Luke 6:27-38
Last week we heard the beginning of Jesus' famous “Sermon on the Plain”. Similar to the Sermon on the Mount, from Matthew, in which he issued the beloved Beatitudes, last Sunday's Gospel set forth both those who are blessed and those who are cursed, that is to say, believers and unbelievers respectively. Here, today, we continue with that sermon, and Jesus deals with two topics that help shape the lives of his disciples – loving and judging. Who and how and when are we to love, and to judge our neighbor?Before we get to that, though, perhaps the Christian does well to consider the basis for our loving of others, and really of everything that we are and do as Christians. It's all found, first, in the love of Christ. He who surely practices what he preaches. He certainly loved his own enemies. He gave his cheeks to be struck. He gave his garments to be divided. He even prayed, “Father forgive them...” as they nailed him to the cross. Ah, but those Romans and Jews that put him to death weren't the real enemies. We were. Romans 5 teaches us, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Yes, Love you enemies, for Jesus has loved you.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful, to you! Do we too easily forget that God didn't HAVE to save us? That he'd be well within his just rights to mete out punishment for our sins? But God, instead, loved the world. He sent us the Christ, his own precious Son. He too loved his enemies, and gave Christ up for us all.
And judgment – we deserve it, of course, but in Christ the judgment is different for us. The verdict overturned. The case thrown out. Christ has born all sin, suffered all punishment, paid the price. So when he tells you not to judge, he knows a thing or two – he who will judge the nations at his second coming, separating sheep from goats, believers from unbelievers. He is the righteous judge who was himself condemned to make us righteous who stood condemned under the law.
And so all of what Jesus is about to say is not just a harangue of the law, a lecture in Christian morals that you better follow or else (though it is surely law). Nor is what follows simply a way to follow him as the perfect example (though he is). It is, rather instruction in Christian living that is based on the life and death of Christ for us. We love because he loves us.
The Christian's expression of love, even for his enemies – is solidly rooted in the love Christ has first shown to us. It is an exercise of the faith the Spirit has worked in us. It is the natural working of the new man, the believer reconciled to God in his inner being, whose mind is held captive to the word of God and whose spirit is alive in Christ. All this love – it's simply what we do, according to our faith.
The problem is we are not only new creations – we also have this flesh that clings to us. And so where the new man would love naturally, without prompting or even encouraging, the old Adam must hear the law, the instruction, the “do this and don't do that”. Surely this will always expose our sin and failure. But it also instructs us in the way we ought to be, how and who we ought to love.
This is the life of Christian sanctification. It is the main topic of both sermons on Mount and Plain, and actually, for much of Jesus' teaching. We Christians are not anti-nomians. We don't ignore or despise the law. The Gospel must predominate, but it doesn't eliminate the law. Faith saves, but works remain to be done. Grace alone and faith alone are the way to be saved. But being saved means doing – living out your faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 are followed by Ephesians 2:10!
The good works are prepared for us to do – ready and waiting. The neighbors are there for us to love. And so there is doing to be done. And so look at the verbs Jesus uses here. Imperative verbs, telling us to do stuff:
Love – Do Good – Bless – Pray – Turn – Give – Do not Demand – Likewise do to them – be merciful. Do not judge, do not condemn, forgive, and (again) give.
These things are hard to do! We have this flesh that wants to do other things! Hate our enemies. To do bad things to those who hurt us. To curse them, not pray for them. To strike back when they strike us. To demand our fair and right part. And to do to them as we think they deserve.
But it's even harder than just simply not doing evil – a sort of a live and let live – Jesus means doing good, even to those who hate you and curse you and harm you – yes, even your enemies! For even sinners lend to sinners, and love those who love them. But you Christians who have received my love and mercy – you are to show love and mercy even – even to your enemies! The bar is higher. The calling is greater.
Hard to do without failing. Hard to do without struggling. So hard, that we can only do these things in Christ, out of faith, and under the grace and mercy he's already shown and continues to show us.
And this word, love – you may have heard the Greek word for it - “Agape”. It's not the romantic love, or the brotherly love, or even the family love – Greek has different words for all of those. This is the self-sacrificial love of one for another, the putting another person first, before yourself. The kind of love that Jesus showed, and showed perfectly in putting the word before himself when he took the world's sin on himself, and suffered the cross for all. So to show agape is to reflect that Christ-like love to others. Even to suffer and perhaps to die for them.
And what about this business of “judging”? Here's a playground for all sorts of mischief and false teaching. First we must see this in light of the wider context of Scripture, which tells in other places of “how we ought to judge”. And so Jesus doesn't mean here, “don't judge, ever, in any way”. He does seem to be warning us at the very least to not judge harshly or unfairly – for what goes around comes around, and the measure you use will be used on you. First of all, you'll get your payback from others. But perhaps even from God.
Martin Luther preached several sermons on this text, and one of the passages he kept close at hand was that of Matthew 18 where we read of the unmerciful servant. You remember, the servant who owed a great debt, but the master forgave him – and that servant promptly went out and found another servant, who owed him a lesser sum, choked him and threw him in prison for not paying. What an outlandish story! But Jesus threatens, “neither will my Father forgive you, if you do not forgive others”.
And likewise, Luther points us to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7 about straining at the speck in your brother's eye all the while having a log or a plank in your own eye. It's laughable. It's ridiculous. It makes no sense. But it is just how we are – we who are forgiven much, but fail to forgive others.
So how are we to judge, then? If you take these words of Jesus in their most literal sense, then no, we are not to judge at all. But then you have a problem because other places in Scripture teach precisely that we ought to judge. The words of Jesus in our text speak more to the attitude, toward being judgmental – and unfairly treating our neighbor with harshness rather than mercy. So the real questions are, When is it ok, and on what basis do we judge?
Well we'd never judge another's heart or his eternal salvation – that surely is for God alone. And Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. Don't take away from him what belongs to him. Oh, but then Paul tells us that on that day we, the believers, will also participate in judging the nations – and even the angels!
1 Corinthians 6: 1 If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? 2 Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4 Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!
Leviticus 19:15 Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Proverbs 31:9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.
And so God does call us to judge in certain times and places – and as with many things for us, the key is really vocation. Have you been called to judge in this situation, in this way? Then do so, without fear and hesitation. But do so justly and fairly. Do so with an eye toward the mercy that has been shown you in Christ. Sometimes it's your place to judge – like, if you are, a judge! Or if you are a parent who is given charge of children to raise. Or a school teacher or a boss or a pastor or other authority. Each of these vocations judges, in a sense, in their own sphere, in what is given to them.
But even more generally, as Christians, we ought to show good judgment that is based on the clear word of God. We ought to “test the spirits”. We ought to keep close watch on our doctrine. Test everything, hold to what is good. If anyone preaches a different gospel, then let them be anathema! But always back to the word – never judging on my own opinions, ideas, or wisdom. Just as a good courtroom judge does his judging based on the law, so the Christian who is given to judge, will only ever do so in accord with the Word of God.
When it is not given to us to judge – let God do the judging. When it is given to us to judge, let us judge rightly, on the basis of his word – that word of both law and gospel! Therefore even our rightful judging is informed by a humility that we too are worthy of judgment, and that we who have known mercy might show mercy where possible.
The life of love is hard. Jesus' words today are a challenge. We we fail, and often. Thanks be to God that when we fall, it is always back on his mercy, his love, his forgiveness, his cross... and that in him we are and ever will be judged righteous before God.
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