Audio of the sermon is here:

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Why is it so easy to see what everyone else should do and not do, and so difficult to see what we should do? When it comes to other people, it is very clear to us what they should be doing and not doing, but when we turn to ourselves, it all suddenly becomes a conundrum. You can see it when you are in a group of your close friends, and one of the friends in the group is doing or not doing something. Everyone else finds it very easy to tell that person what he or she should be doing or not doing. I see it as a parent, when it is easy to see what my children should be doing or not doing, and I tell them that. But I confess, it is much easier for me to see what they are doing wrong than what they are doing right. And more than that, it is far easier to tell them what to do than to do it when it comes to me. After all, where did they learn a lot of those things? Probably from me, because I can see what they should be doing, but I don’t do it myself.

            What Jesus tells us to do here in Luke 6 is very straightforward and easy to understand. There’s not a lot of ambiguity here. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who abuse you, bless those who curse you. What you want other people to do to you, do likewise to them. And everyone’s favorite: judge not, lest ye be judged. Suddenly, we’re all speaking the English of King James: judge not, lest ye be judged. It’s pretty clear. Even so, it’s always easier to tell other people what they should be doing, than to do it ourselves. We have a clear double standard: we will give ourselves all sorts of leeway; we will justify our action or lack thereof in any number of ways. But when it comes to other people, we find it hard to give them any slack at all. But Jesus warns us that whatever measure we use toward other people—measuring very closely, very carefully—that will also be the measure given to us. And Paul picks it up in Romans 2: You who judge others condemn yourselves, because you do the very same things that you are judging (2:1). It is so easy for us to tell other people what to do, and to rationalize why we don’t do what we’re supposed to do.

            Except for Jesus. We shouldn’t forget that Jesus is the one who is speaking here, to any and all who can hear Him. Since you heard His words this morning, He is speaking to you. But Jesus doesn’t just tell other people what to do, without worrying about doing those same things Himself. The hint is in the words: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” Because this isn’t just good advice, or general instruction for good living. In fact, doesn’t all this go a little too far? I mean, be nice. Help people out. But your enemies? Those who hate you and abuse you and curse you? What about the people who do that sort of thing to you, whatever it is? What about when they sin against you in those ways? Is that covered too? We’re supposed to love those sorts of people. It’s all a little too much.

            Except this is all exactly what Jesus does. He doesn’t just tell you what to do or give you an example of how you should act—although He does do that. He does all of this for you. This is the mercy of the Father. This is His compassion. This is His love, wrapped up in flesh and given to you. Because Jesus doesn’t have friends; He has only enemies. Even His chosen disciples abandon Him and run away from Him. Jesus doesn’t have people who bless Him, or who love Him. He has only those who curse, who hate, who abuse, who mock, who betray, who crucify. And these are the things He does. He loves His enemies. He prays for those who abuse Him: Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing. He prays for you now, interceding for you before the Father. He blesses those who curse Him. He forgives. He lets them take His cloak and His tunic, too, and He is suspended from the cross, naked for all to see His suffering and His shame. There is the holy right hand of God’s salvation, bared before the world.

            And all of this is for you and me, who were His enemies. When we were ungodly, Jesus died for us. While we were still weak, He died for us. While we were still sinners, before we ever loved Him or turned to Him or came to Him, He turned to us, came to us, loved us. While we were still His enemies, He reconciled us to His Father, covering us with His own blood so that we could once again be joined to the life of God. None of these are abstractions. There’s a lot of talk about love and compassion, but we do not really know what those words mean outside the crucified and resurrected flesh and blood of Jesus. He is love. He is compassion. And for us to love, for us to be merciful, for us to forgive, He loves us, He is merciful to us, He forgives us. The measuring works both ways. By whatever measure you use, it will be measured to you. But also, by the measure God in Christ uses toward you, you can measure to other people. You have been given an overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together, poured out into your lap. This is why you can go out and forgive and love those who don’t deserve forgiveness and don’t love you, because it’s not your forgiveness and love. It’s God’s. And He gives it to you, both for you, and for those He puts in front of you. You’re not going to run out.

Because Jesus is risen from the dead. If He were not risen from the dead, then eat and drink because tomorrow you die. Get what you can now. Love those who love you. Do good to those who do good to you, because this is all there is. But if Jesus is risen from the dead—and He is—then that means that this is not all there is. There is eternal life, and He has given it to you. So you can spend this life for the sake of other people, because you’re never going to run out of life. Even when you die, you will live. In fact, as Paul says, we die daily. We die to sin daily, and rise to new life daily. And it’s necessary to do so, because when we go out there and try to love and forgive, so often the enemy of God shows his ugly face. The words of God’s enemy come out of our mouths. The actions of God’s enemy, we do. So by baptism, the Holy Spirit brings you Jesus daily, and Jesus is going to love His enemies to death. He’s going to love you to death, so there will be no more enemies of God, only His dear friends, redeemed and resurrected and restored to full and holy communion with God, our creator.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, ESV). Amen.

– Pr. Timothy Winterstein, 2/21/25