We needed to begin by defining what we mean by Forgiveness, Mercy and Grace.

We may not all understand these concepts in the same way.

Forgiveness is the act of releasing and dismissing something, such as sins or grudges, it is a choice. Forgiveness is a choice. It’s a choice about letting go of the resentment and the anger so that we know and no longer hold a grudge against someone who has hurt us. That is what I mean when I say forgive or forgiveness.

Mercy and Grace are God’s work and God expects us to also extend those. Mercy is God’s compassionate response to human suffering. It’s a combination of kindness, forgiveness, love, and grace. God’s favor kindness and mercy are freely given to all people regardless of their sins. That is a fundamental concept of Christianity. We extend grace.

This past week I was in a conversation where someone said, “but forgiveness doesn’t hold people accountable.”

I disagree with that. I disagree with that comment. But, there is within our culture a saying that goes, forgive and forget. I think that is bad theology. It’s a harmful saying. That’s like saying God doesn’t give you anything more than you can handle. That’s bad theology.

People say it thinking they’re being kind, and it’s cruel. There’s bad theology that goes with our scripture today too. But, forgiveness means that we can let go of our anger while we still hold people accountable. We still believe in consequences for cruelty and hateful actions.

So what is Jesus trying to say to us today?

Last week we had the passage right before Luke 6:27-28 which introduced the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, last week was Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. We like Matthew’s better, but it was Luke’s version. We have a few more pieces of that, but we have Luke’s version now.

Let’s look at Matthew and Luke’s version of love your enemies.

“Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.” – Luke 6:27-28

“But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” – Matthew 5:44

They pretty much say the same thing. It’s still very clear. We are supposed to love the people who we perceive as enemies. It’s not what we want to hear. What that says to me is that revenge is not part of this equation. We’re not supposed to take revenge on people who hurt us. We are called to love and that’s hard work and the only way I can get there is by extending grace. That’s why I wanted you to know what grace is. Grace is loving people who don’t deserve to be loved.

It is not trying to tell us we need to be doormats. It is not saying that the abuser is correct. It is saying that we love them and we hold them accountable for their actions. Because I believe that God believes in justice too. God always stands up for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the oppressed, and the marginalized. God is not looking for us to take revenge or to be hurtful. Instead, we have to forgive, let go of the anger. But don’t forget that’s where I am. Maybe that’s because of my past, but I believe that God is merciful.

So these verses in Matthew and Luke also line up, but with a little bit of difference.

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” – Luke 6:36

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” – Matthew 5:48

Where Matthew says we are to be perfect, Luke says Merciful. The actual Greek word for Merciful is oiktirmón, which also means compassionate. Compassion as I look at this is that Luke is encouraging us to remember the goodness of even the person who is being cruel and hateful.

What we say is that we are all created in the image of God. We say every person is a child of God. So then, we’re not going to dehumanize anyone.

No one becomes an object that we can inflict cruelty, pain, or injustice upon. That’s not the way of God. It is about compassion. It is about recognizing our shared humanity.

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” – Luke 6:37-38

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” – Matthew 6:14-15

For Matthew, the forgiveness part, he puts that right in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer. Whereas Luke’s Lord’s Prayer comes later. It’s actually in chapter 11, verses 1 to 4. Luke says, forgive and you will be forgiven. This is the reason our version of the Lord’s Prayer is a little different. Matthew uses trespasses in his Lord’s prayer. Luke uses debts in his, and we have simplified that to just say, forgive, so that we forgive.

We will forgive as you have forgiven.

It doesn’t matter if it’s sin or debt, because when we hear debts, we think money. We don’t think sins or cruelties are other things. Where culture is very much about debts being money.

So what does this have to do with the economy of Jesus?

Well, in the economy of Jesus, remember, it’s a gifting economy. It’s not a transactional economy like we have. It’s not the quid pro quo. We don’t give so that we receive. We give because we are called to give. God wants us to give because God has given to us.

We have all this love, compassion, mercy, and grace that we can then share and we are called to share it. Now I say that if you think back at what I had just said a few minutes ago, that doesn’t mean that we allow injustice to continue.

Think of Martin Luther when he hung the 95 Theses on the door. It was a non-violent action. He held up to the Catholic Church the things they were doing wrong. Non-violent, direct action that says the truth, speaks truth to power. I think about Rosa Parks, whose non-violent direct action was sitting down on the bus. Not in the seat she was supposed to sit, but in the open seat. She spoke truth to power. In 1965, John Lewis and 600 other people walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as a non-violent action to speak the truth. The rest of the country saw the racism when they were attacked and they realized why we needed the Civil Rights Act.

This picture is from yesterday, where some of us gathered on Penn Square to tell Lloyd Schmucker that we are not happy with his actions. When people are doing things that are cruel and hateful, we have the responsibility to stand up and tell them so.

This season, I’ve been telling you to be the light. We need to be the light in the world.

I hear a lot of people talk about the darkness that they feel like we are in. But God calls us to be the light. By being loving, forgiving, merciful, and full of grace by extending that grace.

This week I read a piece by a colleague, Cameron Trimble. I wanted to share it with you. Because I think it’s profound. She wrote, that we are all called to be mystics and prophets. The mystic in us is the lover who says yes to life, goodness, and what is sacred. The prophet is the guardian, the one who says no, no to what threatens love and justice. A life of faith requires both prophet and mystic. Without love, our resistance turns brittle. Without resistance, our love becomes shallow.

The world will always make courage costly. It will reward silence and punish truth telling. It will tempt us with the false security of compliance. But Thomas Aquinas reminds us that some things are worth the risk. Justice, the common good, and the secret.

So how will we be light in this world? Will we be mystics? Will we be prophets? Will we be both?

May it be so. Amen.

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