The familiar Words that you have heard from the lips of Christ Jesus this morning are challenging and difficult to hear, and they are easily misunderstood. They are commonly heard in a legalistic way, as though the Lord were here instructing you to earn God’s favor, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation by your own efforts, good intentions, behavior, and achievements — as if you even could actually accomplish the sort of life that Jesus describes and sets before you in this Sermon.
It is rather to be understood that what Christ Jesus here preaches is the perfect life and holiness of God-in-the-Flesh, which He Himself lives for you and for all, and which He bestows upon you as a gift within His Holy Church by the Ministry of His Gospel, as also on this day and in this place; so that your own life in the flesh, by faith in Christ, is also a living Epiphany of His divine Glory.
To be sure, these Words of our Lord do expose your sins, your imperfection and unrighteousness. He does preach His divine and holy Law, which confronts you with commands and duties that you are not keeping, and with boundaries and limits that you are not honoring or living within.
His preaching shines a spotlight on your way of life in the flesh, not only your outward actions, but your heart and mind, your thoughts and feelings, which are not as God has created you and called you to be and to live. For you are to manifest His Life and His Love in your body and life; but you have fallen far short of His Glory, your good intentions and best efforts notwithstanding.
To begin with, consider how the Lord extols you to “Love your enemies!” The word for “love” in this case is the Greek word, Agape, which means doing what is right, irrespective of the cost, whether it feels good or not. It has nothing to do with romance or even friendship, but with duty and commitment; it is objective and unwavering, because it’s not a matter of feelings but actions. And the Lord spells out what it looks like in practice, as He goes on to say: “Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! Pray for those who mistreat you!” That’s Agape.
But don’t you rather hate your enemies and curse those who mistreat you? How do you react to the guy who cuts you off in traffic? And what do you do when so-n-so is on your back? Children — what do you mumble under your breath about your parents and teachers when they don’t let you have your own way? Do any of you love your enemies? Do you even love your own family?
As for those who mistreat you or abuse you, there are plenty of different ways in which people do sin against you and others, whether with words or fists or passive-aggressive manipulation; and we rightly sympathize with all those who suffer such treatment. But the Lord here commands that you are also to pray for the abusers! Not to excuse or ignore their wrongdoing, but that the Lord in His mercy would bring them to repentance; whereas a more typical reaction is to fight back with force and vengeance, even though responding in that fashion can lead to brutal consequences.
The Lord’s familiar admonition is that you should “turn the other cheek” to those who strike you. But the instinctive and more likely response is to hit back, even to escalate the conflict in order to get the upper hand. None of us wants to be a punching bag, nor do we like being pushed around. And to be clear, there are both callings and stations in life and circumstances that do require you to defend yourself and your neighbors. But too often it is neither love nor duty that compels you to act, but anger and vindictiveness, arrogance and pride, or a desire for dominance and power.
Jesus goes on to say, “when someone takes your coat, don’t prevent them from taking the shirt off your back, as well.” But is that your natural reaction and response? Not at all. Take a look at the way toddlers battle it out over the same toy, and you’ll have an honest example of where and how your own fallen flesh is prone to contend with your neighbors at every age and stage of life.
Now, it’s not that you must give everything away to robbers and thieves. But the Lord exposes your selfishness, your lust for wealth, your lack of trust in Him, and your lack of charity for your neighbors. By way of example, when someone has taken advantage of your kindness in the past, do you go out of your way to avoid that person and ignore him, so as not to provide further help?
Christ Jesus teaches you to “lend without expecting to get paid back.” But the far more common motto is, “Scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.” Consequently, you are often not very generous with the gifts that God has entrusted to your stewardship. Or, when you do give to others, do you then suppose that you are in a position of superiority, as though you were a god and lord, yourself, distributing your own largesse? Or do your gifts and favors come with implicit strings attached?
“But if you do good only for those who do good for you, what credit is that?” The word for credit here is actually the word for grace, which is taken directly into English as “charity.” So, to say it more straightforwardly, “If you lend money only to those you hope will pay you back, where’s the charity in that? Even sinners lend to sinners when they know they’ll get their money back."
And with that, the Lord identifies each and all of us as sinners. For isn’t it the case that much of what you do for your neighbor carries expectations of some “return on your investment,” whether it be financial, tangible, emotional, or whatnot. But where is there any real charity in that case?
The Lord rather sums up the many and various ways you are to love and serve your neighbor in the so-called Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Help them in their needs, look out for them and take care of them as you’re able, protect and defend them in your words and deeds, and do it all for the sake of Agape-love, simply because it is good and right.
Your life is not to be governed and guided by the law of the jungle, “eat or be eaten.” The rule of the Lord is not, “Do unto others as they do unto you,” far less, “Do unto others before they do it to you!” Look out for “Number One,” to be sure; but realize that you are not number one! You have rather fallen far short of the divine Life and Glory for which you have been created by the Lord your God, and to which you are called by His Word and Holy Spirit, as again this morning.
