B, Post Pentecost 16 Proper 18 - James 2:8-13 "Mercy Triumphs over Judgement"

James 2:8–13 (ESV)  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Mercy triumphs over judgement.  We all like it when others are merciful towards us.  Not so much when others are merciful towards those whom we condemn and not us.  So, the command of Jesus hits hard in the ears and hearts as you’re told to, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44–45a ESV)

Mercy triumphs over judgement.  This in James is the law of liberty or freedom.  The law of coming and going without restriction.  Judgement that doesn’t end in mercy lands sinners, who have received mercy, back into the same judgement they’ve used on others. 

Judgement is not necessarily a bad thing.  However, Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1–2 ESV)

And again, he says, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24 ESV)

The Greek word “to judge”, krino, is the parent word for many English words such as critic, criticise, crisis, criteria, and hypocrite.  One half of our brain God created to make judgement, so judgement is in our DNA.  A right judgement will allow mercy to win the day, since to judge something is to discern, or assess, to resolve, and it can even mean, to believe rightly.  Yet the judgement in our fallen DNA, leads you and I to make bad judgements when we forget what Jesus did for each of us.   

Jesus’ judgement of your situation led him to absorb what you and I rightly deserve, which he paid for in full on the cross.  The cross is both the place of crisis but also profound compassion for us whose hearts are full of evil, defiling us before our Father in heaven.  Knowing this about ourselves we make right judgements, leading to our necessity to be merciful without partiality.

The book of James is a letter to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora, the Dispersion of Jewish believers in Christ.  These are those who in freedom, are called to come and go into God’s presence through Jesus Christ, now that the curtain in the temple at Jerusalem, has been torn from top to bottom on Good Friday.

Having been grafted into this freedom of entering God the Father’s presence through Jesus Christ, we Gentiles, together with believing Messianic Jews, participate in the law of liberty.  Through mercy we sinners are also saints.  We’re called to believe this mystery of the cross.  One hundred percent sinner, but at the same time, one hundred percent saint.  This is mercy triumphing over judgement.

Judgement needs to occur, but if mercy is not the completion of judgement, we stand under the judgement we make.  How much better is it for you and your enemies, for your judgement of self and others, to find your peace in mercy?  Your guilty verdict has been overturned with a pardon of freedom.  When you condemn others in their guilt, aren't you opening the way for your guilt to be reinstated? Why would you want your stay of eternal execution lifted? Why would you swap mercy only to be delivered once again into destruction and death?

Last week we heard Jesus judge the Jewish scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites when they question his disciples for eating with defiled hands, while their hearts were defiled with evils that break the commandments. 

Today we hear Jesus move amongst those, the Jews considered as “defiled Gentiles” of the Syrian-Phoenicians, and the ten cities of the Decapolis, where he heals the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, and restores a deaf man’s hearing and speech somewhere to the east of the Sea of Galilee.

James calls believing Jews to, “…show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”  (James 2:1,9–10 ESV)

Having been grafted into Jesus Christ, these words in James are for us too!  In the same vein as Jesus speaks about the evils that come from the heart of man, he reminds us with the law, of our condemnation and the sentence or judgement of death too.  But as Jesus mercifully frees those with his healing word, we too are called to receive and believe the same law of liberty and compassion, having been forgiven, and pass it on to our enemies! 

James instructs, “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:12–13 ESV)

Just as the beast of burden pulls a cart of produce, we are called to allow the work of judgement to be connected to the free-wheeling carriage of God’s mercy.  The cart needs to be connected to the horse!  But the cart always comes after the horse!  What I’m saying is that mercy comes after judgement, and once mercy is in play, judgement must always be merciful!  Mercy triumphs over judgement!

When you allow desire within you to entice you back into a judgement that puts the cart in front of the horse, so to speak, you allow the law of condemnation to mute mercy.  This judgement is doubting and double-minded. 

Here again the Greek word krino appears as the substance of the word “to doubt”, which is a hesitation, withdrawal, discrimination, or partiality in making a right judgement.  James says those who do lack wisdom, in making right judgements, are encouraged to pray and trust God will give.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:5–8 ESV)

Asking in faith is in fact, the law of liberty at work.  Despite our lack of wisdom, we have the freedom to come into God’s presence and receive forgiveness.  We do so without doubt, knowing that judgement has fallen on Jesus and will not fall on us who continue coming in and going out from God’s presence having been forgiven and fed by Jesus Christ in word and sacrament. 

His word and sacraments serve a two-fold function.  Not only are we forgiven and fed for eternal life, but we’re protected with his impartial protection in this life.  The Holy Spirit works within you, despite your struggle with your sin and the struggle to forgive others as God has forgiven you, to reflect the mercy that has triumphed over your judgement!  Amen.

C, Ash Wednesday - The Lord's Prayer #1, Matthew 6:1-21 "Prayer Introduction - What, Why, & How"

Matthew 6:1–21 (ESV)  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread,  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

During the midweek Lenten services we will be examining prayer. 

