The Season Of Reconciliation
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
Ash Wednesday is the day when we enter into an annual pilgrimage that takes us from the grave that none of us can escape to the surprising gift of an empty tomb that changes everything. No doubt some of you may have already entered into some sort of Lenten discipline, like increasing your Bible reading or, God forbid ... giving up chocolate. Before we travel too far on our Lenten journey, let's look for some guidance from the scriptures.
The Lenten verse from Joel that we sing in our Lutheran liturgy serves as a good summary for the focus of this season: "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and abounding in steadfast love" (Joel 2:13).
Lent is not about losing weight, or denying yourself, or taking on a new project. At its core, Lent is about returning to God. Often things happen in our lives that cause us to reevaluate where we stand in relationship to God:
• We get a disturbing diagnosis from the doctor.
• We are in a life-altering accident.
• The person we always counted on isn't there for us anymore.
• The job that once defined us is gone.
Life circumstances can come at us like a wake-up call and if we're smart, we'll listen.
Lent is a time like that for us. But it's not something that just happens to us as a result of our life's circumstances. It's a time that we enter into intentionally. And we do it together, in community with other people who also enter into it intentionally. In the midst of our day-to-day lives, as the world pulls us further and further from God until God has become a stranger to us, we have this time to be reminded of the primary relationship in our lives. We have this opportunity to return to the Lord our God.
The words from 2 Corinthians clearly set the theme: "On behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (5:20b). The word "reconciled" is an interesting one. Originally, it was actually an accounting term, a word used in the business of currency exchange. We still use it in that way when we talk about reconciling finances, meaning we need to account for what has been saved and spent and the numbers need to balance. Eventually, the word "reconciled" was adapted and used to describe a change in human relationships. But this may still be a good analogy that works for all you accountants and business types out there. Of course, the point is that God is not really a very good businessperson, because God doesn't make a smart exchange. God trades good currency worth more than all the money on earth with worthless currency. It's like taking play Monopoly money to a bank where it is exchanged with real cash. Sometimes Luther alluded to this when he called Christ the "sweet swap."
Paul admonishes his readers, "Be reconciled to God!" By God's grace, even though what you bring to the table is worthless, in Christ it's become acceptable to God. Though we have nothing, we possess everything. This marvelous reconciliation with God is not a gift to be ignored! God has made it possible for us to be in a loving relationship with him, to be reconciled. That's the action of Lent. It's not about performing empty gestures, denying ourselves, or giving up bad habits that we'd be better off giving up anyway. It's about reconciliation.
In Old Testament times, God and his people had this continuous on-again, off-again relationship going. God's people would stray and pay the consequences, then they would repent and be restored to their relationship with God once again. Then they became complacent and strayed, and the cycle continued to repeat itself over and over again. (Sounds kind of like a precursor to the idea of the annual season of Lent for God's people, doesn't it?) In those times of repentance, it wasn't empty rituals that brought about reconciliation with God. In Joel, God says, "Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing" (2:12). In Psalm 51, we hear, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (v. 10), and "For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (vv. 16-17). Lent is a time to go inward, to open your heart to God and receive the wonderful gift of reconciliation that God offers.
There's also a challenge in Lent for us to do more than receive the gift of reconciliation. For if that gift is truly received in our hearts, we know that it's not intended to be hoarded for ourselves. It's intended to be shared with others. Our text from 2 Corinthians doesn't begin early enough here, because before Paul admonishes his readers to be reconciled to God, he had this to say: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (5:17-19).
During the season of Lent, instead of giving up chocolate, we can do something that will really make a difference in our lives. There may be someone you have a hard time getting along with, a relationship that's been damaged. Or perhaps there is someone you haven't taken the time to get to know very well, but you would like to. Or maybe there is someone you have trouble understanding because you seem to have such different ways of looking at the world. What can you do to work at repairing that relationship, removing the wall that stands between you, or accepting your differences? I encourage you to take the ministry of reconciliation seriously and act on it during this season of Lent. You may have a long list of people you would like to work at reconciling with, or a short list, but I'll bet we all have a list!
At this service, we have the opportunity to receive ashes on our foreheads with the words, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." It's a reminder to us of our mortality. We're not going to live forever. One day in our future will be our last day. When we come to terms with that, we realize that we don't have forever to be reconciled to God and one another. We don't have a day to waste when it comes to reconciliation.
Right before Christmas, I was visiting someone in the hospital and as I rode in the elevator a woman got on with me. She saw that I was wearing a clergy badge and proceeded to pour out her heart to me. Her husband had liver cancer. They told him that he only had weeks or possibly days to live. And then she said, "You know, we were both raised in the church, but since we've been married we've never been church people. We never talk about God. Now I really regret that. I want God to be a part of our lives, but after all this time I don't know how to bring it up with my husband."
I thought about the story of the prodigal son and the father waiting with open arms for the son to return. What if the son had died before he had the chance to reconcile with his father? If you knew that this was your last day, who would it be important for you reconcile with? Perhaps a long-lost friend, or a family member, or God. Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
In chapters 5 and 6 of 2 Corinthians we have a two-part plan for our Lenten discipline. One part of the plan is inward and involves opening our hearts to reconciliation with God. The other part of the plan is outward. It is about being reconciled to one another. I encourage you to take that plan up this Lenten season. In Christ, be reconciled to God and to one another. Amen.
