Someone has said that preachers only have, at heart, one sermon,

          we just keep saying it in different words.

                   I used to say that I have two sermons:

                             one concentrating on God’s mercy

                                      and the other on God’s judgment.

                   As time has gone on, I’ve looked at God’s mercy

                             and God’s judgment as two ways of looking

                                      at the same thing:

                                                to us who are convinced we need mercy,

                                                          we receive mercy;

                                                to those who think they need no mercy,

                                                          it feels like judgment.

 

Matt Skinner, who teaches New Testament at Luther Seminary, asks

         What irritates our sensibilities more?  The claim that we are accountable to God, and

            therefore God will judge us?  Or, the insistence that people not judge one another because

            judgment is God’s prerogative?

                       

In the passage from the letter to the Corinthians,

          Paul disparages human judgment

                   and welcomes God’s judgment.

 

We know from the context of his letters to the Corinthian church

          that some had been judging Paul and finding him wanting.

                   And in their wranglings with each other,

                             judgments must have been flying back and forth

                                      all over the place.

 

So Paul’s purpose here is twofold:

          to warn Jesus’ disciples about judging each other,

                   and to assure them that God’s judgment need not be feared

                             by those who are in Christ,

                                      not by our own merit but by God’s saving grace

                                                in Christ Jesus.

 

The Corinthians were very much into drawing lines

          based on which evangelist was their “King David” –

                   and on which aspects of the faith each emphasized.

 

This led to petty rivalries and divisiveness.

          When I think of the church at Corinth,

                   I remember the story of the old Scotsman on the tiny island:

                             he lived in the only house – a hut, really – on the island.

                                      One day someone from the mainland rowed over to visit.

                   As the two of them walked around the island,

                             the visitor pointed to the church across the way from the hut,

                                      and said, “Tell me about that church.”

                   “Why, that’s the church where I worship on the Lord’s Day.

                             That’s the church I belong to.”

                   “Well, then,” the visitor said, “What about the church at the other side

                             of the island?”

                   “Why, that’s the church I don’t belong to!”

 

Yes, this story is about a Presbyterian.

          But don’t get too puffed up:

                   it could just as easily be about a Baptist!

 

The Corinthians, though, were part of the same church,

          they just judged each other as not as good or faithful as themselves.

                   Although later in his letter Paul asserts his authority as an apostle,

                             in these verses he refers to both himself and Apollos

                                      as stewards and servants:

                                                stewards of the good news of the Gospel

                                                          and servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

                   Only God can know what is in the heart, how faithful a follower is,

                             and only God is perfect, and able to judge our imperfections.

 

How are we to understand judgment and mercy,

          apart from the Corinthian church,

                   in our own time and place?

 

Does refraining from judgment of others mean

          that we ought to always be “nice” – at all costs?

                   Even if someone is doing something harmful to others

                             and to the community?

                                      As Paul himself might say, “By no means!”

                   We do need to judge behavior,

                             and it’s usually not difficult to tell when

                                      someone is being hurt.

 

But it also means that even judging others,

          if it becomes our usual attitude, can hurt others – and ourselves.

                   Paul even says he doesn’t even have the authority to judge himself.

 

Mark Tranvik, Professor of Religion at Augsburg College, writes

          … there are large numbers of people in our congregations who are extremely hard on

            themselves.  They are convinced that they are not smart enough or not thin enough.  In

            general, they live on the edge of shame, secretly harboring the conviction that they must

            be some kind of divine mistake.  And there are others who are so stuck on themselves

            that they are unbearable to be around. (from www.workingpreacher.org)

           

If we lack the vision to see each other with true objectivity,

          how could we possibly see ourselves with any objectivity at all?

                   We can’t help judging ourselves and others, though.

                                    ... It is obvious that Paul feels it is important to judge matters here on

                                    earth.  After all, most of his letter to the church at Corinth is taken up with

                                    criticism of their actions!  (Mark Tranvik)

                   So we need to try to judge both ourselves and others

                             more in the way that God judges us,

                                      and that’s through the eyes of love.

                    

Many Christians look on the God of the Old Testament

          as a God of wrath, of judgment, of laws,

                   and the God of the New Testament

                             as a God of mercy, of forgiveness, of love.

 

But today’s passage from Isaiah speaks beautifully

          of the God of abundance, of love, of compassion.

                   When God’s people complained

                             that they thought God had forgotten them,

                                      abandoned them,

                   Isaiah asserted that even though a nursing mother

                             might forget her child,

                                      God will not forget God’s people.

 

Now, I’ve not borne a child, but I understand that

          the chances of a mother forgetting a nursing child are slim to none,

                   because if her milk is not expressed at given times,

                             her breasts become very painful.

 

Still, it is certainly possible for a mother to lack compassion

          even for her nursing infant…

                   we have all known a mother who has no “maternal feelings”

                             toward her child.

 

But God never forgets us!

          God’s children are “inscribed” (in other words, tattooed) on God’s palms.

 

I’ve just finished reading a book by Sharon L. Baker, called Razing Hell.

          The subtitle is Rethinking Everything You’ve Been Taught about God’s Wrath and Judgment.

 

Baker, who teaches Theology and Religion at Messiah College in Grantham, PA, asserts that we need to view God’s judgment through what we know of Jesus, his life and teachings as well as his death and resurrection.

 

Baker writes

          The justice of God takes place as an event of hospitality shown to the stranger, as love

            offered freely without expectation of return, as forgiveness shown even to those who do

            not deserve it, as the transformation of lives that experience the healing touch of God.

 

That is God’s judgment:

          love more unconditional than any human mother’s for her child.

          love that causes God to yearn after reconciliation and restoration,

          love that caused God to send the only Son

                   “not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved.”

 

To God be the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.