“Moments of Mercy” Luke 6.27-38 Epiphany 7C Feb. ‘22

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this 7^th Sunday after Epiphany is taken from Luke 6:27-38. In this portion of his Sermon on the Plain, Jesus offers us glimpses of the kingdom breaking forth on earth. The message is entitled, “Moments of Mercy,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                A disciple is hated and responds with love. A disciple is cursed and responds with blessing. A disciple is abused and responds with prayer. When encountering a beggar, a disciple gives. When having things stolen, a disciple does not seek repayment. Again and again, in situation after situation, Jesus reveals one principle that rules over all: Mercy. Jesus says in Luke 6:36, "Be merciful even as your Father is merciful."

3.                What delights me about this list is that these are only moments. Moments of mercy. By listing a series of situations in rapid succession, Jesus overwhelms us with how practical, how real, how tangible, how concrete, life in the kingdom of God can be.

4.                We don't need special skills to be a Christian. Having received mercy, we offer mercy. We don't need to surround ourselves with only certain kinds of people. When confronted with anger, disparagement, and rejection, we suffer. When coming across those who are homeless, helpless, and hopeless, we love. We continue to live in the world, but we do so fully invested in our daily lives because we know that the kingdom of God is present here. Anytime and everywhere, moments of mercy can break out in our world.

5.                The beauty of this is that moments of mercy can be quite powerful. God can use a moment of mercy to change a person's life. I think of Victor Hugo's literary masterpiece Les Misérables, where he unfolds how a simple act of mercy changes a criminal's life. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his sister's children, has been marked for life. He will always be a convict, forced to display his yellow passport and be treated like an outcast. When passing through a town, he can’t find a place to stay and ultimately is offered refuge in a clergyman's home. Jean Valjean responds to this gracious hospitality by stealing the household silver. When Valjean is caught and accused, the clergyman says the silver was a gift and that Valjean had forgotten to take the candlesticks as well. In Hugo's story, this one small moment of mercy becomes the beginning of a lifelong transformation.

6.                Hugo's literary imagination echoes the words of Jesus in our text. "From one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either" he says in Luke 6:29. In the hand of God, one small act of mercy can be the beginning of new life for the lost. To those fully schooled in the ways of the world, this way of the kingdom seems wrong. Unjust. You should defend yourself, claim your rights, guard your possessions, and repay evil with evil. But in the kingdom of God, moments of mercy are the wrong that makes things right.

7.                We realize that we are to love and give. After all, everything we have is given to us as a gift from God. God has given us many material gifts, just as he gave many gifts to those who followed him in those readings we’ve heard throughout the season of epiphany. Even if we are not rich, God has given us many gifts (body, mind, family, friends, support).

8.                Quite naturally, though, we are selective with our love and our gifts. Our first instinct is to keep, guard, and hold onto any and every gift we are given. We first have to trust a person (date or be friends for a time) before loving them. We count and measure out every dime we have and what we need to keep before thinking about giving any of it away, even giving it to the church.

9.                We try to judge whether someone really needs or is worthy of our love and gifts. Instead, Jesus tells us to love and give even to our enemies. We use strict judgment and a stingier measure with those we don’t know. We may not give to our neighbor if we think the gift will be misused (spent on drugs or alcohol).

 

10.             It is even harder to give to our enemies or those we do not like or who mistreat us. We may be willing to buy our friend lunch once or twice, but we do not likely give our lunch money to the school bully. But, the fact is, we’re no better than any other sinner when we give only to those who are worthy of our charity. Jesus says in Luke 6:32–34, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.” Still, we can love and give to all because we have been loved and given good in Christ.

11.             You are in a position to give love, for you were first given and loved by your Heavenly Father who is merciful. You have been given much love and many gifts by God. You are unworthy, yet God had mercy upon you (Luke 6:36). God gave you, his enemy, not just another cheek, a tunic, or an amount of money, but his very own Son. God has taken what seemed bad and made it for your good and the good of your neighbor, much as he did for Joseph in our Old Testament lesson for today (Gen. 45:3–15).

