Fifth Sunday In Lent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle B
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Jeremiah 31:31-34 (C, RC, E)
This passage, written after the depredations of the Babylonians, promises a new, deeper personal relationship between the Israelites and God. Heretofore, the relationship was based on laws reinforced by the various authorities „ judges, prophets, kings „ but henceforth, the people would know, each within himself or herself, what God desires of them.
Jeremiah's use of the word “husband’’ brings to mind the story of Hosea and his wife, Gomer (who today, of course, would have a somewhat more elegant name). In that book, we see Hosea loving his wife with such forgiving, sacrificial love that despite her unfaithful betrayal, he will receive her back as though nothing ever happened. Here too we find that kind of love on God's part. He loves his people much as completely loving spouses love their beloved. It is a love which nothing can break, and the terms of that love shall forever after be written on the human heart. This passage serves as the basis for the New Covenant, and advances the idea of a personal God.
Lesson 2: Hebrews 5:5-10 (C); Hebrews 5:7-9 (RC); Hebrews 5:(1-4) 5-10 (E)
In his God In My Unbelief, Stevenson has the minister in the little Scottish Highland village of Crainie Kirk cry out as he examines his heart: “It isn't your repentance that's going to get you through „ it's Christ's repentance for you, Christ repenting for you before you are able to repent for yourself, paying the price before you are willing to give anything. You've got to humble yourself to take it.’’ That's essentially what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Jesus has paid the price through his suffering and his obedience, and has thereby interceded for the rest of us. We are simply too dimly aware of the gravity of sin to repent adequately, nor would we be able to sustain the consequences of our sin were it not that we have a friend who shares that consequence.
Of course the role of the priest was important to the Jewish community. He was a person who stood between the people and God, offering sacrifices on their behalf, identifying with them in the rigors of daily life, a person appointed by God. Jesus served in this way. In our time, sacrifice is modified to mean financial contributions to church and charity, giving up our time and talents to help others, and the inner effort to serve God as we know we should. Yet to the Jewish people, this version of Jesus' role would have been understandable and does show us how the transition was made at the time from the priestly work of sacrifice to the priest as sacrifice.
In a sermon, the emphasis would probably be on identifying with Christ in his suffering, and the appropriation of the benefits of that sacrifice to ourselves. C. H. Dodd wrote this in a book titled Benefits Of His Passion:
Now we are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Christ's obedience is the perfect fulfillment of the idea of sacrifice and makes every other kind of sacrifice obsolete ... Christ's self-dedication to the will of God is the sacrifice by which we are cleansed „ not his sufferings, as such, not his death or the shedding of his blood, but his obedience unto death, of which these are the outward signs. Himself free from the taint, absolutely, he took our human nature, and made an offering of it. His sacrifice is the point of action for divine power: from that point in history the creative power of God works upon our nature. It is the center and source of a stream of new created life, capable of spreading through the whole body of mankind, neutralizing the infection of evil, and healing our corruption. The evil we could not make good, God has made good. This is the expiation of the sins of the whole world. Individually, it is for us to lay ourselves open to what has been done for us. The sun has risen with healing rays. We have only to stand in the sunshine.
Gospel: John 12:20-33 (C, E); John 12:20-30 (RC)
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is met by “a great crowd’’ who, as we now know, had no real idea what Jesus was about nor what was soon to happen. No doubt they came with a variety of expectations, all the way from mere crowd curiosity to the men who wished for a violent overthrow of the Roman rulers. But none of them, not even Jesus' closest friends, could quite guess or perceive what was immediately ahead. We, of course, know what history records (whether we fully understand it ourselves or not).
I find two passages on which I would base a sermon at this time. One is verse 25: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’’ That passage needs some explanation for the benefit of our parishioners who may not quite understand what the word “hate’’ means here. Clearly, this is not an injunction to become a miserable person. There are all too many people who commit suicide because they hate their life in this world. There are also too many people who, reading this, get the idea there's something wrong with loving life, enjoying yourself, living life to the full. One woman said to me not long ago, “I always worry when things are going well. We're not supposed to have too happy a life in this world.’’ What a sad misreading of scripture.
