Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, grant us to be minded like You. Amen.
Text: Luke 6:36–42
“Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” And He spoke a parable to them: Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Devotion
Our heavenly Father shows unending mercy toward us, though it often seems otherwise. His innermost thoughts speak of compassion for us day and night. No parent is so concerned for a sick child as God is for us poor sinners. And this His mercy He wants to pour into our hearts so that we behave toward one another as He does toward us. Friends and enemies, evil and good, we should deal with them all in mercy, so that we “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). Our Gospel names four things in which this shows itself.
1) Do not judge. Do not judge, but be gentle toward each other in all thoughts and words. Love endures all things and bears all things, interprets all things as good, “excuses and speaks well and puts the best construction on everything.”1 Endeavor to do this at all times and toward all people. This is God’s will and gift to us in Christ, and it is a great gift of grace. Whoever has such an attitude has a pure eye which sees the good and beautiful where others do not, and can lead the erring back on the right path, for such love speaks to their soul and “covers a multitude of sins” (Jam 5:20). Whoever does not judge can judge. Such a person can distinguish lie from truth, and help others to judge themselves, while unmerciful, faultfinding people are themselves blind and lead others into ever thicker darkness.
2) Do not condemn. Do not condemn, but draw the erring to yourselves and save them. When you have to use correction toward the ungodly and tell him that he is going to hell if he does not repent, then do this with the pains of love. Put yourselves in his place, consider yourself in his situation, feel his misery, get under it and lift it from him. If only out of mercy we lamented the multitude and wretchedness of the ungodly, then things would be different among us. Brethren, do not condemn the unconverted, but save them!
3) Forgive. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Forgive with a willing heart everything that people have done against you. If we harbor hatred and vengeance in our soul, then we have God’s wrath upon us, for then we are no longer within the kingdom that is called the kingdom of grace. Any sin at all that your neighbor commits against you, take it and carry it to God, – not with an evil heart that demands revenge, then you will not find your way to God, but in mercy, praying for grace and blessing on him, then you are like our Lord Jesus, and then mercy shall prevail.
4) Give. Give, and it shall be given to you. Give with a joyful heart and an open hand, not to be called generous, not to receive reward from God or men, but in this way: “so that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing” (Mat 6:3).
Go now willingly and gladly and do this, Christians. Let your whole life be mercy! Here too, above all, this is important: Go and do it! Then you too shall understand better every day the saying about “the speck” and “the plank” and again about “the plank” first and then about “the speck.” You should constantly do it, so that you make good progress.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, grant us joyful eyes and loving minds, we pray You sincerely. Let it be seen in all our life that we are Your children. Amen.
Hymn
They are God’s truest Israel
Who both believe and do live well,
A race by God’s true Word reborn,
A Bride whom grace and truth adorn,
On earth a treasure hid from sight,
And yet a light in this world’s night.
There is a sign that will not fail,
But God’s true members do unveil:
Their God and Lord they do revere,
Regard each other ever dear;
By this sure mark of love here shown,
The Savior’s brethren may be known.
And yet they feel their sin within,
But hold it back and then begin
To trust in Jesus’ precious love
Sent to the heart from God above,
That more and more their love they show
That God on them did first bestow.
Brorson: Hvor ser det ud i Verdens Ørk L 474:5-7 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Melita (ELH 418); alternate hymn: How fair the Church of Christ shall stand ELH 418