12.             Jesus’ horrible death is your greatest gift, that accomplishes completely everything necessary for your salvation. This worst event and loss of the life of Jesus is your greatest benefit (χάρις). By Jesus’ cross, you have been forgiven. In Christ, God promises you forgiveness even for selfishness and judgments. Nothing is won or lost by having more stuff. We are free of the necessity to do anything to earn eternal life or to gain anything for ourselves. What remains in this life isn’t a burden or something that must be done to qualify you for heaven but a gift and an opportunity to love your neighbors and show them the love you have in Christ Jesus (Ps 103:1–13).

13.             Consider how Christ made us children of the kingdom. He came to us in our sinfulness and bought our lives with his innocent suffering and death. As Martin Luther reminds us in his explanation of the 2^nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed, "he has redeemed me . . . not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death." The death of Jesus is the wrong that makes things right.

14.             God, the Father, sent his Son into our world to be the spring of his bountiful mercy. By his death and resurrection, Jesus opens a fountain of mercy that has a never-ending stream. Just as water can awaken life in soil that has been dry and dead for years, so too God brings life in the wilderness of our world through moments of mercy.

15.             This is important because we live in a world that has lost sight of mercy. Our culture is changing. We are becoming a cancel culture. In a cancel culture, if a moment of sin or error is uncovered, then the one who committed that sin is canceled. A text message from twenty years ago containing a racial slur is enough to cancel the career of a sports announcer. It doesn't matter that a teenage boy can grow and change and even repent of his earlier actions. In a cancel culture, the answer to sin is cancelation. Not forgiveness. And certainly not restoration. In a cancel culture, the cure actually kills the patient. Cancellation purifies by exclusion. It sanctifies by silencing. And soon our streets will be filled with people who don't matter.

16.             Into such a world, Jesus speaks these words to his people. He awakens in our lives an echo of his grace. Repentance, forgiveness, new life are foreign concepts in a culture obsessed with canceling. But in the kingdom of God, these are the ways of God's working. So, it is a blessing not only for us but for our world that Jesus comes and speaks these words today. He reminds us that the kingdom we live in is a kingdom of grace, with moments of life-changing mercy breaking out in our world. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

“A Love/Fear Relationship” (Luke 5:1-11) Epiphany 5C, Feb. ‘22

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 5^th Sunday after Epiphany is taken from Luke 5:1-11 and is entitled, “A Love/Fear Relationship” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                The miraculous catch of fish happens not just once in the ministry of Jesus but twice. And, this miracle happens twice to the same person: Simon Peter. We often think of miracles as singular events. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus heals the ten lepers. Jesus casts out demons from the man wandering among the tombs... and it is true. Many miracles are once-in-a-lifetime events for people.

3.                But, sometimes, miracles come in pairs. And when miracles come in pairs, it is helpful to consider how they interact with one another. For example, the feeding of five thousand among the Jews is paralleled by the feeding of four thousand among the Gentiles. From this, we see the expanding ministry of Jesus who has come to save not only Israel but all nations.

4.                The reason I point this out is because in our text from Luke 5:1-11 we have a miracle that, when read in light of the life of Peter, is part of a pair. In the first occurrence of the miraculous catch of fish, Peter is washing his nets after a long night of fishing. They have caught nothing. Jesus uses the boat to speak to the crowds, and Peter doesn’t mind. After all, it might as well be used for something, since last night wasn’t a good night for fishing. After Jesus finishes teaching the crowds, He turns to talk to Peter and teaches him in a very different way. Jesus will explode Peter's conception of Him as figure of high status (e.g., “master” in Luke 5:5) and reveal Himself to Peter as Lord (Luke 5:8).

5.                Jesus does this by asking Peter to go against his experience, to deny his fruitless night of fishing, to defy his lifetime of knowledge about his vocation, and simply trust in a word from Jesus. When Peter does this, puts out the boat, and drops the nets, a miraculous catch of fish appears. While the fishermen strain to draw in the nets, while others come out to help, Peter turns and looks at Jesus and falls on his knees. He asks Him to go away. Being in the presence of such a miracle causes Peter to sense his sinfulness and fall on his knees begging not for mercy but rather that this Lord would just walk away.

