Fourth Sunday after Trinity
June 23rd, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Genesis 50:15-21, Romans
12:14-21
Luke 6:36-42, Psalm 27:1-2
Fearless!
Audio of Sermon available HERE.
Fearless! The Word of God before us today includes a call for us to be fearless. As in, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” No fear for the faithful followers of Yahweh; we go on boldly, from triumph to triumph.
Except when we don’t. And God knows this. So does King David, who wrote Psalm 27. In fact, in the same Psalm, after the verses we used for our Introit, David makes this not so fearless sounding plea for help: “Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!” Crying aloud for help when danger draws near, which is wise, but doesn’t exactly seem like fearlessness.
doubt as two aspects of our existence as sinner-saints: simul justus et peccator, at the same time just, and sinner. Christians in this life are fully just and declared to be holy before God, in and through Jesus. In Christ, you are a holy one, that is, a saint. At the same time we are sinners through and through. The Christian knows and recognizes the dangers of this fallen world, and also knows the old Adam, the remaining sinful nature that clings to us all, alternately hating God and doubting His promised protection.
The new Adam, the believer that we have been created to be by the Holy Spirit, has no fear. Rather, the saint in us trusts firmly and fearlessly in the LORD, who has finished and delivered the work of salvation, for me and to me. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
Still, even as we know Jesus, we know ourselves, our weakness. In wisdom we follow the exhortation in Hebrews 12, for us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Likewise, David begins Psalm 27 staring right at the Lord, focusing on the Source of light and life, the bright beam of salvation which drives out all his fear. The fearless Christian looks to Christ and cries out: “Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
This is how Christian fearlessness works: when the eyes of our heart clearly see who God is and what He has done and is doing for us, the fears and worries of this world fade. We may even act boldly for the Lord. But, when we focus on the threats and evil that surround us, and then we are reminded of our personal weakness, our confidence can fail. If we are not refocused on the delivered promises of God, we may act in fearful or even cowardly ways.
Like Joseph’s brothers. Their sinful nature had made itself abundantly clear throughout their lives. They are squabbling, jealous, spiteful brothers, just barely held together as family under their patriarch father, Jacob, whom God had also given a second, new name, Israel. The sons of Israel focused their hate on one brother, Joseph, at least in part because Jacob loved Joseph best, and favored him. Patriarchs were sinner-saints too. The brother’s sibling rivalry spills over into violence, and Joseph ends up sold into slavery in Egypt. The brothers had indeed meant evil for Joseph.
But God protected and promoted Joseph, through years of downs and ups. In the end, he was raised up from slavery and prison to rule all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh the king. From this position, Joseph was able to rescue his whole family from a devastating famine, bringing Jacob and all his children and grandchildren to live and thrive in Egypt.
But then Jacob died. Their father was gone, and the brothers feared that Joseph had been secretly nursing a grudge for years. They worried that now he would punish their earlier evil. They had already been rescued, forgiven and reconciled by Joseph. But they did not believe his mercy was real. Their lack of faith and fear of punishment led them to lie about their father’s last words and seek to manipulate Joseph.
Grudges are for unbelievers. Thanks be to God, Joseph trusted in the mercy of the Lord. He believed that forgiveness is the way of life, that resting in the Lord’s merciful plans, however bumpy the ride may be, is the only way to live. His brothers lied to him and sought to establish the made-up last wishes of Jacob as the foundation of mercy. Joseph now had the excuse and more than enough power to avenge himself on his brothers. “But vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” Faithful Joseph was happy to let God be God.
In response to his brothers’ pitiful lie, Joseph showed mercy: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” Joseph emulated the mercy of his heavenly Father. He practiced the righteousness of Christ, from which flows fearless forgiveness.
Our readings today are full of exhortations to do the hardest things in Christian living. It starts with forgiving others, including people who have truly done evil to you. We are even called to bless our persecutors, as they continue to persecute. You are to do good to those who hate you. Such acts of mercy may frighten us. It takes godly fearlessness to be merciful. Our sinful flesh cries out, “No, don’t do it. Doormats get walked on, and showing mercy is for suckers.” So suggests Satan, offering bitter counsel: “You better judge and condemn your enemies and persecutors, before they do it to you…”
No, says Jesus, do the opposite. Do the Godly thing. Be a disciple of your teacher, the Master Teacher, Jesus, who loved His enemies perfectly.
