Last week, we heard about the lost sheep and the lost coin. Normally, these are comforting passages. We see ourselves as the one who is lost but is found. We see Jesus as the one intently searching us out.

But it wasn't entirely comforting. In fact, it was kind of harsh. In order to find us, we had to see we were lost, and discovering that about ourselves wasn't too pleasant. The Law bit down on us rather hard and killed us. Once we were dead, once we saw we were lost, once we saw that we weren't as pious as we had once thought, the Gospel came around and brought us to life again. We repented and when we did, Jesus found us, and lifted us up on His shoulders and threw a celebration for us. But, as I have been implying, the celebration wasn't immediate.

Jesus didn't go too easy on his listeners when He first told these parables that day either. He was speaking to the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the good, church-going, law abiding citizens of His day and trying desperately to reach them. How many repented after he told the parables and their meanings, we don't know, but that was His aim when He first told those parables.

We know His aim for us as we look at the reading for this week. He was preparing us to hear this passage. He was killing us and bringing us to life so that we would be transformed. He was molding us to be more like Him and like His Father. It doesn't come by merely suggestion or just teaching. It comes through radical surgery--really radical. Like kill the patient, do the surgery, and then raise him to life again. That's the kind of surgery our God does. That's the kind of transformation He is bringing about.

And now He gives to us what He had been preparing us to hear: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." In order for us to ever be merciful, merciful like He is, He needs to show us we have logs in our eyes. We have huge planks that jut out of our eyes. We will have no mercy, we won't even see He is merciful until we see those planks big enough to build a house sticking out of our eyes, planks which blind us even to our blindness.

But each of us is a work in progress. So He is training us, shaping us, molding us to be like Him, and to make sure we will never think we exceed Him. That's when we run into problems. Far too often, we take upon ourselves the judgment of someone else. We don't speak the Lord's Word, but we speak our own. "This person has hurt me and now it is my responsibility to make him pay." When we do that, we try to get ahead of God. We think we are better than He. We think God doesn't know what that person needs and so we seek to give it to him ourselves.

To this, Jesus says, "Be merciful." Show mercy to that person. It's not for you to seek vengeance. Give and forgive.

You want to know what mercy looks like? I will give it to you in two ways. The first is our own personal experience. It's what Jesus is saying when He says, "...even as your Father is merciful." This is what we have seen, what we have experienced. What do we deserve?

Remember the Bible story of the man who had that huge debt, who was hauled before his lender and told he needed to pay up or go to jail? The lender had mercy on that man and cancelled His debt. He cancelled it. This is what our Lord has done for us. We have a huge debt, but He cancels our debt and then takes it on Himself. He saw that we would be incapable of paying, so He pays it Himself. This is mercy. This is the mercy we have experienced from the very hand of God.

But we have another picture, which is even easier to grasp. Joseph. We could not find a better example in the Bible than Joseph. You can hardly forget Joseph's story. Joseph was one of 12 boys. His dreams irritated his brothers, who, all but one, were older than him. They were naughty boys and then evil men.

One day, when he was sent to go find his brothers who were supposed to be watching the sheep, they saw him coming and decided to kill him. One brother got them to think through this, so they spared his life, but only because they figured it would be better to make a few bucks off him rather than kill him. So they sold him into slavery. You think you have it bad in your family!

That's all we have about how the brothers and Joseph related, but we can imagine there was no love lost when he was gone. The musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" has a song the brothers sing once he is gone. It sounds like a dirge when his dad is in the room, but once he leaves it becomes a rip-roaring hoedown.

Time goes on, and the brothers have all but forgotten about him. Little did they know what God had been doing with him. Though he had a good position, lost it, and spent some time in jail, by the time the brother come back into his life, he has become the second in command in all of Egypt. The dreams were fulfilled. He sat next to the big cheese, the Pharaoh, himself! When his brothers come down to Egypt to get food because of a famine, Joseph tests them to see if they have repented. He doesn't reveal himself immediately. Finally, he lets them know who he is. There's a tearful reunion, and the brothers show they don't hate him anymore--which is wise since he is, after all, second in command of all of Egypt. He is kind and generous to them, though, which makes them wonder what he is up to, since he could squash them like a bug, and they wondered why he didn't.

When their father, Jacob, dies, they figured now is when he is going to get his revenge. They come up with some story about how their father had asked Joseph to be sure to forgive his brothers. This hurts Joseph. Hasn't he already shown them mercy? Don't they realize that if any vengeance is to be done, it is what God would do, if He feels it is necessary? Joseph has only shown mercy to his brothers. They had treated him so lousily, and in return he shows them mercy.

