The servant’s master took pity on him.

 

Tuesday, October 31, 2023


Psalm 83

2 Kings 9:17-37

Matthew 18:15-35


Observance: Martin Luther (d. 1546) and other Continental Reformers


The servant’s master took pity on him.


God is love; and there is no love without justice. God’s holy justice burns just as brightly as His holy love: it is who God is. When Moses spoke to God in the burning bush, God told Moses explicitly that He had heard the cry of His people, and seen the injustice done to them, and was going to do something about it.


For those who do not love God, there is neither any fear. Without love, there is no concern about the interests of the Beloved. If we love God, we love His commandments; that is, we love what God loves, and hate the idea of doing wrong to Him. But if we don’t love God, then we don’t care what God thinks, and we end up doing awful things without a care in the world. Therefore, if you read these judgements of God in today’s readings, and are worried, then worry no more: it means you have a burning passion for God. God cares deeply for and protects those who love Him.


Today we remember those brave and faithful Christians of the Reformation. While Martin Luther may be the most famous of the lot, he stood on the shoulders of giants: men like Jan Hus of Bohemia, who in turn had been influenced by John Wycliff. Indeed, the Reformation was nothing less than an argument over the theology of St Augustine of Hippo who died in the 400’s, his own life having been transformed by reading the letters of St Paul.


It was a continent-wide disruption of the church, and the core issue was the relationship between God’s holy justice and God’s holy love. The solution to the question lay in the work of Christ. God’s holy justice must be satisfied, and that was what happened on that fateful day on Calvary. Christ, bloody and broken, satisfied God’s justice, and the reason He did is because He loved us so much.


For all our sin, for all that soul-destroying muck that causes us to weep so bitterly, we know that we need never fear God’s justice. God’s justice ends at the foot of the cross of Christ. Our Master took pity on our sinful state and, through Christ, cleared our debt. All that is left is love.



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