The Lenten verse from Joel that we sing in our Lutheran liturgy serves as a good summary for the focus of this season: "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and abounding in steadfast love" (Joel 2:13).
Lent is not about losing weight, or denying yourself, or taking on a new project. At its core, Lent is about returning to God. Often things happen in our lives that cause us to reevaluate where we stand in relationship to God:
• We get a disturbing diagnosis from the doctor.
• We are in a life-altering accident.
• The person we always counted on isn't there for us anymore.
• The job that once defined us is gone.
Life circumstances can come at us like a wake-up call and if we're smart, we'll listen.
Lent is a time like that for us. But it's not something that just happens to us as a result of our life's circumstances. It's a time that we enter into intentionally. And we do it together, in community with other people who also enter into it intentionally. In the midst of our day-to-day lives, as the world pulls us further and further from God until God has become a stranger to us, we have this time to be reminded of the primary relationship in our lives. We have this opportunity to return to the Lord our God.
The words from 2 Corinthians clearly set the theme: "On behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (5:20b). The word "reconciled" is an interesting one. Originally, it was actually an accounting term, a word used in the business of currency exchange. We still use it in that way when we talk about reconciling finances, meaning we need to account for what has been saved and spent and the numbers need to balance. Eventually, the word "reconciled" was adapted and used to describe a change in human relationships. But this may still be a good analogy that works for all you accountants and business types out there. Of course, the point is that God is not really a very good businessperson, because God doesn't make a smart exchange. God trades good currency worth more than all the money on earth with worthless currency. It's like taking play Monopoly money to a bank where it is exchanged with real cash. Sometimes Luther alluded to this when he called Christ the "sweet swap."
Paul admonishes his readers, "Be reconciled to God!" By God's grace, even though what you bring to the table is worthless, in Christ it's become acceptable to God. Though we have nothing, we possess everything. This marvelous reconciliation with God is not a gift to be ignored! God has made it possible for us to be in a loving relationship with him, to be reconciled. That's the action of Lent. It's not about performing empty gestures, denying ourselves, or giving up bad habits that we'd be better off giving up anyway. It's about reconciliation.
In Old Testament times, God and his people had this continuous on-again, off-again relationship going. God's people would stray and pay the consequences, then they would repent and be restored to their relationship with God once again. Then they became complacent and strayed, and the cycle continued to repeat itself over and over again. (Sounds kind of like a precursor to the idea of the annual season of Lent for God's people, doesn't it?) In those times of repentance, it wasn't empty rituals that brought about reconciliation with God. In Joel, God says, "Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing" (2:12). In Psalm 51, we hear, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (v. 10), and "For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (vv. 16-17). Lent is a time to go inward, to open your heart to God and receive the wonderful gift of reconciliation that God offers.
There's also a challenge in Lent for us to do more than receive the gift of reconciliation. For if that gift is truly received in our hearts, we know that it's not intended to be hoarded for ourselves. It's intended to be shared with others. Our text from 2 Corinthians doesn't begin early enough here, because before Paul admonishes his readers to be reconciled to God, he had this to say: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (5:17-19).
During the season of Lent, instead of giving up chocolate, we can do something that will really make a difference in our lives. There may be someone you have a hard time getting along with, a relationship that's been damaged. Or perhaps there is someone you haven't taken the time to get to know very well, but you would like to. Or maybe there is someone you have trouble understanding because you seem to have such different ways of looking at the world. What can you do to work at repairing that relationship, removing the wall that stands between you, or accepting your differences? I encourage you to take the ministry of reconciliation seriously and act on it during this season of Lent. You may have a long list of people you would like to work at reconciling with, or a short list, but I'll bet we all have a list!
At this service, we have the opportunity to receive ashes on our foreheads with the words, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." It's a reminder to us of our mortality. We're not going to live forever. One day in our future will be our last day. When we come to terms with that, we realize that we don't have forever to be reconciled to God and one another. We don't have a day to waste when it comes to reconciliation.
Right before Christmas, I was visiting someone in the hospital and as I rode in the elevator a woman got on with me. She saw that I was wearing a clergy badge and proceeded to pour out her heart to me. Her husband had liver cancer. They told him that he only had weeks or possibly days to live. And then she said, "You know, we were both raised in the church, but since we've been married we've never been church people. We never talk about God. Now I really regret that. I want God to be a part of our lives, but after all this time I don't know how to bring it up with my husband."
I thought about the story of the prodigal son and the father waiting with open arms for the son to return. What if the son had died before he had the chance to reconcile with his father? If you knew that this was your last day, who would it be important for you reconcile with? Perhaps a long-lost friend, or a family member, or God. Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
In chapters 5 and 6 of 2 Corinthians we have a two-part plan for our Lenten discipline. One part of the plan is inward and involves opening our hearts to reconciliation with God. The other part of the plan is outward. It is about being reconciled to one another. I encourage you to take that plan up this Lenten season. In Christ, be reconciled to God and to one another. Amen.