Why? Why would Joseph do this? Because he knew the mercy of God. He knew about the planks in his own eye, so he was not going to judge the specks of sawdust that were in his brothers' eyes. In other words, what they had done to him was still nothing compared to what he had done to God Himself by his sinfulness. Joseph knew it.

His brothers expected him to act like the rest of the world, though, to look for that moment so he could get them back, but Joseph was a child of God. He had been molded into a mercy giver. It was not for him to get them back. All he could do was show mercy.

The same goes for you. You are also a child of God. Christ has redeemed you. You have been shown mercy. Has someone been unfair to you? Don't judge him or condemn him. Don't take upon yourself God's role.

Now a little explanation is in order here. We all know how this passage is used, "Judge not and you will not be judged." It's used to excuse all kinds of sin in the name of tolerance and mercy and love. This is not what Jesus means, but rather what I have already said--don't take upon yourself God's role. Don't punish them yourself if you have not been given that authority. This doesn't mean you can't point out error or sin. But remember, it's not for your benefit, but rather for his or hers. This is what it means to love your enemies.

Again, this doesn't mean to ignore a violation of the law, whether we are talking about the state's laws or God's laws. If a person is stubbornly breaking God's law, and he knows better, gently point out his error so he can be restored. To live in unrepentant rebellion toward God is a spiritually dangerous thing for him to do. To allow him to continue in that rebellion is actually a hateful thing for you to do. If your brother or sister in Christ is doing that--living in rebellion, justifying it--show them love by showing them their error, or at least consider how you might be able. You are not judging them, when you speak God's word to them. Instead, you are actually showing them love.

By the same token, if someone has broken a law against you, take it to the proper authorities. That's why God has given us authorities--to keep order. Government, that is police and the courts, are part of God's system. They are in place not only to keep order, but to mete out punishment. But don't take it upon yourself to get them back. Turn it over to God by turning it over to the proper authorities. We have the privilege of knowing, for the most part, in this country justice will be done, and it is not up to us.

On this weekend, when we are celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence 233 years ago, I am reminded of the line that speaks of how we are all created equal. This means that we are all to be treated equally. Everyone is to be treated fairly. If someone has violated a law, they are to be punished in accordance with the violation. It doesn't matter if they are a homeless person, a senator, or a celebrity. Maybe it doesn't always go that way, but that is the ideal. We live in a country that stands for that ideal which means, because we have this system, because God has given it to our country, it is not judgment to turn it over to the proper authorities.

In some cases, it is actually the merciful thing to do, so the behavior doesn't get worse. Consider Joseph again. His brothers hated him because Joseph tattled on them. I don't know what they did, but if it was in their best interest that the authorities, in this case their father, knew, then Joseph did the right thing. Granted, he might have had a desire to see them get what was coming to them, but if it was to keep order and perhaps even nip in the bud the development of worse behaviors, then what Joseph did was for their good.

Sure, Joseph was a sinner, and probably wanted to see his brothers punished, but he could also recognize that tendency in himself and kill it so he would act only out of love.

This is what we are called to do. Act mercifully. Always seek the best interest of our neighbor. When we do, we show the mercy of our God.

We all know Evangelism is an important part of a congregation's ministry--telling those who don't know about God's mercy, about His mercy. Simply telling them, however, doesn't do that much. People don't really care when we tell them God is merciful because they already believe He is, and really don't care if He shows mercy to them or not. But if you want to get them to sit up and listen, show them. Show them He is merciful by being merciful yourself. Be merciful when it is the last thing some one would expect. Show kindness. Forgive and give. Then they'll listen.

The same measure you use the Lord will use back to you. If you are generous with forgiveness and mercy, then you will show you already realize He is generous with mercy and forgiveness to you. He gives to you gifts of life and salvation, eternal life, which flows over and exceeds what we expect. Good measure, pressed down--to make more room, shaken together--to do the same, make more room, and then filled to overflowing, and then finally poured into the folds of your clothes so that there is so much the fabric tears--this is His generosity. This is what He has done for you. This is what He does for you, particularly today as you receive forgiveness, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing in the Divine Service.

As He does for you, then do for others. Your faith will show by the way you act toward others. When you are merciful, your faith will be seen. Merciful to others: this is the way you have been programmed. This is the way you have been transformed. This is the way you have been molded.

AMEN