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The Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in thy well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 29)
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The Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Malachi 4:1-2a
A Sermon by
Fr. Spurlock
on
Malachi 4:1-2a
✛
Doesn't God Love Me Anymore?
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I have shown you love, says the Lord. But you ask, ‘How have you shown love to us?’ Mal 1.2
The lesson from the book of the prophet Malachi foretells the proud and wicked being consumed by fire, but healing will come to those who fear the Lord. This is the word of the God as spoken by the prophet, but the people themselves have an entirely different concern. They just want to know if God still loves them. But by the time they get around to asking the question, a lot of water has already passed under the bridge.
From the days when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah to the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon, the Lord was working to gather all people back to himself. He set aside and called twelve tribes borne of one father to be forged into a single nation. Promises were made by God and by the nation to live together in bonds of love and faithful cooperation. It was not an easy road to the fulfillment of those promises. Generations of slavery; a nearly run exodus and forty years of trial and testing in the wilderness were to follow. There was warfare, pestilence, famine, seasons of plenty and of dearth, but eventually the promised land was held in possession, Israel’s enemies were subdued, and the glory of the nation seemed assured. In the midst of this now settled nation there was a temple and the glory of God lived there in the midst of the people. Their many children prospered in the kingdom, and it was said that this kingdom would never end.
But on the day when old King Solomon died, all those promises began to unravel. The nation split into two: north and south. The north was wiped clean away by its enemies; these are what we call the lost tribes of Israel. Later, the south would be forced into exile, its capital destroyed; God’s house was razed to the ground. There was no more land, no more prosperity, the king was gone, and the kingdom was gone. And the people wondered, what about the promises? But, glory hallelujah, in time, the exile was lifted. The people were permitted to return to their land, permitted to rebuild their city and to rebuild God’s house. But for all their efforts, and successes, the glory that had been theirs in the days of David and Solomon eluded them. It was never quite the same again. And so the people ask the prophet: does God still love us?
How might God answer such a question? I do love you. I made you. I spared you. I called you. I spoke with you. I led you. I prospered you. Where you wandered I wandered. I lived in the midst of you. I fought for you. When you wanted bread I fed you. When you wanted meat I gave you meat. When you prayed for children I gave you children. When you wanted a king, I gave you a king. When you wandered I chased after you. When you were lost I found you. When you were unfaithful, I was true. Yet, you ask, how have I loved you?
And that answer would be in keeping with how the people would have assured themselves of God’s love. They would have looked back to the things that God did for them. David, the king who reigned over Israel at the height its undivided glory, wrote, “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.” Ps 77.11 He goes on to recount the covenant with Israel, the gift of the law, enemies put to flight, the red sea parted and the Egyptian horse and rider cast into the sea. He recalled the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God struck the rock and waters poured out, and on and on…. Ps 78 Wen David recalled the sins of the people, he reminded the people of God’s mercy. The people lied to God with their tongues, their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But God being full of compassion forgave them, for he remembered they were but flesh. Ps 78.39
It is the remembrance of these past works of the Lord the strength of his arm, the extension of his mercy that consoles a people who are prone to forgetfulness and sometimes beset by doubts. But we should also remember that God is not just a God of the past, but a living God of the present and future.
We all have bad days. I know that I do. Some days are bad because a crisis is afoot and there’s nothing to be done. Some days are bad because nothing seems to go my way and they get worse because I start feeling sorry for myself. Some are bad because I got up on the wrong side of the bed. Those are the best because it becomes a challenge to see just how bad I can make it. So, my bad days range from the explicable to the inexplicable to the willful. But even on the days that are bad for legitimate reasons, my faith consoles me. I remember that Jesus said there would be days like this. But then I am brought into proximity with today’s gospel and I feel that much better because what Jesus really said is that there would be war, commotion, nation pitted against nation, king against king, earthquakes, famine, pestilence, fearful sights, great signs, abductions, persecutions, imprisonment, kangaroo courts, unfair trials, family betrayal, and execution. And suddenly my bad day doesn’t seem so bad after all. I find I can persevere and things do get better.
But, recalling how bad Jesus said things could get is not an exercise in making me feel better because, well, things could always be worse. It is an exercise in remembering what Jesus promises to do when crisis is afoot. First, that he will give us a spirit to bear up and give an account of the hope that is within us. Second, not a hair on our heads shall perish. That is a promise you can take to the bank. When Christ destroys death in his own resurrection and promises to raise all the faithful departed in the general resurrection, how can any power or principality harm anyone of us, so long as we die in the faith, love and hope of Jesus Christ? When things get rough, that’s when we often ask, doesn’t God love me? In that time look back and remember God’s mighty acts of old when he showed his love to his people. Look to the present for the spirit that God has already given you to give an account of the hope that is within you in the face of any power that is threatening. Look to the future, and lift up your heads; for the son of righteousness rises with healing in his wings. Mal 4.2
“I have shown you love, says the Lord. But you ask, ‘How have you shown love to us?’” In the person of Jesus Christ, for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
