Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Luke 6,36-42. 4. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Luke 6,36-42 3919

4. Sn. n. Trinitatis 049

John Bonaventure, Bishop of Albano, Italy, ✠ 1274

14. Juli 2019

1. O Gracious God, our Merciful Father; help us to be merciful and giving, so that we may strive after Your heart and act as You do. Amen. (Luke 6,36-38)

2. »Jesus said to the crowd: „Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; 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. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.“ He also told them a parable: „Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 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? 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.“

3. St. Luke records perhaps the most misquoted and misinterpreted phrase spoken by Christ our Lord: »Judge not.« Many people interpret this to mean that Jesus has called us to be nonjudgmental and therefore not pass judgment upon other people. From these two words, Christians and non-Christians alike are fond of saying: „Who am I to judge?“ or „Don’t judge me!“ This is an extremely popular opinion in our politically-correct, over-sensitive culture.

4. The problem with this popular interpretation is that if it is true, then Jesus failed to follow His own teachings. Jesus actually judged people on a regular basis, and quite harshly at times. He began His public ministry by telling His fellow Nazarenes in the synagogue: »Truly, I say to you: no prophet is acceptable in his hometown« (Luke 4,24). We know Jesus was judging His fellow Nazarenes because their reaction to this statement was to become filled with wrath, whereupon they drove Jesus out of town and tried to throw Him down the cliff (Luke 4,28-29). Jesus judged the traditions of the Jewish elders by doing on the Sabbath what tradition said was illegal (Luke 6,1-5). Jesus judged His own disciples when He called out from among them twelve men whom He anointed as His apostles (Luke 6,12-13). Jesus judged people when He taught them using parables. »To you, My disciples, it has been give to know the secrets of the reign of God, but for others they are in parables so that they may hear but not understand« (Luke 8,9-15). Jesus called lawyers and the Pharisees fools and pronounced woes upon them; the lawyers and Pharisees were insulted by these statements Jesus said against them (Luke 11,37-54).

5. We might interpret this as unloving on the part of Jesus, but Jesus judged people so they would recognize their sin, repent and turn unto Him for mercy. Judging people, properly done, is a Godly and important action for people to perform. We are to pass judgment on criminals and punish them for breaking society’s laws. We judge society’s morality with the Holy Scriptures. We judge ourselves with the 10 Commandments so that we also recognize our sinfulness.

6. Jesus tells us to evaluate ourselves under the law. He tells us the reason why: »First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your neighbor’s eye.« „Our log is not only so large but also so near to us that it blocks our vision and we do not even see it. Jesus is the one who gives sight to the blind. He reaches out His hand to our log and pulls it out. ‘This must go. I want you to see.’ Jesus takes the logs out of our eyes. He drags them to Calvary, and on the timber that blinds and kills, He is killed. Jesus dies for our sins, and the wood we have supplied becomes, by His death, a declaration of that sin’s forgiveness. When the logs from our eyes have been through Calvary, we see. We see Jesus on the cross supplied by us, for us. We see ourselves as forgiven sinners. Then, when we bump into another sinner, we are able to help, for love comes sideways. We know the things that contradict Christ and the pain and ruin they work. We want each person we meet to be freed of them, and we are there to help him or her“ (Nagel 170,4-5).

7. Running these logs and specks through Jesus makes all the difference. Jesus began this periscope by saying: »Be merciful, even as your Heavenly Father is merciful.« We see God’s mercy on full display at the crucifixion of His Son, for on that cross God’s mercy is revealed in the crucified Jesus. Then Jesus says: »Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;« God’s judgement and condemnation were poured out in full upon the crucified Jesus. He has born all our sinful judgement and condemnation under the law, suffered as one found guilty under the law. On the cross, God’s judgement and condemnation have been poured out, satisfied and fulfilled in Christ Jesus. How does God forgive? He forgives through Jesus who is the Certainty of our forgiveness and salvation. Thus the Apostle Paul can proclaim: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit« (Romans 8,1-4). »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.« Is there any more a gracious giver than God? He gives to us abundantly through Christ Jesus. He holds nothing back, for He pours out His grace so that it overflows. Again Paul: »Sin reigned in death, but grace also reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord« (Romans 5,21).

8. There is sin in our lives, sin as big and bulky as logs. But we have a Lumberjack who is good at taking logs out of peoples’ eyes and sending those logs down river to be disposed of at the cross „You have some logs to confess, logs to be pulled out and dragged to Calvary. Cleansed and forgiven, you may then see as a servant sees, as a burden-bearing Savior sees. Lord, take from us, though it hurts, all that blinds us and hinders the flow of Your love“ (Nagel 172,11).

9. And with the logs removed from our eyes we now see clearly God’s love for us and our neighbors. God’s love is a salve on our eyes and helps us to in turn love others. That love is manifested as the Apostle Paul describes it in his Epistle to the Romans: »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« (Romans 12,17-18). This is the love that Jesus shows to us, and it is the love we in turn show to our neighbor. We first receive forgiveness before we forgive; before we are merciful, we must receive mercy from God (Luther 102,15). God shows us forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ. „Our Savior gives us all things, physical and spiritual, earthly and eternal, gratuitously [freely] and out of pure goodness“ (Luther 100,10). May the Holy Spirit move in our hearts to love others as Christ loves us and loves them. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, we give thanks to You and sing praises to Your Name; O Most High, bless us with Your love so that we in turn can share that love to our neighbors and be a blessing to them in this world that often oppresses people. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Luke 6,36-42. 4. Trinity

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