Jesus surely meant we are not to live as though this life is all there is. We are not to disregard the injunction to prayer, and openness to the Holy Spirit, immersing ourselves in sheer pleasures of the flesh. After all, John, who reported this, also quotes Jesus just three chapters later as saying, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete’’ (John 15:11). Jesus meant the self-centered life is doomed to fail, and even if the body continues to survive, the qualities which make for joy as opposed to temporary pleasure and fun will be absent unless we learn to reject that kind of life „ “hate’’ it, that is „ and embrace the life which includes sacrifice and loyalty to the many values Jesus came to teach and live out. “My commandment is this: love one another,’’ he said, “just as I love you’’ (John 15:12).
The other passage I might use is verse 26: “Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.’’ And before we get too enthusiastic in our zeal to follow Jesus, we must remind ourselves where he was headed when he said this. Crucifixion and death. Of course I don't think Jesus quite asked that of us, literally. But the idea of sacrifice, of serving others, of repentance with the price that exacts, of loving other people is part of that. Whoever is willing to give up a lot, to remain faithful to the call to love others, to live not just for ourselves but for the world as well „ those are they whom God “will honor.’’
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: “Written On The Heart’’
Text: Jeremiah 3:31-34
Theme: H. G. Wells wrote: “In the heart of every man is a God-shaped place.’’ And, of course, every woman. That's Jeremiah's point. Ignorance is no excuse, not any longer. We know, or ought to know, right from wrong. Tragically, a great number of people in this world probably don't know what is right and wrong. A mother in Indianapolis was sentenced to prison for selling her little girl for sex on the street so she could buy drugs. The girl is now twelve, but this has gone on for years. The child is in an institution, and one has to wonder what her view of life must be by now.
I don't personally believe that God punishes wrongdoing in the specific sense believed, for example, by the so-called comforters of Job. But I do believe God has placed us in a world which does indeed exact a price for wrongdoing. It doesn't always work the way we wish, nor with equal justice for all. But there is a rough-hewn system of consequences for wrongdoing.
1. Reputation. People find out. I see kids who get themselves in trouble. They don't realize there's always someone around who will remember and our misdeeds generally follow us through life. I know of a local attorney who cheated on his income taxes. He got caught after three or four years of this, did time in a federal minimum security prison. He was later allowed to practice law, but his career was far short of his abilities. People remembered.
2. Family. Think what one does to one's children, one's spouse, when one does wrong. A local judge was put out of office at the age of seventy because he had turned in a false request for reimbursement. The amount was a few hundred dollars. Now he's the crooked Dad/Grandpa, instead of the distinguished jurist of the family. And I know of a sad clergyman who has been humiliated by a wayward son.
3. Remorse. There are antisocial people around who apparently don't experience remorse, but those of us with conscience do. Many a man and woman lives with deep regrets for life because of some impulsive wrong committed. It is never worth it.
4. Damaged relationships. As I sit here, I can name four well-known clergy who, after years of extraordinarily excellent service, betrayed their calling with romantic betrayals. The cost to others has been terrible. I have a friend who never missed church until one pastor did this. She frankly admits she has never been to church since. Broken marriages „ restoring trust is like mending a shattered mirror (maybe it can be done, but it takes a lot of love and a lot of time).
The good news: there is forgiveness for us when we repent. But the damage may still be done and we have to live with that.
Title: “The Way Home’’
Text: Hebrews 5:5-10
Theme: First, I just reread what I wrote in commentary on this passage. I believe I am correct, but it sounds like a term paper in Theology C 1. How do we make this intelligible, simple enough for, say, a working man with a high school diploma to understand? Or a woman CEO of a mid-size corporation, who is hard-pressed in the pressure-packed world of the corporation? Or the young recent graduate of law school who is waiting for word from the firm he interviewed with last week? Or the troubled teen who helped rob a filling station last night and now is struggling with the torment of guilt on the one hand, and the need for affirmation from his gang on the other?
