Luke 6:36-42 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 , "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you." 39 He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 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? 42 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.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.1 It seems easy to be merciful, you suppose. You will bless those who bless you and refrain from cursing those who do not curse you. If your friend is hungry, you will feed him; if he is thirsty, you will give him something to drink. You’ll pray for those who love you, and love those who pray for you. All these things make you seem like a good-natured, nice guy in the eyes of your neighbors. But none of this is mercy.
2 What then is being merciful? Consider Joseph. His brothers hated him because their father loved him more then he loved any of them. He showed Joseph favor and gave him undue gifts. The brothers resolved to kill Joseph and blame it on wild animals, but they thought better of it. So they showed him some mercy, they thought, and sold him into slavery instead. After several years, some false accusations, some time in prison, and some dreams interpreted, Pharaoh placed Joseph over all the land of Egypt. No one was more powerful than Joesph in all the land of Egypt except Pharaoh himself. When his brothers came to him seeking grain in the time of famine, Joseph could have had them destroyed. He could have exacted vengeance against his enemies, his brothers, but he didn’t. It would have been fair. Instead, he showed them mercy and brought them all with their father to live in Egypt. Seventeen years later, when Jacob died, his brothers supposed Joseph would finally exact his revenge on them. Who would have blamed him? For their crimes against Joseph, the brothers deserved harsh punishment. But Joseph was merciful instead. That’s mercy, but it’s not quite the mercy Jesus called for in today’s Gospel reading.
3 No, Jesus said, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” You may be merciful, but chiefly to yourself. Your blessing only those who bless you, your forgiving only those you deem worthy of forgiveness, this is far from mercy. You’re only willing to be merciful to those who deserve your mercy. St. Paul commands Christians to “bless those who persecute you…associate with the lowly…never avenge yourselves…if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” And Jesus commands, “Be merciful. Judge not, condemn not, forgive, and give. With the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” In other words, if you do not forgive, do not suppose God forgives you.
4 So repent of false mercy. Repent of refusing to love your enemies and pray for them. Repent of repaying evil with evil. Repent of judging those who sin against you. Repent of condemning the sins of others more than your own. Repent of withholding forgiveness. Repent of picking for specks of sin in the lives of others while trying to ignore the logs in your eyes that leave you blind.
5 The logs in your eyes are your sins against the Lord. The specks in your brother’s eyes are his sins against you. And no one’s eyes are without logs. We’re all blinded by our sin. And were we to try to lead each other around, Jesus says, we’d just fall into the pit of hell. That’s the best blind sinners can hope for on their own. There’s no groping around to find help; there’s only the pit to fall into.
6 But He who told the parable is He who came to remove the logs from our eyes. He pulled them from our eyes and hoisted them onto His back. And then He carried them on the walk from Jerusalem to Golgotha. You have no real logs in your eyes, but you have real sins, real sins that separated you from your Creator. You needed a real Savior to die a real death. So He did. He took the logs and the splinters and was nailed to the wood of the cross.
7 That’s real mercy. That’s how your Heavenly Father is merciful. Instead of giving you what you deserved, He gave what you deserved to His Sinless Son. He repaid the evil of the world’s sinfulness with the good of the cross. What the world intended for evil, God used for the greatest good: the salvation of all who have faith in the crucified Savior. While you were still enemies of God, the Son of God took on human flesh, was born, lived, and died to reconcile you to God. He stretched out His hands in love and mercy and allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross. That’s real mercy, as real as mercy gets. It’s mercy precisely because you don’t deserve it.
8 This Jesus who died and rose so that the Father might be merciful to you calls you to be merciful to one another. He calls you to have this same kind of mercy for one another, mercy that forgives those who could never earn your forgiveness, loves those who don’t deserve your love, withholds condemnation from those who justly deserve to be condemned for their sins against you. Real mercy, the kind the Heavenly Father has for you. Showing this mercy toward one another isn’t so that you can earn more mercy from the Lord. No, you show mercy because you have been shown mercy. You give others what they don’t deserve because you have been given what you could never deserve: forgiveness of sins, salvation, and life eternal.
9 The Father has shown you real mercy. It’s not the kind of mercy you just talk about, but the kind you can see. It’s the kind of mercy He shows when you watch and hear Him make saints out of sinners in the font of Holy Baptism. There, you see His mercy as he washes away sins. It’s the kind of mercy you can hear through the mouth of a man sent to you to speak the words of Jesus to you when, by the Holy Spirit, you’re led to confess your sins. It’s the kind of real mercy that vibrates particles in the air to strike your ear drum and declare you forgiven. It’s the kind of real mercy Jesus puts in His cup as His Blood and on the paten as His Body and says, “Eat this, drink this, for the forgiveness of your sins.” Mercy doesn’t get more real than that. You see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, and touch it.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Jeff Hemmer
Hope, Jerseyville