Genesis 50:15-21/Romans 12:14-21/St Luke 6:36-42
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
You have one God and Father, the same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but in abundant mercy and steadfast love, to redeem the world, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. In this way He has overcome all evil with the good and glorious crucifixion of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
For He was not merely in the place of God, but is God, in the flesh, and He has taken your place as your dear Brother under the Law, to receive the condemnation of the Law on your behalf, so that you might receive adoption as sons (Gal 4:5).
He loves you. He has and He will. He neither judges nor condemns you, for He has received your judgment and condemnation in His Body on the Tree. Rather, He has forgiven you; loosing you from all your sins, letting go from you all your iniquities which held you fast and imprisoned you. He has measured to you not according to your standard or measure, nor according to what you have deserved, but according to His steadfast love which endures forever. He has weighed out what would be considered an unjust measure: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured into the fold of your garment. So abundant is His grace and mercy toward you, in the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, that your cup runneth over.
He has, according to His mercy and steadfast love which endures forever, sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts by which you cry, Abba! Father! You are no longer slaves, held by your passions and lusts, according to the way of the flesh in which you once walked, you are now sons, and if a son, then an heir through God your Father who is in heaven.
Therefore, dearly beloved, become merciful as your Father is merciful. Not so that you may merit His mercy or earn His love, for that could never be; nor to maintain His favor or remain in His House as His beloved child, but in order that you may shine forth as lights into a dark place, overcoming evil with the good and gracious Word and will of God who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. As St Paul exhorts the Christians in Ephesus: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:1-2). Or as he writes earlier to the Romans: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the God of mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship (Rm 12:1). For this is the goal of Christian catechesis: to become as your Teacher, you Chief Catechist, even Jesus Christ who is the exact imprint of the Father.
But what does this mean? And how shall you put into practice all the you have received? That is, if you have received it, the preached and implanted Word which you hold fast in your heart, bearing fruit with patience and courage. Of what does Christian character and virtue consist? And what does it look like?
The Beatitudes in both St Matthew and St Luke are Christological, that is, first and foremost, they describe and display Jesus. He is the mirror image of God’s Law, His good and perfect will for all men. He blessed those who persecuted Him; blessed and did not curse them. He rejoiced with those who rejoiced, wept with those who wept. Lived in harmony with all. Jesus was not haughty but associated with the lowly. Jesus was never wise in His own sight. Jesus repaid no one evil for evil. As it is written, Jesus Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rm 10:4).
Therefore, beloved, as the beatitudes are about Christ and you are in Him by virtue of your baptism and fellowship in His death and resurrection, His exhortation, become merciful, describes a state of being, a reality you now posses by faith in Christ Jesus. You have become like Christ who is like the Father. The mercy the Father shows toward His perfect Son he also shows toward you, His forgiven sons and daughters.
You in turn reflect His mercy: and do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. And His mercy is chiefly shown in the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. As He has let go of all that once enslaved and ensnared you, loosing you from your bonds, so are you, dear children, when others sin against you and speak all kinds of evil falsely on account of Christ, to let it go.
For there are two ways: the way of life and the way of death. And these two ways greatly differ. The way of death is this: it is evil and accursed; murders, adultery, lust, fornication, theft, false witness, gossip, slander, haughtiness, jealousy, vanity, petty, vengeful, lacking mercy. Be delivered, dear children, from all of these. Do not walk in the way that leads to death.
But follow in the way of Life He who opens the eyes of the blind and has opened your eyes to behold Him, your Savior and Redeemer. He has trained you in His Word, continues to catechize you in His way that leads to eternal life in order that you may rejoice in the pardon and peace that are your by His sacrificial death and resurrection. And furthermore, that you may lead others in this Way. For blind men are lead by the ear. As it is written, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rm 10:17).
So has Christ Jesus, the merciful Son of the Father, lead you. He removed the two planks from each of your eyes, lashed them together as a Cross and bore them to Jerusalem, where He laid down His life, received the judgment of the Law in your place, and overcame the Evil One in the good and Holy Cross. For the death He died, He died to sin, once for all, but the life He now lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:10-11).
And the life that He describes and desires for you is not simply His will, but it is good and pleasant and beautiful. It is better than the life you now live; certainly better than the life you once lived according to the passions and lusts of the flesh. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:11). And the life you now live is hidden with Christ in God.
It is a life of mercy and of grace, shown in the full and free forgiveness of sins, as you have been fully and freely forgiven. It is a life lived from the Font, clothed with the garment of Christ’s own righteousness, walking in His ways, according to His Word, in mercy and love for one another. It is a life lived in continual return to His Pulpit and Altar, always in ebb and flow from His Table, receiving in penitent faith His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins, that you may be strengthened in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor. For here He comforts you ad speaks kindly to you. Here your merciful Father provides for you and your little ones.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
You have one God and Father, the same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but in abundant mercy and steadfast love, to redeem the world, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. In this way He has overcome all evil with the good and glorious crucifixion of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
For He was not merely in the place of God, but is God, in the flesh, and He has taken your place as your dear Brother under the Law, to receive the condemnation of the Law on your behalf, so that you might receive adoption as sons (Gal 4:5).