I think I would come at this sermon like this. Thomas Wolfe once wrote: “The deepest search in life, it seemed to me, the thing that in one way or another was central to all living, was man's search for a father, not merely the father of his flesh, not merely the lost father of his youth, but the image of a strength and wisdom external to his need and superior to his hunger, to which the belief and power of his own life could be united.’’ I feel this, don't you? Are there not moments when, in despair or in weariness, in times of sadness or loneliness, we wish we could run to a strong embrace, to the one who knows all answers, who can make all things well and right again? (By the way, please let's accept wise statements from the past which are not politically correct. For me, I could easily substitute mother for father here, and certainly Wolfe, writing today, would apply this to all men and women.)
It seems to me that in this Bible passage, there is an unwritten truth which we as preachers must abstract: God is not a demanding deity jealously insisting that we be sorry or die. God is the embodiment of love, the fulfillment and more, of what we have just said. God knows there is only one way to reunion, that is to act out love, and the only route to reunion with the Father/Mother is through repentance and renewal. See this as a parent telling a beloved child who is lost in the woods that only by this path can you find your way home. Jesus came to show us that path.
1. Jesus shows us the way to God. Most of us know the illustration of the philosopher who was staring out his apartment window on a bitterly cold winter afternoon when a flight of birds landed on his iron-railinged balcony. They were close to freezing to death. He opened his window, seeking to let them approach for warmth, but they were afraid. Then the philosopher mused: “If only I could become a bird like them, join them for a moment, then fly back in here to show them it's safe. Then they would follow and be saved.’’
2. By following Christ, we find our way into that saving relationship with the one who loves us most of all.
3. Following Christ is not just a mental act of belief. It is a willful act of attempted imitation. Stevenson told of visiting a small home in the highlands of Scotland, having dinner with a simple farm family. He quotes the minister this way: “I was in a little farmhouse one evening when a boy ran from the table, hurling himself from the room to get into isolation from an unkindness he had done, surrounding himself with the sullenness by which men protect themselves from recognizing their sin „ and then, without warning, coming back to the table and whispering to his mother that he was sorry.’’ The word for this is “reconciliation.’’
Title: “Come Out To New Life’’
Text: John 12:25
Theme: Jesus warned us that if we are to experience eternal life we must “hate’’ this life. By this I do not „ repeat, DO NOT „ think Jesus meant that the way we could easily misunderstand what was said. Jesus taught that this life is to be joyful, filled with love. If one is loved and able to love, joy follows and to hate that would be insane. Too many people as it is are unhappy, and all too frequently their unhappiness is a direct consequence of their failure to “hate’’ this life, by which I think Jesus meant to hate all the destructive elements to which we can all too easily be addicted.
1. By “life eternal,’’ I think Jesus meant precisely what he meant when he said that he intended that his joy might be in us. It isn't just a state which follows physical death. It is a state which begins when the Holy Spirit has begun to work within us.
2. The Holy Spirit is ours through the acceptance of Jesus Christ in our lives, and that takes place through reliance on his teachings as our guide, and through prayer.
3. Reliance on Jesus means forsaking certain temptations: dishonesty, abusive treatment of loved ones, addictions which prevent us from creative living, wasteful use of our mental and physical resources, betrayal of trust, uncontrolled anger „ you can add to the list.
4. Jesus didn't mean God will consign all sinners to eternal death. He meant that so long as we give in to these destructive forces, we will never be able to experience the joy and love which are the hallmarks of eternal life.
