Today’s Gospel lesson contains a line that is one of the most misquoted, wrongly understood, and wrongly applied lines of Scripture. I know that sounds like a bit of an overstatement, but it’s not. The words and meaning of this text is butchered, time and time again. These words in particular from verse 37: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned.” These words are part of a much larger context; a lengthy discourse known as “the Sermon on the Plain.”

The 6 verses for today’s Gospel lesson are just a small portion of that great sermon. The danger of course, is that when you pluck a few words or a few phrases out of context, things go badly quickly. This is often the case with these particular words of Christ. In fact, we can get so tunnel-visioned in our reading/hearing of Scripture, that even in the case of these six verses, we only really tend to focus on the two words, “Judge not.” The whole world it seems and even we can quote those two words perfectly, especially when we’re feeling accused, challenged, oppressed, or demonized for our personal choices and behaviors. Everything else in the text remains a blur. It’s like the rest of the words aren’t even there. “Judge not.” That’s all our flesh wants to know. When we want to defend ourselves, that’s all we need to know. And during our self-defense, that’s all everyone else needs to know.

I know this may or may not surprise you, but those words don’t mean what everyone seems to think they do. Those words do not mean that Christians are prohibited from distinguishing /judging between what is good and what is evil; between goodness and sinfulness. So often today people say “You can’t judge me! You can’t tell me that my behavior is bad. How dare you! Judge not, lest ye be judged!” (It is amazing how EVERYONE can quote Scripture when it suits them, right?)

This is NOT the meaning of this text. It is neither a justification for sin, nor is it condemning a loving admonishing against sin. The Lord is preaching against a critical, unloving, unmerciful, puffing yourself up kind of attitude. An attitude that despises others, saying “I am holier than you. I am better than you. I am above you.” “I have no sin worthy of being judged.” That’s not an attitude of gracious forgiveness and mercy. That is not an attitude of concern and love. That’s an attitude of condemnation and self-righteousness. It is a pietistic, Pharisaical attitude that only seeks to condemn and lord over others. 

Jesus says these famous words as a warning against a self-righteous attitude that would write people off and condemn them wholesale: “For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
“Be merciful, just as as your Father is merciful.” How often we forget that. How often we don’t even hear that part…even though they’re the FIRST words of the text! Yet that’s the whole key to understanding and making sense of this text! Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. What does that mean except we are in need of mercy? All are in need of mercy, believers and non-believers alike. Sinners all have logs in their eyes. Blinded by our sin, our pride, our desire to justify ourselves in our sin or in our perceived “holiness”, we cannot lead anyone anywhere except into a pit and together be judged to eternal hell because of that condemning sin.

So, remove that log in your eye. But how? By admitting it. Measuring by God’s Law our own lack of worthiness and disobedience and allowing the Spirit to move us into “seeing” that by thought, word, and deed we have sinned against God and our neighbor, we repent to God. We actually are sorry that we sinned. We plead for mercy from the Father for the sake of the Son, Jesus Christ.

Mercy is what we need because our own sin has caused us to be separated from God. We need to be reconciled to Him. This is different than any reconciliation here on earth because there is no fault on God’s side. He has no sins to confess. The confessing is all one way, yet, God for the love of His fallen creation sent the Son, Jesus Christ, to come to earth and take upon Himself our sin, dying on the cross in the place of sinners. All so that there can be hope. Hope for reconciliation for sinners to be given mercy and forgiveness because Jesus stands in the gap that our sins have made. For the sake of Jesus those who confess their sins and hope in Jesus by faith are declared absolved of their sins, forgiven for His sake. We are justified by His gracious act of salvation and the righteousness of Christ is imputed, that is, put upon us and our account as believers.

But those who show no mercy and those who justify their sin have declared that they don’t need mercy and so they receive no mercy because of their self-righteousness. This is sad and grieves us and all believers. That is why when those who have been locked in their sins or those who have always been self-righteous in their sin against us, come into our lives it is actually an opportunity to show them mercy. We try to love them and point them to Jesus Christ. We do not bear a grudge against them, but we pray for them, and show kindness to them. We desire that they be reconciled to God through Jesus and through Him and His love, they can also then become reconciled to us and then forgiveness can abound. Let us also seek this kind of reconciliation in all that we do, as we do it unto the Lord who has been so merciful and continues to be so merciful to each one of us.

St. Paul writes in Romans 12: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Joseph in our Old Testament lesson pointed to this Christlike love for his brothers; brothers who had sold him into slavery as an alternative to the original idea of killing him. Yet God upheld Joseph for the sake of the Israelites and for the sake of the repentance and reconciliation of those same brothers. Reconciliation not only to Joseph but also to God. Joseph did not repay their evil with evil but did what was honorable, charitable, and merciful. His own brothers who had declared him an enemy came to him hungry when he had the power of Egypt behind him, yet he fed them. He was not overcome by evil, but by God’s grace, evil was overcome by good. In this way, the brothers were finally brought to the point of confessing their sin, clearing their conscience, and were redeemed and forgiven by Joseph and by the Lord.

This steadfastness in love in mercy is not something that is natural to us. It is foreign to our flesh and the ability to do so comes only from the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God, He takes us who were His enemies and heaps the coals of God’s fiery Law and Gospel to cleanse us, and then puts out the flame which would destroy us by the waters of Holy Baptism, not only as we were once baptized but as we return to its power every time that we repent, confess, and are absolved in Jesus Christ. In Christ, then we are no longer enemies of God. We no longer try to defend our sin, nor put our trust in our own self-righteousness, but lean upon Christ and pray for His strength to be His worthy loving children because we have been freed to do so and we are glad to live under His grace and mercy.

Then as we struggle and strain under the weight of our flesh, the taunts of the world, and Satan which hates what is good, let us remember that the Lord invites us to return and live by His strength, quenching our spiritual thirst with His Word calming our hearts and minds by His wisdom. He feeds us Christ’s body and blood in the bread and wine and reconciles us once again to Himself and unites us with our brothers and sisters here in this place with whom we live in constant reconciliation. If we fail each other, He gives us the humility and love to confess and reconcile once more. Each day we are able learn in our lives and in His sacraments how great His mercy is for you and me in Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Savior, Amen.

Pr. Aaron Kangas