The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Fourth Sunday after Trinity
O Lord, grant that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Your governance that Your Church may joyfully serve You in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
An Overview
These familiar words of Christ are often used as cannon-fodder for the false teaching that Christians are never allowed to publicly speak about sin. However, when we read the full context of our Lord's teaching "judge not," and especially when we read it alongside the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers, we get a fuller picture of what it means to be a Christian.
Vengeance is indeed the Lord's, and we should never seek to carry out His vengeance. However, we should always be prepared to repent of our sins and hold others to that same standard of holy living.
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Artwork: The Parable of the Mote and the Beam, Domenico Fetti. Italian, ca. 1619. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Old Testament
Genesis 50:15-21
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v. 15: Joseph's brothers think that his kindness was only due to the fact that Jacob (Israel) was alive. Upon his death, they believe he will finally get his vengeance on them.
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vv. 16-18: Joseph's brothers then come up with a lie to protect themselves, putting words in Jacob's mouth that he never said.
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v. 19: It is unclear if Joseph knows that they made up the dying wish of his father or not. What we do know is that Joseph does not presume to put himself in the place of God - indeed, "vengeance is the Lord's," (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19).
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vv. 20-21: Joseph does not ignore the sin of his brothers, but acknowledges their repentance. Joseph comforts his brothers and promises that he will provide for their families during the famine in Canaan, (Genesis 47:4).
Translation Notes
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Whereas the Hebrew Bible (the text we use) speaks of the "transgressions" of Joseph's brothers, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (about 250 BC) renders the words of False-Jacob "forgive the injustice and the sins of your brothers."
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So also, the Greek translation of Genesis 50:19 reads "Fear not for I belong to God."
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These changes don't really bear any impact on how we read and preach the Bible, but it is worth noting how Jews before the time of Christ were translating and interpreting the Bible.
The Epistle
Romans 12:14-21
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One must wonder if Paul was meditating on the story of Joseph and his brothers while he was writing this section of Romans. The themes of forgiveness, humility, and leaving vengeance to the Lord jive perfectly with our Old Testament reading for today.
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v. 14: a call to bless faithful Christians and to avoid cursing unbelievers.
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v. 15: a call to be "all things to all people" (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) and to be fully sympathetic with fellow believers.
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v. 16: a call to meekness. In many ways, these first few verses reflect our Lord's teaching from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
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vv. 17-18: A reminder that we are to strive for peace with all people, but a cautious reminder that we cannot force people to live in peace with us.
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vv. 19-20: A call to faithfulness and a reminder that, in line with the First Commandment, only God can carry out vengeance. We are not to put ourselves in the place of God, but allow His sovereign will to be done in all the earth. In fact, we are to do the opposite: we must be kind to our enemies and in doing so we will, so to speak, "heap burning coals on their heads."
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v. 21: a summary of this portion of Romans 12: one cannot overcome evil with evil, but must overcome evil with good, just as Joseph overcame the evil done to him by his brothers by providing for them and comforting them.
Translation Notes
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v. 16: "harmony," though translated this way, the Greek is not a musical term, but one that calls to be of thoughtfulness, and like-mindedness (phronountes).
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v. 16 that word phronountes is used two times and creates a wordplay with the call to be wise (phronimoi).
The Holy Gospel
Luke 6:37-42
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v. 37: this verse is often taken out of context by believers and unbelievers alike as a way of "proving" that Christians are never to pass judgment on anything. However, read in its context, we get a different story.
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v. 38: Here Christ makes it clear that Christians are not to avoid "judging" but rather they are to avoid judging by a different standard than they judge themselves. Thus, when a Christian says "If I were to commit sexual sins, I would be breaking the sixth commandment," he is not a hypocrite but a speaker of the truth when he says "If you commit sexual sins, you are breaking the sixth commandment."
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vv. 39-40: Jesus, as He often does, gives a parable to explain His point. A blind man (one who judges wrongly) cannot lead the blind (others who judge wrongly). Doing so will result in both of them falling into the pit. Rather, men must be trained so that they can grow into the image of their teacher. If they are trained poorly, they will grow into the image of their poor - or blind - teacher.
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vv. 41-42: Jesus shifts the imagery here. Rather than blind leaders, we are given the almost humorous image of someone asking a friend to take a piece of sawdust out of his eye, while he himself has a 2x4 in his own eye.
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Jesus calls this person a hypocrite. Once the 2x4 has been taken out (repentance), then and only then can he call out the sin and seek to correct the ways of his erring brother.
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Again, this is not a call to silence, but a call to speak the truth after the Christian has repented of his own sins.
Translation Notes
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Hypocrite, from Strong's Greek Dictionary: ὑποκριτής hupokrites, hoop-ok-ree-tace´; an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (figuratively) a dissembler (“hypocrite”: — hypocrite.
Poetry Used in the Liturgy of Trinity 4
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Psalm 27- A Psalm of David in which the Poet-King prays for strength in the face of enemies. Perhaps David here embodies the internal dialogue of Jacob's children when they approached Jacob with fear.
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Psalm 138- David proclaims that he sings the praise of the true God even in the midst of idols and demons. Verse 6 is pertinent for today's worship as it repeats the common refrain in Scripture that God regards the lowly and only acknowledges the haughty from afar.
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Psalm 79- This psalm was composed from a place of fear and trembling, wondering how long before the Lord would take vengeance on His enemies. David does not conclude that he should take things into his own hands, but again "leaves vengeance to the Lord."
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Psalm 9 - A beautiful confession that though the enemies of God (and the Church) may appear to triumph, in the end the wicked will go to Sheol as will the people who forget God. Though justice is not always seen in this life, it will be carried out in the world to come.
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O God, My Faithful God by Johann Heermann
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Creator Spirit, by Whose Aid by Rabanus Maurus
Artwork: Dish with Joseph and His Brothers, Probably Workshop of Antoine Conrade. Based on a woodcut by Bernard Salomon French, ca. 1630–45. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Further Reading & Listening
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"Be Merciful as Your Heavenly Father is Merciful," a sermon by Martin Luther on the Fourth Sunday after Trinity in 1532.
Artwork: Interior of the Church of Saint Katherine’s with the Parable of the Mote and the Beam, Daniel Hopfer. German, ca. 1530. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.