Trinity 4 July 10, 2022
Romans 12:14-21
The Ultimate Avenger
v.19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
Dear friends in Christ, one of the most popular movie genres of recent years is that of the "Superhero" comic books come to life on the big screen. One of the most popular, which has spawned many "spin-off" movie hits, is that of the Avengers, featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk. This band of heroes comes together to fight the forces of evil that seek to harm the people of earth, all of which is really very entertaining.
In the first Avengers movie, Iron Man speaks to Loki (the bad guy) about who the Avengers are and he says this, "If we can't save the world, you can be [darn] sure that we'll avenge it." He means to say that they will take revenge upon Loki, even if they can't fully stop him--they will hurt him--they will take him down.
Don 't we all feel like that at times? Long to be the great force for good that defeats the evils of the world? Long to take vengeance upon those who wrong us--hurt us--or even annoy us? Sure, we would like to star in our own superhero comic strip, featuring ourselves as the hero par excellence, but that's not reality. Indeed, the Old Adam in us wants us to condemn--to seek vengeance--but the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." To condemn--to avenge yourself--is to put yourself in the place of God. It is to fail to trust that He is Just. Ultimately, it is to disbelieve that Jesus suffered the full vengeance for all wrongs. We are to be merciful, even as the Father is merciful. How miserably we fail at this each and every day.
You see, secretly, in the recesses of our sinful hearts, we don't really want God to be merciful--at least not to our enemies. No, no, no. Rather, we want Him to smite our enemies. Like that Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson, which pictures a man walking down the street on God's computer screen, while a piano dangles precariously over the man's head, God's finger hovers over the "smite" key of His keyboard.
We want God to take vengeance, as He promises, but we want Him to be vengeful OUR way--in OUR time. We definitely don't want Him to be merciful. At least, not with our enemies.
The sad thing is that as we examine our hearts and find this unholy vengeance that lurks beneath—the kind of vengeance that wants to smack people upside the head for saying something dumb; or wants to hurt that rude and crazy neighbour across the street—is in itself wrong. But we don't care. We condemn other people in our hearts--judging them based upon our own standards of right/wrong, good/evil, and pay no attention to what Scripture has to say. We condemn anyone who doesn't fit OUR personal picture of goodness.
When we self-righteously condemn others while ignoring our own sin, we wind up putting ourselves in God's place as Lord and Judge of all. We always tend to view our own sins as somewhat less severe than others--justifying them to ourselves and, so we think, to God as well. However, God is the Ultimate Judge and Avenger of the world. He promises to pay back what is owed, but it doesn't seem to us as though God is really fair or just. It seems that bad people tend to get away with everything--and so we long to take matters into our own hands.
Rather, we are to put our trust in God, merciful as He is. Which, rather than bad news, is really good news. For God does not see our sins as any less severe than anyone else's. We are all in the same boat. We all require God's mercy in order to be saved. So then we are to be kind and merciful to all, even those who persecute us, and to simply trust that God will make all things good in the end.
For, ultimately, God has come as our personal Avenger in the person and work of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus has overcome all evil with His own sacrificial death. Jesus avenges us with His shed body and blood on the cross. He buys us back from the evil one himself, and saves us from our greatest enemies of sin and death--even from our own unmerciful, vengeful hearts.
The blood of Jesus is our refuge and strength. The blood of Jesus given into death on the cross--though great evil for Him--was done for our good. Out of love for us He has come and suffered the full vengeance of the Father for your sin and mine. So that now, as the Father looks at us, He may smile on us in mercy and love--for His wrath has been completely satisfied--for all sin--for all time.
Though we are still tempted, daily, to take vengeance upon those who hurt us, yet by God's grace, we can now respond in love and charity and forgiveness--even to the most cruel and heartless enemies among us, trusting in the mercy and the vengeance of God to take care of us. For vengeance does not rightly belong to us--but to the Father--and He has meted out His justice--His wrath--His condemnation for our sin--upon His own beloved Son, Jesus--the Ultimate Avenger--the Avenger of Blood--for you--for me--for all. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Romans 12:14-21
The Ultimate Avenger
v.19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
Dear friends in Christ, one of the most popular movie genres of recent years is that of the "Superhero" comic books come to life on the big screen. One of the most popular, which has spawned many "spin-off" movie hits, is that of the Avengers, featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk. This band of heroes comes together to fight the forces of evil that seek to harm the people of earth, all of which is really very entertaining.
