Readings: Genesis 50:15-21 | Romans 8:18-23 | Luke 6:36-42
Text: Luke 6:36-42
C.S. Lewis’ radio addresses during World War II, which eventually came to be the book, Mere Christianity, begins this way:
Everyone has heard people quarrelling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however it sounds, I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kind of things they say. They say things like this: 'How'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?' — ‘That's my seat, I was there first' — 'Leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm' — 'Why should you shove in first?' — 'Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine' — 'Come on, you promised.’ People say things like that every day, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups.
Now what interests me about all these remarks is that the man who makes them is not merely saying that the other man's behavior does not happen to please him. He is appealing to some kind of standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know about. And the other man...Nearly always..tries to make out that what he has been doing does not really go against the standard, or that if it does there is some special excuse. He pretends there is some special reason in this particular case why the person who took the seat first should not keep it, or that things were quite different when he was given the bit of orange, or that something has turned up which lets him off keeping his promise. It looks, in fact, very much as if both parties had in mind some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or decent behavior or morality or whatever you like to call it, about which they really agreed...
Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are; just as there would be no sense in saying that a footballer had committed a foul unless there was some agreement about the rules of football.
As Christians, we of course know the Source and Author of that code of right and wrong: God. Yet, the interactions which C.S. Lewis highlights show just how people respond to there being such a standard. When God commands everything from “Honor your father and your mother” to “You shall not covet,” He says more than simply “love your neighbor.” He commands, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He commands empathy. It’s not enough to just treat others decently. The Golden Rule is the standard: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”[1] Empathy is deeper than what should be done or not be done in serving our neighbor. Empathy changes how we think of our neighbor, especially about his faults and sins.
God has to command empathy because, in our fallen nature, we are selfish. Selfishness didn’t stop when we grew as children into adults. If anything, it got more practiced. We want others to be understanding and compassionate, but apparently it’s only a one way street leading toward us. Every last one of us are hypocrites.
Our Lord says in the Gospel today, “37Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 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.”
If we truly had empathy, we would not be so harsh with one another. If we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves, we wouldn’t gossip. Gossip is nothing more than broadcasting our judgments. Whether it’s with our mouths or our typing fingers, we like to share our opinions as “gospel truth.” But it doesn’t matter how you dress it up: exposing someone’s mishaps to others does real damage. And God calls it a sin.[2] We put others under our microscope and discuss their words and actions at length in the narthex before church. Or, we might do it more piously when discuss who we need to pray for or when a new pastor is handed a list of past “trouble” members who have left. How can we humbly see how mercifully God deals with us when we’re busy judging and being little-g gods to those around us?
The reality is that we are miserable beggars, without exception. We are all undeserving of any kindness. If each of us got what he deserves, we would be immediately deported to hell without any amnesty. Listen to the explanation to the First Article of the Creed:
I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.
Why does God give all these good things—even though we so often take them for granted?
All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.
Rather than give us what our thoughts, words, and deeds deserve, the Father gives us “Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over [and] put into our lap.” The Apostle says, “Do not repay evil for evil…but overcome evil with good”[3] because that is exactly what God has done for you. “Your Father is merciful” and yet He also fulfills His holy Law. He loves us as Himself, with perfect empathy. In perfect love, He gives us Jesus’ keeping of the Law—His good works, His mercy, and His obedience. In exchange, He takes away all our sin and the accusation of the Law.
God is the true Philanthropist—the lover of mankind. He is the lover of you and me, not because we deserve it. Here is a familiar passage, with a more literal translation: “When the goodness and philanthropy of God appeared, He saved us, not because of any works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
That is why “He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”[4] This is the same God who reconciled the world to Himself when He shed His Son’s blood for all people. Jesus embodies this divine mercy. He comes to us, chief of sinners though we be, and heals our blindness. He takes both log and speck from our eye, and makes us see that God nailed all our sins to the beams of the cross.
Then He gives us renewed eyes. We see others with clear judgment. We see them not as treacherous enemies who could take advantage of us at any moment, but we see them—as God sees them—as friends. We see our neighbors as fellow creatures of God who are so precious to Him that He gave His only-begotten Son that they might not perish. And this gift is completely undeserved. We can love even the most despicable and crude human being, because God loves him or her.
And if that’s the case…if the cross has done its work on our hearts…then we do love one another with empathy. When someone isn’t in worship, we seek them out because that’s what we would need if we were struggling. If someone is young in the faith or having doubts, we take the time to talk, pray, and study the Bible together. When we talk about others, we compliment their strengths and defend them against hurtful talk. When we have a conversation with someone, we don’t ask “How are you doing?” in the superficial way, but we’re ready to help no matter the answer. In this way, the Church is more than a hospital full of patients; it’s a caring family where we are all brothers and sisters.
But being a part of this family begins with new birth. It takes more than an act of willpower to stop our navel-gazing. It takes the power of God, in the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”[5] Baptized into Christ, we put to death our judgments, our condemnations, and our grudges. We put on Christ, in whom we are judged worthy to be God’s children, in whom our condemnation is taken away, and we are renewed day by day in that empathy and philanthropy for which God has created us.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Matthew 7:12
[2] Besides Jesus’ command, “Judge not, that you be not judged,” the 8th Commandment: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” and Proverbs 11:13: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.” Also, Psalm 101:5, Proverbs 25:9
[3] Romans 12:17, 21
[4] Matthew 5:45
[5] Titus 3:5
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