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Love and PerfectionPreached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX The Fifth Sunday in Lent, 2010 by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults
Last week you’ll recall that we spoke at some length about God’s love for us. We mentioned that it was immeasurable, durable, and eternal. We also spoke about the fact that God’s love is so immense that most of us are unable to return it, for a variety of reasons. One major reason may be that most of us, including this unworthy preacher, have such an obsessive love of ourselves and thus are unable to focus on God’s enormous love for us. Yet, there is another reason, one that is much more subtle and nuanced. That reason has much to do with our ability to give and receive. It is also heavily tied in with our image of ourselves and our true sinful nature. We have been privileged to read lately a marvelous book called A Mirror for Simple Souls, which was written by an anonymous 13th century French mystic and contemplative. He speaks of the love of God in such a way that one can almost get an idea of the enormity of it. While this is impossible, what he does convey is that those who allow themselves to be caught up in this love are absolutely taken up, consumed, and enveloped in it. It is one of the chief attributes of God, in fact, as St. John tells us, God is love. Yet, this is exactly why so many of us have such trouble accepting the unbelievable magnitude and completeness of God’s love for us. First of all, we really have a hard time accepting that such a love exists. How could love, and thus a lover of this magnitude really be possible? After all, we look around ourselves and for the most part, see nothing but evil. How then can real, eternal love exist? That is one of life’s great mysteries and is actually the reason many highly intelligent people have such a hard time with Christianity. Just as in the book, Reason tries to be our guide where reason has no sure footing. In a wonderful part of A Mirror for Simple Souls, very close to the end, Reason is finally shocked to death because he realizes he cannot comprehend the language of absolute love and the seeming irrationality of it. He dies and the soul goes on to more wonderful realizations concerning the love of God, unhampered by rational constraints. That brings us back to the point where we have trouble accepting the reality and totality of God’s love for us. Just as when someone gives you a really wonderful, amazing and expensive gift, your reaction may be one of complete unworthiness. How could this person think so much of you to give you this wonderful thing? If a person has any spark of self-decency left in them, they may even try to refuse it, because the gift it too good for them. The gift is just too unbelievable. We, who really know ourselves, especially in our most honest moments, just can’t accept it, even though we would like to. Of course, in the end, because we are pleased with it, we may end up accepting it, despite our misgivings and feelings of unworthiness. That’s all well and good when dealing with things in the material realm, but how about things in the spiritual, non-material realm? Here’s where our own personal misgivings take on a whole different meaning and context. In short, here it is. When we are confronted, perhaps for the first time, with the overwhelming sense of God’s love, we simply can’t believe it. We simply cannot accept the fact that He loves us more than anything. He loves us, “warts and all,” despite the fact that most of us, in our “down” moments, are anything but loveable. Again, knowing ourselves, we cannot see how this is possible, and this is precisely why we cannot accept it. You see, even in the act of accepting God’s for us, we judge ourselves unworthy and thus thrust it from us.
That is exactly the point the writer makes today in the Epistle selection from Hebrews. How much more perfect is Christ than all the burnt sacrifices ever offered? How much more complete and efficacious His ONE sacrifice, offered once, for all time and for all mankind? Christ is our great High Priest, who offered Himself once, forever, and completely so that we may live… This is real. This is permanent. This, to those who are still laboring under the burden of their own unworthiness, is troubling. Thus, we say to those: accept the gift and be free! Let go your sin, your guilt, and your heaviness. Accept this Lenten gift of solemn joy. Accept the fact that God did and does release you from the burden of your sins to that you may live freely unto Him. Yet, this Lent, realize one thing more. You are indeed bought with a price. Your salvation did not come cheaply or without blood, sweat, and tears. Your salvation came at the ultimate price, because YOU have the ultimate value to the Holy Trinity. They value you above all things and consider you worthy, through Love, to make the ultimate sacrifice. This is what God’s love is all about for you, personally. This leads us to our last Lenten consideration for today. Judge yourself worthy in Christ to receive this gift. Consider yourself loved enough to give everything for. Not by your own merits, but because the One giving is able to give all to obtain you… What do we do? We simply seek to return that Love to Him who gives it. We simply try to live in the moment of that love, forgetting ourselves and who we are so that that we may have Him. We simply try to live in such a way that pleases Him. In so doing, we will find that we will please ourselves as well. This is really what Lent is all about. The self-denial, the spiritual exercises are simply ways to help us understand what we should be doing, everyday, above all things. We all know what that is: loving God with all of our hearts, our minds, our strength, and our souls. When we reach this point in our lives with God, we begin to understand that He is all in all and we are not. This is a great and freeing realization. Once we realize this, we are free. We are free to love God with no strings attached. We are free to love God and to accept His Love in return. What a great Lenten gift that would be, if all of us, in our own innermost beings, could begin this realization. We say “begin” because the realization of God’s Love for us begins in this life at our baptism and extends through our glorification in Heaven. We will live forever, in Heaven, in the continually unfolding reality of His Love for us. Once we begin down this path, there is no end. This Lententide, go ahead and accept it. Accept this terrible joy, this terrible sense that you are not worthy of this love, and yet….you are. Accept the fact that God Himself considers you worthy of His Love now and forever, everlastingly. Thus, beloved, it’s OK to have joy in Lent. We don’t have Lenten parties celebrating this joy as we do at Easter. That wouldn’t be seemly. Yet, deep in your heart, deep in your soul, there should be the bud of joy, just waiting to spring out at Easter. It is to this joyous spring forth that we look forward. It’s OK. Have joy. Be happy. All is well in Christ. Glory be to God the Father, and to God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, now and forever. AMEN |
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Perhaps
this is one of the most difficult concepts and realities to embrace in
Christianity. That is why our Lord took intermediate steps to bring
mankind to a realization of His love. These steps first included the
Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. They would be later be fulfilled in
the New Covenant of Jesus Christ in the fullest, most complete
expression of love that the Father could give us. It is, without a
doubt, the most moving, the most merciful, and the most troubling. Why?
Simply because, while we can perhaps understand an abstract affection
and even attach some psychological value to it, when it becomes real,
very, bloody real it gets too close to us. Now, we have no shield for
our unworthiness. Now we have nowhere to hide from the searing heat and
complexion of God’s Love. It is real, it is personal, and it is very,
very costly.