In the first Avengers movie, Iron Man speaks to Loki (the bad guy) about who the Avengers are and he says this, "If we can't save the world, you can be [darn] sure that we'll avenge it." He means to say that they will take revenge upon Loki, even if they can't fully stop him--they will hurt him--they will take him down.
Don 't we all feel like that at times? Long to be the great force for good that defeats the evils of the world? Long to take vengeance upon those who wrong us--hurt us--or even annoy us? Sure, we would like to star in our own superhero comic strip, featuring ourselves as the hero par excellence, but that's not reality. Indeed, the Old Adam in us wants us to condemn--to seek vengeance--but the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." To condemn--to avenge yourself--is to put yourself in the place of God. It is to fail to trust that He is Just. Ultimately, it is to disbelieve that Jesus suffered the full vengeance for all wrongs. We are to be merciful, even as the Father is merciful. How miserably we fail at this each and every day.
You see, secretly, in the recesses of our sinful hearts, we don't really want God to be merciful--at least not to our enemies. No, no, no. Rather, we want Him to smite our enemies. Like that Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson, which pictures a man walking down the street on God's computer screen, while a piano dangles precariously over the man's head, God's finger hovers over the "smite" key of His keyboard.
We want God to take vengeance, as He promises, but we want Him to be vengeful OUR way--in OUR time. We definitely don't want Him to be merciful. At least, not with our enemies.
The sad thing is that as we examine our hearts and find this unholy vengeance that lurks beneath—the kind of vengeance that wants to smack people upside the head for saying something dumb; or wants to hurt that rude and crazy neighbour across the street—is in itself wrong. But we don't care. We condemn other people in our hearts--judging them based upon our own standards of right/wrong, good/evil, and pay no attention to what Scripture has to say. We condemn anyone who doesn't fit OUR personal picture of goodness.
When we self-righteously condemn others while ignoring our own sin, we wind up putting ourselves in God's place as Lord and Judge of all. We always tend to view our own sins as somewhat less severe than others--justifying them to ourselves and, so we think, to God as well. However, God is the Ultimate Judge and Avenger of the world. He promises to pay back what is owed, but it doesn't seem to us as though God is really fair or just. It seems that bad people tend to get away with everything--and so we long to take matters into our own hands.
Rather, we are to put our trust in God, merciful as He is. Which, rather than bad news, is really good news. For God does not see our sins as any less severe than anyone else's. We are all in the same boat. We all require God's mercy in order to be saved. So then we are to be kind and merciful to all, even those who persecute us, and to simply trust that God will make all things good in the end.
For, ultimately, God has come as our personal Avenger in the person and work of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus has overcome all evil with His own sacrificial death. Jesus avenges us with His shed body and blood on the cross. He buys us back from the evil one himself, and saves us from our greatest enemies of sin and death--even from our own unmerciful, vengeful hearts.
The blood of Jesus is our refuge and strength. The blood of Jesus given into death on the cross--though great evil for Him--was done for our good. Out of love for us He has come and suffered the full vengeance of the Father for your sin and mine. So that now, as the Father looks at us, He may smile on us in mercy and love--for His wrath has been completely satisfied--for all sin--for all time.
Though we are still tempted, daily, to take vengeance upon those who hurt us, yet by God's grace, we can now respond in love and charity and forgiveness--even to the most cruel and heartless enemies among us, trusting in the mercy and the vengeance of God to take care of us. For vengeance does not rightly belong to us--but to the Father--and He has meted out His justice--His wrath--His condemnation for our sin--upon His own beloved Son, Jesus--the Ultimate Avenger--the Avenger of Blood--for you--for me--for all. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.