23 June 2013 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA
Text: Luke 6:36-42
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
“Judge
not, and you will not be judged.”
If
we were to interrupt our Lord at this point, a lot of people would be out of
work: the entire judicial branch of the federal government, anyone who tastes
chili at a cook-off, and even Judge Judy would be removed from her bench.
Of
course, our Lord is not against the hearing of cases before magistrates – in
fact, there is a book in the Bible called “Judges” – as this was the way Israel
was governed before she had a king.
There is nothing in Scripture for us to speak against chili cook-offs,
and it would be hard to imagine Judge Judy drawing up wills for a living.
No,
the Lord is not denouncing the concept of judging. In fact, he is calling upon all of us –
whether we are official judges or not – to “be merciful, even as your Father is
merciful.”
Just
about every vocation in life must render judgments. Every parent who has had to settle a family
dispute, every teacher who has to figure out which student (if any) is telling
the truth in a classroom argument, every umpire that rules “fair” or “foul,” is
engaging in judgment.
Pastors
are sometimes called upon to render judgments – sometimes involving ethical
questions, or when parishioners are faced with difficult choices, or even in
cases where a person may be impenitent of a sin.
Our
Lord is warning us that when we do render a judgment – whether within our
vocation or not – that we will be judged the same way by God. “For with the measure you use, it will be
measured back to you.”
So,
we would indeed do well to “be merciful” – even as our Father “is merciful.”
The
word “merciful” can also be translated as “compassionate.” The word “compassion” in English actually
means to suffer with someone else who is suffering. It means to be in sync with another person or
living being, to internalize their pain, to be filled with the desire to
alleviate their anguish as if it were our own.
To be “merciful” in this sense is to empathize, to see things from
another’s perspective rather than our own, and then try to find a way to ease
their pain and suffering.
And
in this fallen life, we all suffer. That
is what it means to be a sinner in a sinful world. We are in this together. We all feel pain. We all are saddened by disappointment. We all grieve misfortune. We all mourn for those who die while we yet
live. And each day that goes by, we are ourselves
one day closer to dying.
And
when we look at it that way, the things we get so angry about, so worked up
over, suddenly don’t seem so important.
“Be
merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
Our
Lord encourages us in showing mercy by making a joke – or at least a humorous
exaggeration. For in our sins, we
magnify the faults of others into skyscrapers, while we shrink our own down to
the level of an anthill. Our Lord asks
the rhetorical question: “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?” Our Lord identifies this mis-proportionality
of which we are all guilty. He says to
us: “You hypocrite,” and yes, dear friends, this means you, it means me, it
means every person who has ever walked on this planet except for one, and it is
He who is speaking. “You hypocrite,” He
says, “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.”
This
is the context of the “judge not” statement.
It does not mean that the courts should wink at injustice, that foul
balls should be called fair, nor that Judge Judy should refuse to render a
verdict in a case (nor hold back in her entertaining way of running her
courtroom). But it does mean that we need
to judge ourselves with the strictness that we so love judging our brothers and
sisters. We need to take the log out of
our own eye. We need to humbly realize
that “a disciple is not above his teacher.”
And our Teacher is merciful and compassionate.
But
let us not forget why this is the case.
Let us not simply add our Lord’s exhortation to the Ten Commandments and
chalk it up to one more thing we fail at.
For once more, dear friends, our Lord’s point was what He said right up
front: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
Our
Father is merciful. He is compassionate
toward us. He is saddened by our
disappointments. He grieves our
misfortune. He mourns for us as we die –
even if one day at a time. He is
merciful because He is patient, kind, loving, and forgiving. Rather than lash out at us in anger, He
sympathizes with us, suffers for us, and dies in our place. And, dear friends, even as “everyone when he
is fully trained will be like his teacher,” our Teacher rose from the dead, and
trains us to walk in His very footsteps to overcome our crosses, to conquer sin,
death, and the grave.
Dear
brothers and sisters, listen to the promise the Lord makes to us as a sign and
seal of His mercy: “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
the Lord measures His gifts to us out of His mercy, and the measure He uses is
generous – certainly a measure that we in no way deserve. The Lord heaps His blessings upon us to
overflowing, so that we can hardly even carry it around.
And
when we focus on the Lord’s mercy, when we meditate on His kindness to us (in
spite of our petty judgmentalism and vain hypocrisy), when we read the command
“judge not” in light of the Lord’s mercy toward us, it becomes clear that there
is no cause or reason for us to lack compassion, to be quick to anger and
condemn, or to be stingy and self-centered.
Dear
friends, our good, gracious, forbearing, patient Lord is merciful beyond
measure. And it is this grace and mercy
that empower us according to His Word: “Be merciful, even as your Father is
merciful.” Amen.
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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