Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Trinity, 2020

The calling of Matthew is one of my favorite stories in the Gospels. Matthew was a tax collector; hated by the people around him. He was judged and condemned for his choice of work. But, when Jesus passes by his tax booth, he says to Matthew, “Follow me.” Jesus did not judge Matthew, or condemn him. Instead Jesus gave Matthew mercy. And, Matthew’s life was transformed in that very moment.

If there is something that is attractive to modern people, it is “not judging.” If there is a passage that is “politically correct”, it is our Gospel for Trinity 4. “Judge not.” We are very familiar with the motive behind the secular person’s refusal to judge. It is tolerance. But many Christians do not know what virtue lies behind the command to “Judge not.” Mercy.

In the early weeks of Trinitytide, the Church continues to look closely at the nature of the Triune God, to discern His nature. Last week, the Propers showed us that we worship a Gathering God. And this week, we see that we worship a Merciful God. The logic of Trinity season is clear. God is like this. Be like God. In fact, Jesus makes it so easy for us. “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” But mercy is a word that needs some explanation. So our subject today is Mercy.

The structure is simple. First, we will study the Old Testament lesson from Lamentations 3 to see that God is merciful, and learn what mercy means by seeing how He is merciful. Then, turning to the Gospel to tease out the applications of Mercy for the Church.

If we are to obey Jesus’ words, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful,” the first question to be asked is, “Is God merciful?” Many do not think Him so. They see God in Scripture judging the world, many times. But to understand that God is merciful, you must see the world as the Bible teaches.

First, the Scriptures teach us that God’s nature is mercy. We pray this in the Liturgy, “who nature is always to show mercy.” Our Old Testament lesson from Lamentations 3, verse 22 says, “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his mercies fail not.” Now this verse uses two different Hebrew words for mercy, one masculine and the other feminine. One is hesed and the other is rachamim. hesed is God’s masculine covenantal love for His Creation and His People. In Scripture, it is God’s hesed that prevents Him from obliterating His people. Rachimim, whose root means “mother’s womb”, is God’s feminine tender love by which He relieves the suffering of His children. Both are present in this verse. God’s hesed postpones His judgment. “It is of the Lord's hesed that we are not consumed.

But God’s mercy is seen, not only because He withholds judgment, but also by what He gives. Look around. Look around at all He gives. All this that we see, He grants to the just and the unjust. Listen to this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins and hear in it the motherly mercy, the rachamim of God in Creation.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

So you see that “our Father in heaven is also merciful” in what He spares and what He gives. If you read through the Bible from front to back, and let the word of God paint a picture in your brain, it will write in beautiful and vivid color the word, “Mercy.”

Is God merciful? [Yes!]. As we learned last week, we are to imitate the God we worship. “As your Father also is merciful, be ye merciful.” So let’s transition to the rest of what Jesus says in Luke 6:36-42 about being merciful. This passage is also found on  page 194 of the Prayer Book.

In describing what it means to be merciful, Jesus says, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

First. It is clear that Jesus is calling Christians to be marked by Mercy, not judgment, condemnation, resentment, or stinginess. But Jesus is not prohibiting all judgment. He is stating a principle that what you give out, you get back. Jesus is saying that His disciples should imitate the Father, whose property is always to have mercy, and who, in the grand scheme of things, rarely gives judgment. He is “long-suffering”, and we should be, too. But there are some other reasons for not judging that are particular to our human situation.

First, It is not our place. Paul says in Romans 14:4, “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” Except for rare cases of church discipline, or a spiritual friendship where a rebuke has a chance of bearing good fruit, we are to leave judgment to God. Second, we don’t always know a person’s motives or intentions. Third, different people are judged differently by God. The same action with the same intention can be seen differently in the eyes of the Lord. Some people have been dealt all 2’s and 7’s when it comes to moral virtues. Some have been subjected to difficult circumstances, even abuse. God knows all these things, and we do not, so we are to be a people known for our mercy, not our judgment, not for our condemnation, but by forgiving, and by giving. Besides giving away money as an act of mercy, one thing we can all give is the benefit of the doubt.

If you’ve seen the movie, Of Gods and Men, there is this great scene where these monks are working on dishes when one of the older monks makes a joke with a younger monk. The younger monk, who is struggling with some things, looks at him and curses him very explicitly, then stomps off. The older monk looks at another monk who was sitting nearby and says, “He must be having a bad day.” “Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” Mercy is giving the benefit of the doubt.

The passage moves from what we are to avoid doing and what we are to do, and instructs us in how we are to regard ourselves and others, if we hope to imitate God in His mercy. Jesus continues, “And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.”

This is such an interesting passage. Don’t miss the meaning. In the parable, the blind man is the one who is judging and condemning. Jesus calls this man blind, and in the act of judging another, he is attempting to lead another man who is blind. They both fall into the ditch. Jesus is saying that all of us are blind. When we take it upon ourselves to judge someone else, as if we can see, we will end up harming ourselves and them. Then, he says that the disciple is not above his master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. In this, he reminds all of us, not only that we are blind, but also imperfect. Our focus should be on being like Jesus, not on how others are missing the mark.

And this is the context for the verses on the beam and the speck. Children, when we boss, or correct, or judge our brother and sister or friend, we are acting like someone who has a huge log sticking out of his own eye, trying to remove a little speck from someone else’s. If everyone thought of themselves as having the biggest log in their own eye, too blind to judge others, and totally fixated on reaching the perfection of Jesus, then we might have a shot at being merciful as our Father is merciful.

So children, where should our focus be?  [on Jesus] Who should we try to fix? [ourselves] And toward others, should we condemn them, or show them mercy? [Mercy!] And church, why should we show mercy? Because? [God is merciful.]

Amen. And He has shown us great mercy. This is why we are gathered here today, to receive the banquet that He set for us. This Eucharist is a Thanksgiving for the massive debt that He has forgiven us. And in this mercy shown toward us is our salvation. His grace transforms us. So let us approach and receive the Mercy of God, and then go out and show that Mercy to people who already condemn themselves, and judge themselves, that they, too, might know the mercy of God and praise Him for it. Amen.