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A Homily given by Fr. Ben Jones,

For St. George’s Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC;

On the Fourth Sunday after Trinity; A.D. 2010.

“Discernment”

+ In the name of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, Amen.

From the Gospel; St. Luke 6:38.

In today’s gospel lesson we find ourselves in the midst of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” Jesus is teaching His listeners as well as to us to be tolerant of others, and not to be judgmental, yet to be discerning. We must be very careful not to confuse discernment with being judgmental. When judgment is levied against someone, a verdict is delivered. When we are discerning, we are seeking a solution. Do you remember the wrist bands that people wore a few years ago that had written on them the initials, “WWJD”? What would Jesus do? Let’s see how God would have us to seek a solution on how to treat others.

We are told right off, “be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful”.1 We were told just before this verse to “love ye your enemies and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again;”.2 Whew!! God never said it was going to be easy did He?? He wants us to be zealous of His Faith and to be passionate in His Faith. How do we do this? Is it possible to love our enemies and to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful to us?? Of course it is possible. All things are possible with God. Just as our beloved Archbishop Morse says, “All is grace”. Simply put, all that we are and that we have is by the grace of God.

Just think of the abundant love and grace that God gives freely to all of His creation. Now with this thought fresh on our minds, think of those that know not God or those that openly reject Him and His teachings. God loves them just as much as each and every one of His saints in Heaven. So how do we do these acts that God asks us to do? How do we deal with people as God would have us deal with them? We just heard how at the beginning of Mass with the “Summary of the Law”. “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”3 We love God with all of our self, and we in turn with this same love, we love our neighbour as ourself. We love our neighbour as though they are just like us and treat them just as God has treated us. Now listen to how Jesus describes what that means to us in the next verse.

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”4 What we are being commanded by Jesus is not to judge, not to condemn, and yet to forgive in all cases. This is exactly how God is to us. God does not judge or condemn us in waiting for us to be good to others before He freely gives His love and grace to us. What God is asking us to do is to outwardly live our Faith. St. James tells us that “faith without works is dead”5 So how do we live our Faith? How do we show our Faith in our person and not keep it hid from others? God tells us how.

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”6 Notice that Jesus did not say what to give. He just says, “GIVE”. When we see someone in need or we are asked by someone for help, first of all we should be aware where the abundance of our gift comes from. It comes from God’s abundance towards us. Here is the key. Here is what we discern in being the right way to act towards our neighbour. God is inviting us to be as He is in His abundance to us. He wants us to imitate Him in our giving. We discern or distinguish what is right from wrong by refusing to alter our behaviour towards others based on what we think of them, or what we see in them, or how they treat others.

We are not to judge the inner motives of their heart. For if we do, by condemning others, we condemn ourselves. To condemn is the determining factor in the difference between judging and being discerning. We have rendered a verdict based on our judgment and have condemned someone based on our notions of them. The judgment seat is reserved for one and only one. As we just recited in the Nicene Creed, “And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures: And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father: And He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead;”7 God has made us a promise in regards to us being faithful and obedient to Him in resisting the temptation of judging one another. He has told us that if we do not judge others, we will not be judged, and if we do not condemn, we will not be condemned, and if we forgive, we will be forgiven, and most importantly, if we give, it shall be returned unto us in our time of need, in good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over. We can look at it like this. The fruit that we produce will be reflective of us. The “Parable of the Talents” is very clear on how God treats those who produce fruits worthy of the Father and as well how God treats those who do not produce fruits worthy of the Father. Which would we rather here from God? “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the Lord.”;8 or “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”9 There really is no doubt on how our fruit should be seen in the eyes of God.

So what can we take from this lesson on being tolerant and forgiving to others and in discerning right from wrong? It is very simple. God promises His abundant grace and blessings when we as His faithful people treat others just as He has treated us. This is what the parables of the “Blind leading the Blind” and of the “Disciple and the Master” as well as the example of the mote and the beam in the eyes found in our gospel lesson teach. Our example is clear; God. For if we follow the examples of the flesh being the blind guide, we will reap what sinful flesh reaps, spiritual death and everlasting damnation. We cannot presume to be greater than God such as the disciple in the second parable of the “Disciple and the Master”, for judgment is set aside for the Master which is truly His by right. If He forgives us unconditionally, how can we not forgive unconditionally? If He has abundant mercy and love for us, how could we not show abundant mercy and love for our neighbours?

For clearly, any behaviour of judging and condemning of someone whose sinful nature is just as ours, is seen just as the attempt of trying to remove the mote or the simple speck from our brothers eye, while having a beam or something of significant size that is obscuring the vision in our own eye. However, what we are to do is to be discerning. We are not to approve of this “live and let live society” which exists today. We are to know the difference between right and wrong and to know what temptation and evil are and to call it by name. We separate ourselves from it and call it what it is; sin, self-centeredness. This is our duty and responsibility as Christians.

AMEN.

“AND NOW UNTO GOD THE FATHER,

GOD THE SON, AND,

GOD THE HOLY GHOST;

BE ASCRIBED ALL MIGHT, MAJESTY,

POWER, AND DOMINION,

MOST JUSTLY DUE THIS DAY,

BOTH NOW, AND FOREVER,

WORLD WITHOUT END.

AMEN.”

1 The Gospel according to St. Luke 6:36.

2 The Gospel according to St. Luke 6:35a.

3 BCP, ’28 ed., pg. 69.

4 The Gospel according to St. Luke 6:37.

5 The General Epistle of St. James2:20b.

6 The Gospel according to St. Luke 6:38.

7 BCP, ’28 ed., pg. 71.

8 The Gospel according to St. Matthew 25:21.

9 The Gospel according to St. Matthew 25:30.