6.                Love/hate relationships are a part of life. We all have them. I have a love/hate relationship with my former mechanic in Waupaca, WI. I loved his work. But, I hated his prices. The apostle Peter, in Luke 5, has a similarly mixed relationship with his Lord. No, he doesn’t have a love/hate relationship with Jesus. He has a love/fear relationship.

7.                On the one hand, Peter loves Jesus. For even when Jesus gives Peter what must have seemed like foolish fishing advice, Peter graciously complies. “Master,” Peter says, “we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5 says). Peter addresses Jesus respectfully and heeds His guidance obediently. And when he does, they have success fishing.

8.                It’s at this point when Peter’s love for Jesus melts into fear of Jesus. Peter falls on his knees and exclaims, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8 says). Peter’s fear is straightforward: Jesus is perfect; Peter is not. Peter knows that he is out of his league. And Peter is scared. But then, Jesus comforts Peter: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10).

9.                “Do not be afraid.” This is the most common command in the Bible. It is spoken to a despondent mother named Hagar who is afraid for the well-being of her son Ishmael (cf. Genesis 21:17). It is spoken to a commander named Joshua as he prepares to fight a battle at Ai (cf. Joshua 8:1). It is spoken by an angel to shepherds who are “keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8) when they receive word of Jesus’ birth. And now, Jesus speaks this same command to Peter: “Do not be afraid.”

10.             Thankfully, Peter learns this command well. Later, when Jesus’ teaching has become controversial and many disciples have begun to leave, He asks His disciples in John 6:67-68: “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter’s answer is clear: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67–68). Peter no longer fears Jesus because of his uncleanness. Rather, he loves Jesus because of his uncleanness. For Peter now recognizes that only Jesus offers words of eternal life to unclean people. So rather than wanting Jesus to depart from him, Peter now wishes Jesus to remain close. May we all wish the same.

11.             The second occurrence of this miraculous catch of fish happens at the end of the Gospel of John 21:1-8. Here we see how the Apostle Peter has matured in his Christian faith. There, the disciples are out on the shore of the Sea of Galilee fishing. They have spent all night fishing and caught nothing. Suddenly, a figure appears on the shore. He asks them if they have any fish, and they reply they do not. He then instructs them to drop their nets in the water for a catch. Once again, they are engulfed in a miracle. The disciples are overwhelmed and strain to gather the nets because of the large quantity of fish.

12.             But, this time, when Peter recognizes it is Jesus, he does not fall on his knees and beg Him to go away. No, this time, Peter puts on his outer garment to make himself presentable and jumps into the water to get to Jesus as fast as possible. This one who had denied knowing Jesus, who lived with the guilt of that sin, came swimming as fast as he could to Him.

13.             Why? What has happened to make such a difference? Between these two miracles stands the death and resurrection of Jesus. Between these two miracles is a long three years of following Jesus and watching as heavenly grace breaks forth upon earth. Peter has seen how Jesus cares for those who are in need. To the hungry, He provides food. To the sick, He provides healing. To those who are hiding in shame, He provides a place of honor. To those who have sinned, He promises forgiveness.

14.             Peter has not changed. He is still a sinner in need of forgiveness. But Peter’s knowledge of who Jesus is has changed and, when faced with the choice of living in his sin or entrusting his life to Jesus, Peter rushes to come to Jesus for he trusts Jesus forgives. Jesus is the One who forgives. He died to pay the penalty of all sin and God raised Him from the dead to live and offer forgiveness to all who come to Him. Because of the love and mercy of Jesus, we can come into the presence of our all-powerful and just God.

15.             So, come today: Come to Jesus. He is here, waiting to receive you. He promises that no sin, nothing you have thought, said, or done, will be held against you. He has risen from the dead and He has come here to forgive you. Jesus is here, teaching us today through these memories of miracles, that He has not come to send you away with all sinners but rather to forgive you and receive you and all sinners who trust in Him as their Savior and Lord into the Kingdom of God. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.