The Free Gifts of Mercy

Lk 6.35-36Lk 6.35-36 Sermon on the Mount “35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

Sermon on the Mount

Contrast blessing and woe

Lk 6.20-23 “20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”

Lk 6.24-26 “24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”

Poor vs rich

Hungry vs full

Sorrowful vs merry

Hated and excluded vs admired makes reference to the prophets of God

As Peter mentioned, if they revile you for good, then are you children of God.

Three Instructions

Action is implied

There is a path to blessing, and we are encouraged to take it

Three Actions

Love

Love is difficult to define, but Thomas Aquinas’ definition, “to will the good”, is hard to improve. And it finds its apex in Jesus’ teaching here.

How are we to will the good of those who seek our destruction? Yet what benefit is there in loving those who love us back? That is merely a natural response.

Loving first is the pathway to victory.

Bless

To bless is to enlarge; doing good and praying for others are forms of blessing as we seek the increase of those to whom we benefit and for whom we pray.

Again, Jesus teaches us to do this for those who hate us.

And again, we see the wisdom of Christ in recognizing that initiating the reversing spiral is an act of kingdom dominion.

Give

Lending carries an expectation of return,

but Jesus taught to not expect a return when you lend.

That turns the loan into a gift.

Our calling goes beyond natural inclination

Luke 6:32–34 “For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.”

The Tradeoff

Reciprocity looks different in the kingdom

Consider the connection between the three concepts Jesus laid out in this teaching to love your enemies; all are sacrificial, and all are directed toward those from whom nothing good can be expected to come. The entire thrust of these comments is toward perfect altruism, offering up good to those from whom only evil can be expected. This is the epitome of what Paul described as ‘overcome evil with good’.

Our good is not merely transactional

We trust God for our reward

This makes way for a truly altruistic relationship

Two rewards

Luke 6:35 “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.”

Your reward will be great

Christian selflessness doesn’t entirely negate principles of reciprocity; it eliminates the tawdry transactional element of tit-for-tat by triangulating with God.

Our reward doesn’t come back from the beneficiary; it comes from our heavenly Father.

He is a rewarder, and we trust what we haven’t seen

You will be children of the highest

And the reward isn’t a commercial exchange of love for love, blessing for blessing, or gift for gift, either.

Our reward is that we are adopted as sons of the Most High.

One reason: God did it for us

He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil

And that leads to the second reason for this ethic: God is kind to the ungrateful and the evil; he is merciful. So we are called to conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with our loving and merciful God. That is why we love unconditionally, serve faithfully, and lend generously. Because that’s the kind of God we serve.

Be merciful, as he is merciful

Luke 6:36 “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”

I’m thankful for mercy!

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