“HE FORGIVES, AND YOU ARE FORGIVEN!”
Saint Luke 6: 36-42
4th Sunday after Trinity: 9 July Anno Domini 2017
Father Jay Watson SSP
He forgives, and you are forgiven!
The original sin is the sin of pride. The first sin of Adam was in wishing to be “like” God, yes, but even more so to be “above his master.” This is your inborn sin. This desire to control and be in charge is what produces your daily trespasses. You made a life-long career, indeed you’ve turned it into an “art-form” to spy out the mote, the speck, that is in your brother’s eye. You are so busy criticizing, and hating, and putting the worst construction on others, that you can evade the mirror of The Law as it is repeatedly thrust in your face by The Holy Ghost through the Commandments…and through the requirement to love perfectly. “Every one that is perfect shall be as his master” says Jesus. The Lord is saying that if you are absolutely perfect then you will be “like God.” How’s that working for you?
You hypocrites! “Cast out first the beam that is in thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” The Lord is saying repent of your sins daily…be absolved by His forgiveness, His word of Holy + Absolution and then you will be able to see clearly: believe in His work on your behalf!
“BE…merciful”: Law! You are commanded to be a font of forgiveness, a pool of peace and restoration. You’re not just expected to accept apologies and give people second chances, you are under obligation, at penalty of death, to be merciful “as your Father also is merciful.” Wow. The “As/like” language though a simile - - an example—is also a reality. You have a thoroughly inadequate, though helpful earthly analogy, in those earthly and fleshly families that have a Father, a Dad, who loves not just in declaring Law, but in forgiving sins. The Dad who would suffer all, even give up his own life for his wife and children, gives you a glimmer, a firefly blink, of the blinding supernova times infinity of the Love of God. God is Father…not executioner. Father. And the Father’s will and work is done by His beloved only-begotten Son, Christ your Lord.
He forgives, and you are forgiven!
The Mercy does pass understanding. Just how merciful is The Lord? Merciful enough to suffer and die for your law breaking. The Law says “Judge not”-- you do judge and therefore should be judged GUILTY. The Law says “Condemn not”- - you do condemn and thus should be condemned. The Law says “Forgive”—No, you only forgive if your pre-conditions are met and thus you should not be forgiven (by purely the standards of Justice).
Justice is not Mercy. While mercy always trumps justice, and love always supersedes the law…it is not by jettisoning the Commandments (ignoring them), but by fulfilling them—completing them! And yes, both are needed by a perfect and righteous God. Thus, the will and work of God is done by the Son, the God/Man. Jesus fulfills justice by dying in your stead. There must be Blood to wash away the horrible stain of Adam and his progeny. Jesus fulfills mercy by forgiving you and giving you life and light in His Water and Blood; in His Flesh.
Not morality and means to an “end” does this Lord give you, but mercy. He does not provide methods to “do” for you, rather He is the “DONE” for you. The Gospel is not a goal but a Present guardian-giver! Christ gives you an eternal anointing from He the anointed One! He is pressed down on the cross, shaken together with every blow of the hammer and spike, with every convulsion of His lungs for breath. He runs over with precious and innocent Blood from His wounds that soak your head and heart, that saturate your mind and strength.
Your sinful cataracts of self are ripped off from your eyes and you are blind no more. You are circumcised from the disease of death and damnation by Jesus letting His own immaculate and pure Body be cut away from the land of the living. Jesus’s The Light of the World goes dark in death that you might live in the Light of His resurrected Easter Glory. He was mounted on the beam, your beam of rebellion and ingratitude and laziness and meanness, so that now the motes of your daily sins and the sins of those whom you forgive are all washed away in His Words of Peace.
He forgives, and you are forgiven!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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