5. Because we're human, we will err. Perfection is unattainable for us, and the only hope we have is to be forgiven for our falling short. That, too, is an element in eternal life. But first we must reject our destructive tendencies, fight against them if you will, and try to be what we are called to be. When we do, Jesus will assist us. When we are finally called to stand before God for judgment, Jesus will stand alongside us and call us friend.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
One author told of a tradesman in a certain town who discovered that a trusted employee had been stealing from him. He quickly brought charges against the man, who was found guilty and sent off to prison. However, when the man was finally released, he learned to his amazement that during his time in prison his employer had paid his usual wages to his wife and children, and that his job was available once more. “We can start afresh,’’ the employer said. Perhaps God's forgiveness is like that. There are consequences to our misdeeds, but they take place within the province of God's continuing love. The Bible seems to say that at least some of those consequences are exacted in this life.
____________
There's a wonderful fable about the time some people arrived at the gates of Heaven and were met there by Peter, now Saint Peter. After examining their records, he sadly informed them that they could not be admitted. Forlorn, they turned and left. But the next day, Peter saw those very people wandering the streets of Heaven, learning their way around. He knew something was wrong. That night, Peter went out with some security people to see what was going on. Toward midnight, he heard some noise behind some bushes. There he discovered someone slipping under the fence into Heaven. Suddenly, Peter confronted the interloper and found someone from the inside helping the man. Peter recognized the newcomer as a man he had turned away from the gates that very day. Angry, Peter confronted the man who had helped this fellow and was shocked to see that it was Jesus. “But, Lord,’’ he protested, “I turned this man away just today.’’ “I'm sorry,’’ Jesus replied, “but this fellow's a friend of mine.’’
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 51:1-12 (C); Psalm 51 (E) „ “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.’’
Psalm 50:12 (RC) „ “If I were hungry....’’
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God, we come before thee in prayer to ask forgiveness for what we have said and done this day. For all our good intentions, the day did not pass but what we said things we ought not have said, did things for which we are sorry. Forgive us, renew us with deeper commitment, empower us in loving those whom we meet „ and thee. Amen.
Lesson 1: Jeremiah 31:31-34 (C, RC, E)
This passage, written after the depredations of the Babylonians, promises a new, deeper personal relationship between the Israelites and God. Heretofore, the relationship was based on laws reinforced by the various authorities „ judges, prophets, kings „ but henceforth, the people would know, each within himself or herself, what God desires of them.
Jeremiah's use of the word “husband’’ brings to mind the story of Hosea and his wife, Gomer (who today, of course, would have a somewhat more elegant name). In that book, we see Hosea loving his wife with such forgiving, sacrificial love that despite her unfaithful betrayal, he will receive her back as though nothing ever happened. Here too we find that kind of love on God's part. He loves his people much as completely loving spouses love their beloved. It is a love which nothing can break, and the terms of that love shall forever after be written on the human heart. This passage serves as the basis for the New Covenant, and advances the idea of a personal God.
Lesson 2: Hebrews 5:5-10 (C); Hebrews 5:7-9 (RC); Hebrews 5:(1-4) 5-10 (E)
In his God In My Unbelief, Stevenson has the minister in the little Scottish Highland village of Crainie Kirk cry out as he examines his heart: “It isn't your repentance that's going to get you through „ it's Christ's repentance for you, Christ repenting for you before you are able to repent for yourself, paying the price before you are willing to give anything. You've got to humble yourself to take it.’’ That's essentially what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Jesus has paid the price through his suffering and his obedience, and has thereby interceded for the rest of us. We are simply too dimly aware of the gravity of sin to repent adequately, nor would we be able to sustain the consequences of our sin were it not that we have a friend who shares that consequence.
Of course the role of the priest was important to the Jewish community. He was a person who stood between the people and God, offering sacrifices on their behalf, identifying with them in the rigors of daily life, a person appointed by God. Jesus served in this way. In our time, sacrifice is modified to mean financial contributions to church and charity, giving up our time and talents to help others, and the inner effort to serve God as we know we should. Yet to the Jewish people, this version of Jesus' role would have been understandable and does show us how the transition was made at the time from the priestly work of sacrifice to the priest as sacrifice.
