Trinity 4 – 2026

[Jesus said:] “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.” ^(ESV)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we give thanks to You for Your great mercy. By sending your only begotten Son to be our Savior, who bore our judgement and condemnation on the cross, we have been given full pardon and peace. We ask that You rid us of all hypocrisy and strengthen our faith so that we might reflect Your mercy to others. Amen.

In Christ Jesus, who did not come to condemn the world, but save it, dear fellow redeemed!

“The apple did not fall far from the tree.” This is quite the complement for a child of dear Christian parents. A statement like this would make a child and their parents proud. If our parent was honorable, just, good, and well-respected we would like to be compared to them. We would never want to hear, “It looks like the apple fell far away from the tree.” That would be quite the indictment and be to our own shame. We want to imitate good examples; we want to resemble the people we respect.  In our lesson for this morning, Jesus is exhorting Christians to resemble their heavenly Father, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

The words that follow give practical examples for what this mercy looks like. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” When we interact with others in our lives whether that be our family, neighbors, or through online platforms, do we resemble these descriptions? Is this the behavior and attitudes we are modeling? This is something we should think about.

I. The Father

Our lesson is directly connected with the preceding verses where Jesus teaches us about the radical love God demands of us not just towards our friends, but towards our enemies. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.” Jesus’ first century hearers would have been shocked by such a command. The cultural norms encouraged hatred towards adversaries. It was common for the Jews to hate the Samaritans, which is why the story of the Good Samaritan was such a shock to Jesus’ hearers.

God is love. He is merciful. This doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be a judgement or that sin is not deserving of death. Of course, not! Sin is damning and deserves eternal hell. But God loved the world that hated him, which is why he gave his only begotten Son to redeem it. The world sinned against God. It rebelled. We disobeyed and destroyed his perfect creation. All have fallen short. Every sin we commit is like spitting in the face of our holy God. But God still loved us. He let himself be hated, abused, and mocked. Why? So, that he could save us from our sins. We didn’t deserve it. We could never pay him back. This is why Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for unworthy and undeserving people is the greatest act of love that has ever or will ever be done.

Think of how Jesus perfectly kept the command he gave to love. Scripture says, “When He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (I Peter 2:23–24). We deserved the blame, we deserved death, we deserved the punishment, but Jesus deserved none of it. He was judged and condemned in our place, so that we could go free. He was merciful. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Now Jesus calls Christians to resemble the character of God. “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.”

Why? For what purpose? For what ends? Ultimately, Jesus wants us to reflect the love of God so that others may be brought into his kingdom. He wants Christians to serve as a leaven and light to this world. Consider our Old Testament lesson for today,

“[Thus says the LORD:] Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”

Just as Jesus drew others to himself through his life of mercy, so Jesus seeks to draw others to himself through his children. The greatest evangelism program is living like Christ compels us to. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

II. The Children

But sometimes the apple falls far from the tree. Why is it hard for Christians to be generous and charitable and natural for us to be miserly? Why is it easy to find the faults in others but fail to see the logs in our own eyes? I’ll tell you why. It’s because we are sinners who struggle with sinful pride, who forget we deserved nothing but hell and condemnation. It’s because we think of our lives, our knowledge, our restraint, our sacrifices, you name it, as reasons for our entrance into God’s kingdom. But it’s not. You and I will only enter the kingdom of God through Christ and him alone. It’s the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sins and his robe of righteousness received by faith that makes us fit for the heavenly banquet. That’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the greatest comfort in the world!

The Pharisees and the scribes judged others to boost themselves up. They judged to destroy others and build themselves up. I remember hearing a story from one of my professors who attended a secular university. Every year there was a man who would come onto the campus and stand on a box yelling at students in the campus square telling them they were going to go to hell for their beliefs and immoral living. This man probably did more harm to the Christian faith than any of the secular ideas being promoted at that secular institution. Unbelievers will not make the right choices. They can’t. They aren’t converted. So, why would you expect them to? Why would you try to measure yourself up next to a pagan?

Shouting from the roof tops that drunkards, adulterers, homosexuals, abortionists, and others will be damned in hell, will not draw anyone to the Christian faith. But mercy will. This doesn’t mean we don’t speak the truth when called upon. This doesn’t mean that we ignore the teachings of the Bible. What it means is that we see others as we once were—lost and condemned. It’s to see them as sinners who have been blinded by the god of this age. We don’t hate them. We love them because Christ gave himself up for them too.

This is hard. We are put in situations where we might not know how to handle ourselves. We might have to show love to people we totally disagree with. But that’s okay. We seek to show the love of Christ.

Did Jesus yell at Zaccheaus to repent or he would go straight to hell? Did Jesus throw stones at the woman caught in adultery or the Samaritan woman at the well? No. He went to Zaccheaus’ home. He talked with the women. He shared the word of God with them. As they came to believe he guided them to avoid their previous sin, “Go and sin no more.” He was patient. He showed mercy. We will see them in heaven.

Jesus tells us to take the log out of our own eye first so that we can better see how we can speak with our neighbor. The emphasis isn’t that we have worse or greater sins, but that spiritual pride can cloud our spiritual judgement and discernment.

Now, maybe, you realize the times where you failed to show the love and mercy of Christ. You didn’t know how to respond, so you got angry and said things that misrepresents what we believe. Well, there is forgiveness for you too. Jesus evangelized perfectly in our place. He was merciful, when he was tempted to get angry. He prayed for his enemies, when he was tempted to insult them. He humbled himself to suffer a death on the cross, so that he could pay for every one of our sins. Through faith, his righteousness is now yours.

You and I will not do, say, or think things perfectly. But Christ did, and his life is now your life. His righteousness, your righteousness; his heaven, your heaven. We also find comfort that he has chosen to use the weak and foolish things of this world like you and me to bring this treasure to others, and he promises to work through our blunders. His word does not return empty.

It’s hard to resemble our heavenly Father. That’s why, we take comfort in Paul’s words, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26–27). Our confidence of heaven is in Christ alone. Not only is this our great comfort, but it is also the message that we are to preach to others. This is the absolute best news that you could share with anyone!  

We were God’s enemy. We deserved death and condemnation. But Christ came to save us! He loves us! He wants heaven for us! He doesn’t want to condemn you; he wants to save you! He doesn’t force you into slavery but frees you to live a life with God here in time and hereafter in eternity! Come to church with me. I need it as much as you do. Every Sunday we confess our sins and receive his forgiveness. We are strengthened by his word and guided in all truth. And the more we spend time with our heavenly Father, the more we will resemble him by the grace and mercy of God worked in our heart by the Holy Spirit. May God remove the logs from our eyes, so that we can see clearly, and serve as helpful guides to others so that they might trust in the mercy, love, and compassion of our heavenly Father. Amen.