Why do we pray?  Why did the disciples asked Jesus how to pray?

What is prayer and why would we want to pray? 

There are different kinds of prayer, but all prayers begin deep within the human heart.  Prayer begins with a deep yearning for something.  What puts the deep yearning in the heart will determine what kind of a prayer it is!

For a Christ-centred understanding of prayer, we examine what Jesus says about prayer.  That is, to put forward a wish or make a plea that glorifies and justifies our Father in heaven.  If we do not do this, prayer would simply be human coveting, and not prayer as God would have us understand it.

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, does not specifically give us the Lord’s Prayer, but the text before and after it.  Nevertheless, the Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount, but what he says before and after it, on giving and fasting, also applies to prayer.

He warns, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”  (Matthew 6:1,2 ESV)

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room, and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5–6 ESV)

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16–18 ESV)

So, we get the picture!  Prayer is not done as a work of righteousness, to be seen, to get acknowledgement, to be a hypocrite.  “Hypocrite” is an interesting word biblically when it is broken down, as a hypocrite is a hypo-critic.  In Greek, hypo means under, by, or with; and critic is from krino, to judge or decide.

Understanding this, makes Jesus’ words stand out for us, where he says to those criticizing him for healing on the Sabbath, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24 ESV)

Surprisingly perhaps, the Old Testament word for prayer, is from a word meaning, to judge – (פָּלַל) pâlal, and it functions as making a judgement to ask or intercede.  Another word commonly used in the Old Testament, to judge, is shâphaṭ (שָׁפַט), but it functions as judgement to vindicate or punish.

One who prays to justify themselves or to punish others would be one who hypocritically judges or prays. The truth is we probably wouldn’t even recognise this as prayer, but rather as coveting or bearing false witness.  Whereas one who judges with a right judgement, prays also with a judgment that pleases our Heavenly Father.

So, prayer is judgement, but right prayer is right judgement which makes a judgement that justifies and glorifies God. 

But why would we want to pray?  Even if we wanted to pray, how can we pray with a right judgement?

We need to be taught how to pray.  The disciples became increasingly aware of this the longer they spent with Jesus.  Why?

We hear from Luke eleven, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1 ESV)

Their request demonstrates one very simple point.  There is nothing or no one in all of creation that can help us to pray.  We are helpless and cannot come to God in prayer unless he first comes to us.  As is written in one of the liturgical orders of absolution and confession, the pastor sings or says,  “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” And the congregation responds, “He made heaven and earth”.  This is from a Psalm of David, Psalm 124:8. 

The King leads the congregation of Israel in declaring he and his congregation needs help from the maker of heaven and earth.  And we too are the same, regardless of our status in this world as princes and princesses or paupers.

If God did not exist, we would be completely helpless.  However, because God does exist, we are blessedly helpless.  “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8 ESV)

So blessedly helpless, we are taught how to pray.  Before Jesus was on earth, the job of teaching was through the priests, the prophets, and the family.  The last in the old era was John the Baptist who taught his disciples how to pray.

But Jesus teaches a new and right way to pray which truly acknowledges the help we need, and we get the help to pray from the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, God the Son.  

Just as Jesus bore the weakness and the helplessness of human flesh and perfectly relied on his Father through the Holy Spirit, to pray, we too are given the Holy Spirit to help us pray.  We are also encouraged to continue asking for the Holy Spirit in prayer, reminding us it is he who guides us in right judgement and right prayer.

Jesus teaches us in Luke eleven, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Therefore, we want to pray because the Holy Spirit has been given to us.  The Holy Spirit uses both, guilt produced by the Law to make us flee to God in prayers of confession, and also, the Gospel to reassure us we have the invitation as adopted Sons to join our prayers with Jesus’ prayers, the petitions of our great high priest.  This is all because, Jesus has been raised to the right hand of the Father.

The Holy Spirit gives us the will and heart to love God and pray to him calling him Abba, Father.  This is not an official title of fatherhood, but a personal loving title of Daddy.  Just as a baby learns to say, dad-da  or mum-ma, the Holy Spirit, teaches us in God’s Word to say, “Our Abba.”

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  (Romans 8:14 ESV)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26 ESV)

Jesus teaches us to pray because he wants us to have the right relationship with our Father in heaven.  This is a restored relationship that was lost; impossible to reconcile ourselves to God, and come to him in complete confidence.

Therefore, three things we are taught about prayer are…

1) We are created to be in fellowship with God.

2) Since the fall we are helpless.  But, because of Jesus, we are now “blessedly helpless”.  

3) All right prayers are Holy Spirited prayers. 

We the blessedly helpless are blessedly helped both by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  We now have the freedom of loved children to call on our Father in prayer. Amen.

Next Wednesday we will look at the oneship Jesus teaches us when we pray his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer to our Father, and what this does for us.