“Stop judging, and you’ll not be judged.” But, of course, you and I have judged. We’ve judged the motives of those who have offended us. We’ve have acted rashly and assumed the worst of others. We’ve spoken harsh words of judgment about them to others within earshot.
“Stop condemning, and you’ll not be condemned.” But, of course, you and I have condemned. We’ve called down words of damnation on others who cut us off on in traffic. We’ve given the cold shoulder to someone we don’t like.
“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” But that’s easier to say than to do. Of course, you want others to forget your faults, lavishing you with love and forgiveness. But what have we done? We’ve only offered a hollow, empty mercy: “I can forgive, but I can’t forget.” That’s not forgiveness. How does God forgive? “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12).
“Give, and it will be given to you: A large quantity, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. You’ll be evaluated by the same standards with which you evaluate others.” Whatever standard you apply, God will fill it up to the brim and pour it back into your lap. What goes around comes around.
Condemn, judge, and hold grudges. Tell small lies and perpetrate great big ones. Respond in arrogance and lash out in anger. Speak harsh words, filled with hate, slicing others with cruel intent. It will all come back to you.
An eye for an eye? That’s for wimps. A real pro knows how to dish out a large quantity, press it down and shake it together, so it runs over, not just so the cup overflows but that it pours into your lap. What comes around on earth goes around in heaven. Are you ready for God pour that in your lap?
“A student is not greater than his teacher.” So, no man or woman is above his or her teacher in the arts of revenge. And who is the master instructor of revenge? It’s the devil himself. Do you not know that by now?
And so the way of repentance is the way to go and the way to be, for following in Satan’s ways only leads to death. Even more, who does not whither before these words of Jesus: “Stop condemning, and you’ll not be condemned”? Who here can never claim to have condemned? “Forgive, and you’ll be forgiven.” But who here has never said, “I can forgive, but I can’t forget”?
Our Lord’s words aren’t quaint, homespun sayings. They are warnings that burn with the fire of God’s holiness. They are death to all the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Jesus’ words expose our sin and show it for what it is.
So, it does you no good to argue that you have forgiven, sometimes. It’s no good to say that you have spoken well of your enemies, sometimes. It’s no good not to judge and condemn, sometimes. “You’ll be evaluated by the same standards with which you evaluate others”—and if only some of your sins are forgiven, that’s not enough.
Jesus spoke such words to drive you to despair of any hope in yourself. He wants to drive you to the despair that is the beginning of repentance. To repent means to turn around, to turn away from the excuses that we use to justify ourselves. Repentance turns us toward God, so we say: “Lord, You have spoken the truth. I’m not merciful as You are; I don’t forgive as You do. I am a sinner; to say otherwise is not true.”
So repent. Give up on trying to fool God and others that you’re a forgiving person, and so you’re worthy of forgiveness. You can’t deserve forgiveness; otherwise, it wouldn’t be forgiveness, but a debt that someone owes you. You can’t deserve mercy; otherwise, it wouldn’t be mercy, but justice.
No one deserves God’s forgiveness. For by our fallen seed within each of us, we have all condemned, judged, and sought revenge. Each of us has fallen short of God’s glory—no exceptions (Romans 3:23). You know this; I know this. But as long as we wear the robe of fallen, human flesh, God must, again, always remind us of this. Otherwise, our broken, default setting will rationalize that we’re good enough on our own. For that’s the way of the world.
But it’s cathartic to admit and speak the truth, to unload the shame that we try to hide. Admit that you’re not good enough on your own, and then you can begin to know the joy of repentance! It’s the joy that comes from taking off your mask, of coming clean, of refusing to justify yourself and making excuses.
Everyone here is a hypocrite. But the Gospel is that those are the only people whom God allows in His Church. The difference is that, here, God doesn’t allow us to pretend that we’re not hypocrites. And so we hear God’s undiluted and unwavering standard in His Law by which we, as His people, should live.
That’s why when we gather as God’s people, we admit, we confess, that we have not kept God’s standard. The first act we do is to expose our dirty laundry, to get that out of the way. Then we have no blackmailing, false pretensions, or boasting in ourselves. It’s speaking the truth: We don’t live up to God’s standard.
That’s repentance: It’s agreeing that what God says in His Law is true and admitting that we have not kept it. And so, no one deserves forgiveness. After all, we have all condemned, judged, and sought revenge. We have all fallen short of God’s glory.
But there is one exception to that universal rule: Someone was successful in not condemning, judging, and seeking revenge. He didn’t apply the standard back to those who applied it to Him. He received words of hatred and betrayal, and still did not use that standard against to His tormentors.
He endured hatred, not pressing it down and pouring it back until it overflowed on His tormentors. Instead, He allowed such cruelty to be pressed down and overflow on Him until He drank down from that overflowing cup the last dregs of our sin.
So, why bother trying to justify yourself; it’s a wasted effort. But even better than that—you don’t have to. Jesus came to do that; He’s the only justification you need.
Jesus didn’t judge; and yet He was judged to be the sins of the world. He refused to condemn; and yet He was condemned as the innocent victim, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He forgave—and, although he had done no wrong that needed forgiveness—He received the weight of the world’s sin, finding no reprieve, comfort, or lifting of the pressing burden.
That is God’s mercy. That is God’s grace. That’s how He loves you. That’s how He wants to forgive you. His forgiveness is far beyond the image and shadow of forgiveness that we give in this life. We might forgive someone because, after all, we’re sinners, too. Hey, we make mistakes, so let’s just let bygones be bygones. After all, we learn that if we scratch someone else’s back, he might scratch mine.
But God’s way is not the way of practicality. He is holy and just—and He created humanity to be that way, as well. But we turned away from Him. So, if God acted based on practicality, he’d wash His hands of us. That would be what’s practical, for a time comes when you need to cut your losses.
But God is not just holy and righteous, He is also merciful. And real mercy seeks to forgive. So, God still comes to forgive us, even though that meant that He would have to become one of us, take our sin into Himself, and remove the curse far from us.
His doing of that is what justifies you. So, now God looks at you and says, “Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). My Son took them away from you on the cross of death. Those sins are gone, forgiven and forgotten. I do not condemn you, for that condemnation has fallen on Jesus.
That’s the only justification you need. Jesus died for you. It is finished. Sin is gone. “That’s why there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). For you are in Christ Jesus, and He is in you.
It’s like St. Paul says: “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Your baptism connects you to your crucified Lord and brings you into Jesus’ redemption (Romans 6:3-5). He has forgiven you with His blood. So, what condemnation still stands after it died with Jesus on the cross?
See the love and life of God pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing to you in the baptismal font. See the love and life of God pressed down and shaken together in the bread, overflowing to you in the chalice of His Supper. In Him, your failing standards and sins are no longer applied back to you. Instead, God uses the standard of His Son’s perfection, giving that to you in the endless measure of His love.
So, fear nothing, dear saint of God, for you have everything. You have Jesus—and from eternity’s all-seeing perspective, there’s nothing more to have. The riches of this earth will fade to dust, and they will come to nothing on the Last Day. But those in Christ Jesus will live, for they will live in the life that is, and comes from, Jesus.
So, come beloved: leave your fears and sins behind. Come, beloved, and receive Jesus’ own life-giving flesh and sin-forgiving blood. Receive the proof of God’s love that presses down all fears and overflows into forgiveness. For in Christ, all IS forgiven. Amen.