He loves you. He has and He will. He neither judges nor condemns you, for He has received your judgment and condemnation in His Body on the Tree. Rather, He has forgiven you; loosing you from all your sins, letting go from you all your iniquities which held you fast and imprisoned you. He has measured to you not according to your standard or measure, nor according to what you have deserved, but according to His steadfast love which endures forever. He has weighed out what would be considered an unjust measure: a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured into the fold of your garment. So abundant is His grace and mercy toward you, in the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, that your cup runneth over.
He has, according to His mercy and steadfast love which endures forever, sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts by which you cry, Abba! Father! You are no longer slaves, held by your passions and lusts, according to the way of the flesh in which you once walked, you are now sons, and if a son, then an heir through God your Father who is in heaven.
Therefore, dearly beloved, become merciful as your Father is merciful. Not so that you may merit His mercy or earn His love, for that could never be; nor to maintain His favor or remain in His House as His beloved child, but in order that you may shine forth as lights into a dark place, overcoming evil with the good and gracious Word and will of God who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. As St Paul exhorts the Christians in Ephesus: Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:1-2). Or as he writes earlier to the Romans: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the God of mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship (Rm 12:1). For this is the goal of Christian catechesis: to become as your Teacher, you Chief Catechist, even Jesus Christ who is the exact imprint of the Father.
But what does this mean? And how shall you put into practice all the you have received? That is, if you have received it, the preached and implanted Word which you hold fast in your heart, bearing fruit with patience and courage. Of what does Christian character and virtue consist? And what does it look like?
The Beatitudes in both St Matthew and St Luke are Christological, that is, first and foremost, they describe and display Jesus. He is the mirror image of God’s Law, His good and perfect will for all men. He blessed those who persecuted Him; blessed and did not curse them. He rejoiced with those who rejoiced, wept with those who wept. Lived in harmony with all. Jesus was not haughty but associated with the lowly. Jesus was never wise in His own sight. Jesus repaid no one evil for evil. As it is written, Jesus Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rm 10:4).
Therefore, beloved, as the beatitudes are about Christ and you are in Him by virtue of your baptism and fellowship in His death and resurrection, His exhortation, become merciful, describes a state of being, a reality you now posses by faith in Christ Jesus. You have become like Christ who is like the Father. The mercy the Father shows toward His perfect Son he also shows toward you, His forgiven sons and daughters.
You in turn reflect His mercy: and do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. And His mercy is chiefly shown in the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. As He has let go of all that once enslaved and ensnared you, loosing you from your bonds, so are you, dear children, when others sin against you and speak all kinds of evil falsely on account of Christ, to let it go.
For there are two ways: the way of life and the way of death. And these two ways greatly differ. The way of death is this: it is evil and accursed; murders, adultery, lust, fornication, theft, false witness, gossip, slander, haughtiness, jealousy, vanity, petty, vengeful, lacking mercy. Be delivered, dear children, from all of these. Do not walk in the way that leads to death.
But follow in the way of Life He who opens the eyes of the blind and has opened your eyes to behold Him, your Savior and Redeemer. He has trained you in His Word, continues to catechize you in His way that leads to eternal life in order that you may rejoice in the pardon and peace that are your by His sacrificial death and resurrection. And furthermore, that you may lead others in this Way. For blind men are lead by the ear. As it is written, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rm 10:17).
So has Christ Jesus, the merciful Son of the Father, lead you. He removed the two planks from each of your eyes, lashed them together as a Cross and bore them to Jerusalem, where He laid down His life, received the judgment of the Law in your place, and overcame the Evil One in the good and Holy Cross. For the death He died, He died to sin, once for all, but the life He now lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:10-11).
And the life that He describes and desires for you is not simply His will, but it is good and pleasant and beautiful. It is better than the life you now live; certainly better than the life you once lived according to the passions and lusts of the flesh. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:11). And the life you now live is hidden with Christ in God.
It is a life of mercy and of grace, shown in the full and free forgiveness of sins, as you have been fully and freely forgiven. It is a life lived from the Font, clothed with the garment of Christ’s own righteousness, walking in His ways, according to His Word, in mercy and love for one another. It is a life lived in continual return to His Pulpit and Altar, always in ebb and flow from His Table, receiving in penitent faith His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins, that you may be strengthened in faith toward God and in fervent love toward your neighbor. For here He comforts you ad speaks kindly to you. Here your merciful Father provides for you and your little ones.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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