In a sermon, the emphasis would probably be on identifying with Christ in his suffering, and the appropriation of the benefits of that sacrifice to ourselves. C. H. Dodd wrote this in a book titled Benefits Of His Passion:
Now we are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Christ's obedience is the perfect fulfillment of the idea of sacrifice and makes every other kind of sacrifice obsolete ... Christ's self-dedication to the will of God is the sacrifice by which we are cleansed „ not his sufferings, as such, not his death or the shedding of his blood, but his obedience unto death, of which these are the outward signs. Himself free from the taint, absolutely, he took our human nature, and made an offering of it. His sacrifice is the point of action for divine power: from that point in history the creative power of God works upon our nature. It is the center and source of a stream of new created life, capable of spreading through the whole body of mankind, neutralizing the infection of evil, and healing our corruption. The evil we could not make good, God has made good. This is the expiation of the sins of the whole world. Individually, it is for us to lay ourselves open to what has been done for us. The sun has risen with healing rays. We have only to stand in the sunshine.
Gospel: John 12:20-33 (C, E); John 12:20-30 (RC)
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is met by “a great crowd’’ who, as we now know, had no real idea what Jesus was about nor what was soon to happen. No doubt they came with a variety of expectations, all the way from mere crowd curiosity to the men who wished for a violent overthrow of the Roman rulers. But none of them, not even Jesus' closest friends, could quite guess or perceive what was immediately ahead. We, of course, know what history records (whether we fully understand it ourselves or not).
I find two passages on which I would base a sermon at this time. One is verse 25: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’’ That passage needs some explanation for the benefit of our parishioners who may not quite understand what the word “hate’’ means here. Clearly, this is not an injunction to become a miserable person. There are all too many people who commit suicide because they hate their life in this world. There are also too many people who, reading this, get the idea there's something wrong with loving life, enjoying yourself, living life to the full. One woman said to me not long ago, “I always worry when things are going well. We're not supposed to have too happy a life in this world.’’ What a sad misreading of scripture.
Jesus surely meant we are not to live as though this life is all there is. We are not to disregard the injunction to prayer, and openness to the Holy Spirit, immersing ourselves in sheer pleasures of the flesh. After all, John, who reported this, also quotes Jesus just three chapters later as saying, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete’’ (John 15:11). Jesus meant the self-centered life is doomed to fail, and even if the body continues to survive, the qualities which make for joy as opposed to temporary pleasure and fun will be absent unless we learn to reject that kind of life „ “hate’’ it, that is „ and embrace the life which includes sacrifice and loyalty to the many values Jesus came to teach and live out. “My commandment is this: love one another,’’ he said, “just as I love you’’ (John 15:12).
The other passage I might use is verse 26: “Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.’’ And before we get too enthusiastic in our zeal to follow Jesus, we must remind ourselves where he was headed when he said this. Crucifixion and death. Of course I don't think Jesus quite asked that of us, literally. But the idea of sacrifice, of serving others, of repentance with the price that exacts, of loving other people is part of that. Whoever is willing to give up a lot, to remain faithful to the call to love others, to live not just for ourselves but for the world as well „ those are they whom God “will honor.’’
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: “Written On The Heart’’
Text: Jeremiah 3:31-34
Theme: H. G. Wells wrote: “In the heart of every man is a God-shaped place.’’ And, of course, every woman. That's Jeremiah's point. Ignorance is no excuse, not any longer. We know, or ought to know, right from wrong. Tragically, a great number of people in this world probably don't know what is right and wrong. A mother in Indianapolis was sentenced to prison for selling her little girl for sex on the street so she could buy drugs. The girl is now twelve, but this has gone on for years. The child is in an institution, and one has to wonder what her view of life must be by now.
