God Can Change The Past
Sermon
About A Loving God
It always amazes me to think that God can change the past. I know, of course, God can change the future, but the past?
'My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?' the psalmist shouts, the very words Jesus cries from the cross in the gospel according to Mark. And in crying them, Jesus changes forever, and in fact adds to, our understanding of the psalm.
Think about it. 'O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer,' the psalmist says.
And those who surround him and mock him wag their heads and say, 'He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.'
Sometimes it seems that evil has won. Sometimes it seems that no matter how much faith we have, no matter how hard we try, evil can’t be overcome.
There are whole books such as Rabbi Harold S. Kushner’s When Bad Things Happen To Good People written to help us deal with the evils that life brings.
But the truth is, God can turn the past around. That’s what this Scripture says.
Of course there’s tragedy in death. Even when death comes as no surprise, and even when it’s expected, as it was for Jesus on the cross, death is terrible and tragic, and we often feel forsaken. But death is not the last word. That’s what the Scripture says.
Isaiah might have written his words, 'I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations,' about the nation Israel or about some human savior who lived in Isaiah’s time, but as Christians we believe those words mean more than even Isaiah could know. We believe they refer to Jesus Christ.
God can change the past. God can take even our pain and our grief and turn them around, if we will let that happen.
Did you listen to the words from Revelation? They refer to martyrs, people who have died in the service of Jesus Christ. Good people who have died hard deaths.
'For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,' John says, 'and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'
That’s the promise that we need to hear today, both for ourselves and for *. We may not be called to be Christian martyrs, but for all who live and serve in Jesus Christ, God will change the past and turn all grief around.
'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' the angel asked the women. 'Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.'
They had come prepared to say their last good-byes.
Just when it seemed that evil, grief, and death had won, God turned everything around. God changed the past and added purpose to it.
God has acted. God has changed the grief of the cross into the glory of resurrection. What more could we ask?
'Farther along, we’ll understand why,' one great gospel song says. But even now we can understand that, though God doesn’t cause illness and death, or will the grief we feel, God is in charge, and God will finally turn grief and death around.
'Lead, kindly Light,' John Henry Newman wrote in 1833, 'amid th’ encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on.' He went on to say that though the night is dark and we are far from home, God guides our steps — one step at a time — and that’s enough.
'Why do you seek the living among the dead,' the angel said. 'Remember how he told you ... he must be crucified and rise again.'
Let Us Pray
Almighty and loving God, lead us as you have led so many, from the martyrs to the patient faithful. Help us to claim the presence of your Son’s death and resurrection for the one we love, and for ourselves, and call us to hold Christ’s hand and walk one day at a time — in his presence and your love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name
'My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?' the psalmist shouts, the very words Jesus cries from the cross in the gospel according to Mark. And in crying them, Jesus changes forever, and in fact adds to, our understanding of the psalm.
Think about it. 'O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer,' the psalmist says.
And those who surround him and mock him wag their heads and say, 'He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.'
Sometimes it seems that evil has won. Sometimes it seems that no matter how much faith we have, no matter how hard we try, evil can’t be overcome.
There are whole books such as Rabbi Harold S. Kushner’s When Bad Things Happen To Good People written to help us deal with the evils that life brings.
But the truth is, God can turn the past around. That’s what this Scripture says.
Of course there’s tragedy in death. Even when death comes as no surprise, and even when it’s expected, as it was for Jesus on the cross, death is terrible and tragic, and we often feel forsaken. But death is not the last word. That’s what the Scripture says.
Isaiah might have written his words, 'I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations,' about the nation Israel or about some human savior who lived in Isaiah’s time, but as Christians we believe those words mean more than even Isaiah could know. We believe they refer to Jesus Christ.
God can change the past. God can take even our pain and our grief and turn them around, if we will let that happen.
Did you listen to the words from Revelation? They refer to martyrs, people who have died in the service of Jesus Christ. Good people who have died hard deaths.
'For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,' John says, 'and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'
That’s the promise that we need to hear today, both for ourselves and for *. We may not be called to be Christian martyrs, but for all who live and serve in Jesus Christ, God will change the past and turn all grief around.
'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' the angel asked the women. 'Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.'
They had come prepared to say their last good-byes.
Just when it seemed that evil, grief, and death had won, God turned everything around. God changed the past and added purpose to it.
God has acted. God has changed the grief of the cross into the glory of resurrection. What more could we ask?
'Farther along, we’ll understand why,' one great gospel song says. But even now we can understand that, though God doesn’t cause illness and death, or will the grief we feel, God is in charge, and God will finally turn grief and death around.
'Lead, kindly Light,' John Henry Newman wrote in 1833, 'amid th’ encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on.' He went on to say that though the night is dark and we are far from home, God guides our steps — one step at a time — and that’s enough.
'Why do you seek the living among the dead,' the angel said. 'Remember how he told you ... he must be crucified and rise again.'
Let Us Pray
Almighty and loving God, lead us as you have led so many, from the martyrs to the patient faithful. Help us to claim the presence of your Son’s death and resurrection for the one we love, and for ourselves, and call us to hold Christ’s hand and walk one day at a time — in his presence and your love. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name