But these Words of Christ Jesus reveal, not only your sin, but His divine grace and mercy for you. For He has “done unto you” what He would have you “do unto others.” Indeed, all the demands of God’s holy and righteous Law have been met perfectly by Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. He has lived the Life of God — in His own human Flesh and Blood — for you and for all.
As in the case of the Patriarch Joseph, already thousands of years before the Nativity of our Lord, God was making preparations “to save your life by a great deliverance.” Though you stand every bit as guilty as Joseph’s brothers, God has sent His Son to deliver you and save you from your sins.
Christ Jesus loved you with divine and holy Love, though you were His enemy by sinful nature. “When we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. When we were still God’s enemies, we were reconciled by the death of His Son.” So, Jesus Agape-loved His enemies, including you.
Likewise, “when others abused Him, He did not abuse them in return; when He suffered, He made no threats,” because He entrusted Himself entirely into the hands of His God and Father, even to the point of His sacrificial death upon the Cross. He “turned the other cheek” when the soldiers slapped Him around; and He gave up both His cloak and His tunic as He was being crucified.
In every way, Christ Jesus has practiced what He preached. More than anything else, His Sermon describes Him and His Life and Death for you and your salvation. He does not treat you as your sins deserve, nor does He repay your iniquities with punishment, but He deals with you in Love.
He does you good with no expectation of repayment, as the Gospel clearly declares: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God.” No strings attached.
Why? “Because He is kind to the un-gracious and the wicked.” He is kind and loving toward you, though you have been un-gracious and wicked toward others. You might not want to think of yourself as a “charity case,” but before God that is exactly what you are. As Luther wrote on his deathbed, “We are beggars, that is true.” You live by His grace alone, or you do not live at all!
Because Christ forgives you freely — by and with divine charity — He daily forgives your failure to live as you should. Think of how He prayed that His Father would forgive the very people who were nailing Him to the Cross, who were spitting on Him and mocking Him. And remember how He came to Simon Peter following the Resurrection, forgiving that poor man for his denials of the Lord on the eve of the Passion. Above all, consider that your dear Lord Jesus comes to you — in spite of all that you have done and failed to do — and He speaks to you His Word of Absolution. He forgives all your sins and heals your diseases; He crowns you with His love and compassion.
And as you thus live by faith in His forgiveness, His Words this morning now also describe your life as a Christian. Because Christ Jesus lives in you, your life in Him is now an Epiphany of His Glory. Your whole life is a living display of the Gospel that He has manifested to us all; so that you now go about your daily life, “doing unto others” as Jesus has graciously “done unto you.”
By His grace, through faith in His Gospel, you “bear the likeness of the Man from heaven,” that is, Christ Jesus Himself, in your body and life, in your own flesh and blood. Which means that you now love as Christ loves you. You do what’s right for others — even for your enemies — whether it feels good or not. You stick up for other people, defend them, speak well of them, and explain their actions in the kindest way. You pray for them, even when you know they couldn’t care less.
“Agape your enemies,” Jesus says. “Do good and lend without hoping to receive repayment. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” But your reward and your divine sonship are ever and only in Christ Jesus. You are all “sons of God,” because you are baptized into Him who is the Son of God. You live your life in Him, and He now lives in you.
You love God and your neighbor because the Lord your God has first loved you in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son. So do you also love even your enemies, because the same Lord Jesus Christ now lives in you, and He displays in you the same Agape-love that He shows and displays for you.
So, you do good unto others for Jesus’ sake, and not for earthly rewards or human recognition. That is how and why you are able to do good even for your enemies, and to pray and intercede even for those who hate you and persecute you. In any case, you have no need or reason to fear your enemies; for while they may hurt your body, damage your reputation, take away your stuff, and maybe even take your life, they are not able to rob you of eternal Life and Salvation in Christ.
His divine grace and Glory are displayed in your life especially as you forgive those who trespass against you, just as Christ Jesus daily and richly forgives your sins by the Ministry of His Gospel.
As Jesus also says this morning, “Do not judge, and you will surely not be judged.” That is to say, not that we condone sin or ignore it — we call it what it is, and we call our neighbor to repentance according to our stations in life — but we leave the final judgment up to God. In the meantime, our speaking of the Law, as needs may be, is accompanied by our confession and practice of the Gospel in both words and deeds. As sons of God in Christ Jesus, the Gospel is our bottom line.
As the Lord God deals with us, and as the Patriarch Joseph dealt with his brothers, we speak both Law and Gospel unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins. And to do so for others means that you must always be returning to the “throne of Grace,” yourself, in order to receive the forgiveness that Christ Jesus offers and gives to you right here in the Liturgy of His Gospel; for you cannot forgive as you are being forgiven, if you are not experiencing that forgiveness yourself.
It is here, by His Gospel–Word and Sacrament, that Christ Jesus continues to make an Epiphany of His divine grace and Glory. Recognize and receive that Glory of God for what it truly is, the free gift of forgiveness and eternal Life in the Lord who loves you and gives Himself for you.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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