I don't personally believe that God punishes wrongdoing in the specific sense believed, for example, by the so-called comforters of Job. But I do believe God has placed us in a world which does indeed exact a price for wrongdoing. It doesn't always work the way we wish, nor with equal justice for all. But there is a rough-hewn system of consequences for wrongdoing.
1. Reputation. People find out. I see kids who get themselves in trouble. They don't realize there's always someone around who will remember and our misdeeds generally follow us through life. I know of a local attorney who cheated on his income taxes. He got caught after three or four years of this, did time in a federal minimum security prison. He was later allowed to practice law, but his career was far short of his abilities. People remembered.
2. Family. Think what one does to one's children, one's spouse, when one does wrong. A local judge was put out of office at the age of seventy because he had turned in a false request for reimbursement. The amount was a few hundred dollars. Now he's the crooked Dad/Grandpa, instead of the distinguished jurist of the family. And I know of a sad clergyman who has been humiliated by a wayward son.
3. Remorse. There are antisocial people around who apparently don't experience remorse, but those of us with conscience do. Many a man and woman lives with deep regrets for life because of some impulsive wrong committed. It is never worth it.
4. Damaged relationships. As I sit here, I can name four well-known clergy who, after years of extraordinarily excellent service, betrayed their calling with romantic betrayals. The cost to others has been terrible. I have a friend who never missed church until one pastor did this. She frankly admits she has never been to church since. Broken marriages „ restoring trust is like mending a shattered mirror (maybe it can be done, but it takes a lot of love and a lot of time).
The good news: there is forgiveness for us when we repent. But the damage may still be done and we have to live with that.
Title: “The Way Home’’
Text: Hebrews 5:5-10
Theme: First, I just reread what I wrote in commentary on this passage. I believe I am correct, but it sounds like a term paper in Theology C 1. How do we make this intelligible, simple enough for, say, a working man with a high school diploma to understand? Or a woman CEO of a mid-size corporation, who is hard-pressed in the pressure-packed world of the corporation? Or the young recent graduate of law school who is waiting for word from the firm he interviewed with last week? Or the troubled teen who helped rob a filling station last night and now is struggling with the torment of guilt on the one hand, and the need for affirmation from his gang on the other?
I think I would come at this sermon like this. Thomas Wolfe once wrote: “The deepest search in life, it seemed to me, the thing that in one way or another was central to all living, was man's search for a father, not merely the father of his flesh, not merely the lost father of his youth, but the image of a strength and wisdom external to his need and superior to his hunger, to which the belief and power of his own life could be united.’’ I feel this, don't you? Are there not moments when, in despair or in weariness, in times of sadness or loneliness, we wish we could run to a strong embrace, to the one who knows all answers, who can make all things well and right again? (By the way, please let's accept wise statements from the past which are not politically correct. For me, I could easily substitute mother for father here, and certainly Wolfe, writing today, would apply this to all men and women.)
It seems to me that in this Bible passage, there is an unwritten truth which we as preachers must abstract: God is not a demanding deity jealously insisting that we be sorry or die. God is the embodiment of love, the fulfillment and more, of what we have just said. God knows there is only one way to reunion, that is to act out love, and the only route to reunion with the Father/Mother is through repentance and renewal. See this as a parent telling a beloved child who is lost in the woods that only by this path can you find your way home. Jesus came to show us that path.
1. Jesus shows us the way to God. Most of us know the illustration of the philosopher who was staring out his apartment window on a bitterly cold winter afternoon when a flight of birds landed on his iron-railinged balcony. They were close to freezing to death. He opened his window, seeking to let them approach for warmth, but they were afraid. Then the philosopher mused: “If only I could become a bird like them, join them for a moment, then fly back in here to show them it's safe. Then they would follow and be saved.’’
