The 7^th Sunday after the Epiphany | February 23, 2025 | Luke 6:27-38 | Judson F Merrell |

²⁷ „But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.

³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² „If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.

³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ „Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.“

(Luke 6:27-38)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As Lutherans, we focus a lot on the relationship between Law and Gospel. God has given us the law so that we might live to the fullness of the life he has given us. But as sinners, it is the law that convicts us in our wrong doings. Enter the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, and we find the saving grace of God that overcomes the sinfulness that we ourselves cannot get rid of. The Gospel shows the work of God in the world that goes beyond what is demanded by the law. This work is redemptive at its core and yet doesn’t destroy the very law that convicts us. The church holds the tension that is created between Law and Gospel so that we might learn from it, live by it, and deepen our relationship with the God who loves us so much that he gave his only Son for us.

As we reflect on our Gospel reading today we find this tension between Law and Gospel and at the same time see how the redemptive work of God goes beyond what the law demands of us. In this text Jesus tells us to do more than is expected of us. We live in a world where it is far too easy to just walk away from things. We can walk away from things we disagree with, we can use technology to block social media, phone calls, text messages, and email. We can stop a subscription to a magazine or newspaper. We can find a new TV show. We can unfriend people, and even walk away from family. We can just simply choose to not be around them. For some of those instances, we could even say we “hate” them. But that is not what Jesus is calling us to do. We are to do more than expected.

As a reminder of the context of this lesson, our text today follows the Beatitudes that we heard last week. The scene is the same, with Jesus standing on a level place talking to his disciples and a crowd within listening range. Blessing and Woes are followed by a message of love and a message of going beyond what we expect with the law. I wish I could have been there to see the disciple’s faces as Jesus talked to them. I imagine their faces would have expressions of surprise, and maybe even shock.

Sometimes loving is hard. It is far easier to hate. It is far easier to walk away. And yet our Lord tells us to offer both cheeks, to offer our shirt along with our coat, and to do all that freely out of love. Our lesson includes what we know as “The Golden Rule”, and to be honest it is much easier said that done. We want fairness in our lives. We want to be treated the same way we treat others. Here is the kicker though: We cannot make someone treat us the same way we treat them. We can love and love and love, and may still be hated. We are to give our lives in love. We are to pray for those who hate us. We are to offer our services and goods to those who would cheat us and steal from us.

It doesn’t seem fair, but that is the nature of mercy. In verse 36 Jesus reminds us that we are to be merciful just like the Father is merciful. We don’t deserve any of God’s love. We break the law, we ignore the Gospel, and we sin against him every day. And yet God the Father in his perfectness offers us daily mercy to the Nth degree. God’s mercy is so great that even after Jesus’ death and resurrection the Holy Spirit was sent to be our Advocate. We deserve none of that. But that is the nature of our God, who calls us to go beyond the demands of the law and to do the unexpected. Therein we find the relationship and tension of Law and Gospel. It is in this tension that we live, striving to be the called and claimed children that we are. As we strive to do that, may we always remember to be merciful to all we meet…those that love us and those that hate us.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

©The Rev. Dr. Judson F Merrell, STS

judsonmerrell@bellsouth.net

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church

Lexington, SC USA