Monday, November 26, 2007

Last Sunday after Pentecost 25.11.07 Sermon

Last Sunday after Pentecost 24.11.07 Punishment.

It may seem strange that we preach that God loves us, and if we love Him in return we will have great blessings --- so far, so good – but if we fail to love God in return we will be boiled alive in both temporal and eternal punishment! Or words to that effect.

But how can it be that if God loves us He would punish us so severely for not loving Him?

Well, a comparison might help. If I am lost in the desert for three days I would become very thirsty. I lack water. I am deprived of something I need and eventually I would endure agony for not having that thing. Yet we still say water is good.

So if I lack God, I am deprived of something I need. It will cause me agony eventually. It is not a neutral thing to lack God, any more than to lack water or air. It must do me harm.

The various ways the punishments of this life and the next are portrayed to us in Scripture and preaching are attempts to bring home to us that we have a vital need for God, and if we do not possess Him we will suffer agony.

God does not throw missiles on us because He suddenly loses His temper - His patience suddenly snaps and He turns from being benevolent to malevolent. No, it is impossible that God could have moods.

What is happening is that, after a certain point, if we deprive ourselves of God’s grace there will be a reaction. There will be trouble in this life and the next. There will be anguish and distress as the soul realizes its loss, like the pain of grief multiplied a thousand times.

So God in His love gives us readings like today’s Gospel, not to frighten us but to call us to repentance, so we will not have to go through such things.

We don’t need a lecture on the horrors of thirst to realize we need something to drink; but we do apparently need a lecture on the horrors of being without God to realize we need to be with Him.

It is not that God suddenly ceases to love us, rather that our lack of love for Him will at some point start to register.

God, for His part , will remain faithful and always willing to receive the repentant sinner. He will exert His grace to bring about change of heart and replenish the love which has been lacking in us.

When this happens we will avert all the disasters as simply as a good drink takes away thirst.

People say, I don’t believe in that kind of God, that would punish like that. But they are missing the point. It is the same God as they want to believe in, the God of love and mercy, who desires the best for His children.

The point they are confused over is the human response. If God loves us and we do not love Him in return, we are dying of thirst, hunger, cold... you name it.

All the more reason we should believe in Him. Like saying we don’t believe in water because it hurts so much if we don’t have it. All the more reason we should appreciate it.

As we prepare for Advent, and more contemplation of the end of the world, let us be clear where we stand. Looking down the barrel of eternity we can spend it with God or without Him. One is very joyful, the other is very awful. The choice is clear. At least let us be clear that it is no fault of God that we need Him so much!