But doesn’t it seem likely that things will get worse if we do good to our enemies? Won’t they just take advantage of us? Maybe. Things might get worse. But they won’t get as bad as things got for Jesus, when He loved His enemies, when He loved us, unto death. He spent His whole life showing mercy to the downtrodden and loving His enemies, without fear of the evil He would receive in return. Because Jesus knew the plan. He knew that, despite the coming suffering, mercy and righteousness would win the victory, on the Third Day. Fearless mercy is only possible for us when we are steeped in the wonder of God’s love for us and all sinners, love poured out on the Cross of Calvary.
One note: There is a difference between forgiving others and being reconciled to them. We want reconciliation with others, just as God has reconciled us to Himself, through Christ Jesus. But we do not control reconciliation, any more than we produce our own righteousness or earn our own forgiveness. These miracles of mercy belong to the Holy Spirit.
For our part, we seek peace with all. We cannot endorse lies or participate in the countless immoral things now called good by our culture. But we still seek peace, despite very real differences. Peace even with Democrats, and Republicans. Peace with your gay, lesbian or gender confused neighbor, and the couple pretending marriage doesn’t matter. Peace with that anarchist prepper on the next property. Peace with everyone is our goal.
However, if our enemies and persecutors refuse to stop, we do not have to keep going back for more punishment. For ourselves, and even more for our family members, we can and should set proper boundaries. But, even when prudence dictates that we limit our interactions, we still do good for our enemies by praying for them, by speaking calmly and kindly to them, and about them. Most importantly, we keep our eyes fixed on the light of Christ, so that, should the burning coals of our good words and deeds bring an enemy to the point of repentance, we will be ready to tell them the reason for our hope. Because our hope is their only hope, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through loving our enemies, we may receive the privilege of telling of our hope. And then we pray that God will do the greatest work of all, and bring our enemies into His family, His kingdom, by faith in Jesus.
Forgiving others and doing good to our enemies is difficult. Indeed, it can even be hard for us to simply to weep with those who weep. We may struggle to commiserate with a brother or sister in Christ.
Have you ever shied away and failed to simply weep those who weep? Someone in your life suffers a blow, a tragedy, and you are torn. The saint in you has compassion and yearns to comfort them, to come alongside them in their time of need. But the doubting, selfish sinner in you is not so sure. Because you know that weeping with a weeping friend and coming alongside them might get uncomfortable. It might cost you time and resources, physical and emotional energy. And of course, we fear doing or saying the wrong thing.
Walking alongside hurting Christians and sharing their burdens is a concrete part of my vocation as pastor. And it certainly took training and practice for me to learn to do it. But, to encourage you to not shy away, I can tell you this: While weeping with those who weep and coming alongside Christians who are struggling has cost me a little, from time to time, I have never regretted doing it. The blessing of sharing Christ’s love with a fellow Christian in need has always been a blessing, not just to others, but also to me.
So do not be afraid. Rather, weep with those who weep. Reach out and dare to speak, dare to get involved. Jesus will help you through it, for the good of all. Befriending hurting people and loving our enemies are both very tough. You probably haven’t always done them that well. I certainly haven’t. But then, we disciples of Jesus aren’t done training yet.
I recently heard the remarkable story of a police officer who performed fearlessly and very well in some extremely dangerous situations. His colleagues and friends all spoke of his meticulous preparation, his constant training. Uniquely focused on mastering the techniques of police work, his training served him, his comrades and his community very well, when the time came to confront evil, violent men. Training well is really important to overcoming fear. At critical moments, good habits take over, allowing one to do what is necessary, despite the danger. And yet, this officer also spoke of another key factor: he plainly stated he could not have done the things he did without his faith in Jesus Christ.
That’s pretty close to what Jesus says to His disciples today: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” In other words, Jesus says, become like me, your teacher, be fully trained in the way I have lived in mercy, in forgiveness, loving my enemies. Be trained by Me by growing in My Word, by receiving My gifts, which will deepen your faith. And, I will be with you in the difficult moments.
Be filled up by Jesus and His Spirit, and your fear will dissipate. Then you will begin to love and serve a bit more like Jesus has loved and served you. Practice repentance and receive forgiveness daily. Let Jesus take the logs of sin, error and fear out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to help a brother or sister, with the mercy that you have received.
Resting in Christ’s forgiving love, we truly have nothing to fear. God grant each of us to grow in faith and wisdom, our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that His fearlessness becomes a part of our daily walk,
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of
the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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