2. By following Christ, we find our way into that saving relationship with the one who loves us most of all.
3. Following Christ is not just a mental act of belief. It is a willful act of attempted imitation. Stevenson told of visiting a small home in the highlands of Scotland, having dinner with a simple farm family. He quotes the minister this way: “I was in a little farmhouse one evening when a boy ran from the table, hurling himself from the room to get into isolation from an unkindness he had done, surrounding himself with the sullenness by which men protect themselves from recognizing their sin „ and then, without warning, coming back to the table and whispering to his mother that he was sorry.’’ The word for this is “reconciliation.’’
Title: “Come Out To New Life’’
Text: John 12:25
Theme: Jesus warned us that if we are to experience eternal life we must “hate’’ this life. By this I do not „ repeat, DO NOT „ think Jesus meant that the way we could easily misunderstand what was said. Jesus taught that this life is to be joyful, filled with love. If one is loved and able to love, joy follows and to hate that would be insane. Too many people as it is are unhappy, and all too frequently their unhappiness is a direct consequence of their failure to “hate’’ this life, by which I think Jesus meant to hate all the destructive elements to which we can all too easily be addicted.
1. By “life eternal,’’ I think Jesus meant precisely what he meant when he said that he intended that his joy might be in us. It isn't just a state which follows physical death. It is a state which begins when the Holy Spirit has begun to work within us.
2. The Holy Spirit is ours through the acceptance of Jesus Christ in our lives, and that takes place through reliance on his teachings as our guide, and through prayer.
3. Reliance on Jesus means forsaking certain temptations: dishonesty, abusive treatment of loved ones, addictions which prevent us from creative living, wasteful use of our mental and physical resources, betrayal of trust, uncontrolled anger „ you can add to the list.
4. Jesus didn't mean God will consign all sinners to eternal death. He meant that so long as we give in to these destructive forces, we will never be able to experience the joy and love which are the hallmarks of eternal life.
5. Because we're human, we will err. Perfection is unattainable for us, and the only hope we have is to be forgiven for our falling short. That, too, is an element in eternal life. But first we must reject our destructive tendencies, fight against them if you will, and try to be what we are called to be. When we do, Jesus will assist us. When we are finally called to stand before God for judgment, Jesus will stand alongside us and call us friend.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
One author told of a tradesman in a certain town who discovered that a trusted employee had been stealing from him. He quickly brought charges against the man, who was found guilty and sent off to prison. However, when the man was finally released, he learned to his amazement that during his time in prison his employer had paid his usual wages to his wife and children, and that his job was available once more. “We can start afresh,’’ the employer said. Perhaps God's forgiveness is like that. There are consequences to our misdeeds, but they take place within the province of God's continuing love. The Bible seems to say that at least some of those consequences are exacted in this life.
____________
There's a wonderful fable about the time some people arrived at the gates of Heaven and were met there by Peter, now Saint Peter. After examining their records, he sadly informed them that they could not be admitted. Forlorn, they turned and left. But the next day, Peter saw those very people wandering the streets of Heaven, learning their way around. He knew something was wrong. That night, Peter went out with some security people to see what was going on. Toward midnight, he heard some noise behind some bushes. There he discovered someone slipping under the fence into Heaven. Suddenly, Peter confronted the interloper and found someone from the inside helping the man. Peter recognized the newcomer as a man he had turned away from the gates that very day. Angry, Peter confronted the man who had helped this fellow and was shocked to see that it was Jesus. “But, Lord,’’ he protested, “I turned this man away just today.’’ “I'm sorry,’’ Jesus replied, “but this fellow's a friend of mine.’’
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 51:1-12 (C); Psalm 51 (E) „ “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.’’
Psalm 50:12 (RC) „ “If I were hungry....’’
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God, we come before thee in prayer to ask forgiveness for what we have said and done this day. For all our good intentions, the day did not pass but what we said things we ought not have said, did things for which we are sorry. Forgive us, renew us with deeper commitment, empower us in loving those whom we meet „ and thee. Amen.
