brothers completely lost hope when they finally reached Joseph’s presence. There they were in his courtyard, with nothing between them but the unresolved guilt. No longer did they sense having the upper hand to work out a deal for their forgiveness. They were ready to give up and become Joseph’s slaves, because they were so crushed with guilt. Quite a different attitude from the time when they sent the message, isn’t it?
Joseph forgave them. He told them repeatedly: Do not be afraid. He wasn’t going to take revenge; he wasn’t even going to take them up on their offer to make them his slaves. He assured them by saying God turned this evil that they had done into something good. He didn’t say it as though they were right to sell him into slavery 35 years before. He did say that God is in control, as He always is. He spoke tenderly to their hearts; what was broken has now been made right. God speaks to your heart today, and to your brothers and sisters in Christ. He is here today forgiving you, feeding you with His Body and Blood, that you may have full assurance despite any doubts that might return to you later. You don’t even have to come up with your own apology—He gives you the perfect words to say! Meditate on the words from Psalm 51 that are in the liturgy: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free spirit.
You acknowledge the forgiveness that comes from Christ and what He did for you. It’s not that you repeat certain words like a magic formula, but rather you’re trusting the promise that backs these words up. Believe that God is actually saying to you: I forgive you all your sins, and you will be confident in Him.
As you are confident that your heavenly Father will not take revenge against you, now you are free to abandon revenge against those closest to you who have done you wrong. Instead you may say: “Do not be afraid. What you did hurt me, yes, and I forgive you. God can now make something good come out of the situation.” That’s where, ironic though it feels, you are in the place of God, because God shows mercy. In God’s mercy there is great healing and a great future for our church today- it all starts with forgiveness.
Do not be afraid; confess your sin to God and to each other. Trust in Jesus and He will provide for you and your family, even making good come sometimes out of bad. Do not be afraid. Trust in mercy.
In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Readings:
Gen. 50:15–21 you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good
Psalm 138 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me
Rom. 12:14–21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
or Rom. 8:18–23 eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Luke 6:36–42 why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye