Trinity 4
Dear friends in Christ. Today’s Epistle is quite fascinating because in it St. Paul writes about and personifies nature: For the created world is waiting on tiptoe to see the unveiling of God’s sons. Even the creation, the world, universe and everything in it is suffering as a result of the fall of mankind into sin and the resulting curses and the whole creation waits for the day of our Lord’s return when sin and all its effects will be finally removed. One of our Lutheran theologians [M. Franzmann] puts it this way: “[St. Paul] ascribes to ‘creation,’ to man’s world and all that is therein, an intense longing for the day on which the children of God will emerge from their hiddenness, their shame and suffering, and will stand revealed as they are, as justified men who need not shrink from Him who judges the secrets of men, sons of God who see Him face to face.”
As Christians, we have the glory and dignity of God’s dear children; as St. Paul writes at the end our of Epistle: we…who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, that is, we have His Holy Spirit in us and as we have the Holy Spirit in us who works faith in us and strengthening and keeping us in that faith—faith that receives the gifts and blessings of Christ: forgiveness of sin and eternal life; we are already now as St. John says [Rev. 1.5-6]: [Jesus Christ] loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.
But the simple fact remains: it hardly looks like we are kings and priests, heirs of heaven, God’s own dear children, vessels in which the Holy Spirit—in fact, the Triune God—dwells. We suffer in this life; we see the enemies of Christ’s Church seemingly triumphing; we sin grievously; we feel our sin and guilt. Is it any wonder that we long for Christ’s return? Because of our sin, is it any wonder that nature, too, longs for Christ’s return? St. John puts it this way [1 John 3.1]: Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. All this drives home the point that we live in a tension between our present and future experience of the Kingdom we are called to: we live between Jesus’ first and second coming.
Because of that, we see that as we are called into Christ’s kingdom, the Church, we are called to life of mercy. That means that first we experience mercy—God’s mercy to us in Christ; and secondly, that we, who have recognized and received God’s mercy will also show mercy toward others. In other words, our lives as Christians are marked by mercy: both in receiving and showing. Our text: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
1. How vital a life of mercy is! After all, we are sinners living in a sinful world. We need continual mercy from God and we have cause to show continual mercy toward our neighbor. The simple definition of mercy is being concerned about another’s unfortunate state or misery.
Working with that simple definition, we see beyond any shadow of a doubt that God is merciful. In fact, mercy, being merciful is God’s primary quality. Think about it: God had every right to right then and there condemn Adam and Eve to hell as soon as they had rebelled against Him and His holy will and sinned. But what did He do instead? He gave them the promise of the Savior from sin and death. He pronounced doom on the devil. That’s God’s mercy—He saw their wretched state/ condition and did something about it: He promised to send a Savior from sin and death and He worked continually by His Holy Spirit to create and preserve faith in that Savior in the hearts of people down through the ages.
The Lord continues to show mercy and wants to draw people to His greatest mercy—Jesus, His Son and our Savior from sin, death, devil and hell—as He now, in our everyday lives, shows mercy. In other words, the Lord shows us mercy to draw us to His mercy. St. Paul puts it this way [Rm. 2.4]: …the goodness of God leads you to repentance. God intends that the goodness and power He reveals in the creation should lead people to seek Him. Jesus says [Mt. 5.45]: [Your father in heaven] makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
To all of us—no matter how great our sin and iniquity—the Lord shows mercy. He gives us what we need—no matter how sinful and unworthy we may be. He doesn’t look at our worthiness but our need. That’s because He is merciful.
That’s precisely why He gave us a Savior from sin, Christ Jesus,—He is merciful; He knows and is concerned about our wretched state and misery spiritually. Precisely because we are sinners and earn by our sins nothing but God’s wrath and condemnation, there’s no way we can be “worthy” of a Savior. In fact, if we were “worthy” of a Savior from sin, we wouldn’t need that Savior. But God beheld our wretched state and what? –As St. Paul writes: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, because of the atonement, God can be and is merciful to us sinners and give us temporal/ earthly blessings—the sun and rain—as well as the greatest spiritual blessings the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Although Jesus’ death took place at a certain place and time—as we confess in the Creed, Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate—it is an eternal act; it is always before the eyes of the Father. That’s why He could show mercy to Adam and Eve and forgive their sins and promise them the Savior; that’s why He could show mercy to the OT saints and forgive them their sin—thousands/ hundreds of years before Jesus actually came and died for our sins; and that’s why God can/ does forgive us our sin although Jesus’ death was almost 2000 years ago. Jesus’ suffering and death for the sins of the world is that eternal act that God the Father is always looking at. As a holy and righteous God, He must punish sin; but He is also merciful and in that mercy planned from the beginning of the Creation to send His Son to be our Savior from sin. Now, instead of giving us sinners what we really deserve for our sin—His wrath and condemnation in hell—He can/ does show mercy and grant us forgiveness. God’s mercy is the cause of the atonement—Jesus reconciling the world to God by His life, suffering and death; and because of Jesus’ work, God can/ does show mercy to us sinners. This is what our faith clings to—God’s mercy, His promise to forgive us our sin for Christ’s sake. The OT prophet writes [Ez. 33.11]: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’.
2. The very forgiveness/ reconciliation that Jesus brought about on the cross, the Lord in mercy gives us who so desperately need it. That forgiveness is given us in the word, in the holy absolution and in the holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Altar. In the word and sacraments God doesn’t just tell us about His mercy but makes us recipients of that forgiveness as He gives us it to us there fully and freely. We, dear Christian, have been shown God’s mercy in the word and sacrament—because we so desperately need it, and are now in faith His dear children. We have been called in His kingdom, the Church, and are called to a life of mercy—mercy that we receive and mercy that we, as a result show. That’s why Jesus says in today’s Gospel: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
All people are the objects of our Lord’s mercy because in mercy He gives all of us our daily bread; the sins of all have been paid for by Christ; the world has, in Christ, been reconciled to God. But most don’t recognize that. Most reject it. But not us, dear Christian. In us the Holy Spirit has worked faith that recognizes and receives the Lord’s mercy. For most of us, that was in Baptism when the Lord washed away our sins, worked faith in Christ in our hearts and brought us into His holy family. Now, dear Christian, we are the children of God. And what does that mean for us? Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Here is a distinguishing mark/ characteristic of our lives as Christians—and particularly as we deal with others: mercy. The kingdom of God calls us to a way of life in which mercy abounds, in which we are concerned about another’s unfortunate state or misery. Remember, we live in the time between Christ’s First and Second Comings. Although we are Christians enjoying every heavenly and spiritual blessing, we still are in this world of sin and with our own sinful nature/ self within us. We will never be perfectly holy and pure—that’s why we continue to need our Lord’s mercy to forgive us our sin; that’s why we need to keep coming to church to confess our sin and to receive our Lord’s mercy in the forgiveness of our sin in the absolution and sacrament. But since each one of us can and should say that—what does that mean? We are all sinners and in need of mercy, not only from the Lord but from each other. We need others to deal mercifully with us, just as we deal mercifully with them—particularly in a Christian congregation. That’s why Jesus tells us—us children of God through the water and word of Baptism: “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.” Here is the call to live that new life that we have and enjoy. Since we have experienced God’s mercy, that same mercy will be reflected in our lives—in the lives we live with others. We do not judge others with a self-righteous, hypocritical, self-exalting judging. Each time we gossip or slander someone we are judging and condemning them, not letting mercy show, not covering that sin like we would want our sin to be covered. If we are serious about ourselves, the enormity of our own sin is enough so we aren’t burdened to look for others’ sins.
Yes, we are concerned for our neighbor’s welfare and spiritual good. So if they are involved in a sin we are aware of, we show them mercy by going to talk with them privately to lead them to recognize and repent of their sin; we don’t tell others. That’s unmerciful because it doesn’t lead them to Christ and His mercy. But isn’t the fact that we call our neighbor on the carpet for a sin—even without blabbing/ gossiping about it—isn’t that wrong and isn’t that judging? No, it’s not our judgment; we aren’t doing the judging; Christ in His word is; we, in love and mercy are simply His spokesmen to bring them to recognize/ receive His mercy.
On top of that Jesus says in our text: “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.” Here we are reminded that we must have a right knowledge of our own sinful state and that we ourselves are in need of mercy and make use of that mercy. We look at our own lives in the mirror of God’s holy Law and hear it judging us; then we hear His voice in the Gospel giving us forgiveness and mercy; then we run to the absolution and hear Christ through His instrument the pastor tell me my sins are forgiven; then we run to the altar to receive in our mouths that forgiveness with Jesus’ body and blood with the bread and wine.
As we receive that mercy again and anew, we, humbled and penitent, point our neighbor to that same mercy and forgiveness in Christ we enjoy. In fact, as we show mercy to our neighbor and forgive him/her their sin against us—instead of gossiping—God is, at the same time, comforting and assuring us that He has forgiven us our sin for by our forgiveness we are showing that we have in faith received God’s mercy and forgiveness. As we forgive and show mercy, we are reminded of God’s mercy and forgiveness to us first. Indeed, we are called to a life of mercy: first God is merciful to us and we are merciful to others in our dealings and judgments. INJ Amen.