Revised Common Lectionary

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Sermon

March 7, 2010    

Lent 3

Richard E. Holmer, Pastor

First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-9

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

Seek the Lord

People who are satisfied feel little need for God.  Why are two thirds of God’s people somewhere other than at worship on a Sunday morning?  Sure, some are sick or caring for someone else who is sick.  Some are out of town; some have to work.  But many just didn’t feel the need to commune with God.  Things are OK, more or less.  They have other ways to spend their time.

        Contentment looks like a desirable state of mind, yet contentment doesn’t produce great art—or profound spirituality.  Discontentment serves a spiritual purpose.

Grace doesn’t mean a lot to those who think they don’t need it—who feel reasonably self sufficient.  Jesus himself said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician.”  Nor do those who imagine they are well.

    It was when the Hebrews were suffering as slaves in Egypt that they cried out to God.  Again, it was when they were exiles in Babylon that God’s people keenly felt their need for God.

Who responded most readily, most consistently to Jesus?

                    -the poor                   -the outcast

                    -the hungry                -the broken

                    -the sick                    -the desperate     

                    -the losers

And who tended to resist and question the ministry of Jesus?

                    -the prosperous          -the respectable

                    -the powerful              -the well-established

                    -those who were content

So it is that God’s appeal goes out to those in need.  Through his prophet Isaiah, God calls out:   “Ho, everyone who thirsts...”

“You that have no money...”

        It sounds a lot like the invitation Jesus extends in Matthew: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens...”

        Lent is meant to be a thirsty season, a hungry season—a season that reacquaints us with our need for God.  It would be appropriate in Lent to feel homesick—to experience a heart felt longing to be at home with God.  That’s one purpose of fasting, of giving up something for a season.  When we miss that thing we sacrifice, it can remind us of our need for God.  We can sense that there is a God-shaped hole in our lives that only God can fill.

The Psalms speak eloquently of this longing, this spiritual thirst:

* Psalm 63:1

“O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.”  (For all its many amusements and entertainments, this world can be a thirsty place to live.)

* Psalm 42:1-2

“As the deer longs for the water-brooks, so longs my soul for you, O God.  My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God.”  (At times this world can cause us to forget that we even have a soul.)

At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stimulates our longing for God with the stirring words of the Beatitudes:

“Blessed are those who know their need for God...”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...”

It’s not a good thing to starve, but it can be a blessed thing to be hungry.

Think about it.  Why is the church growing so rapidly in Africa, a land where crisis and deprivation and oppression are widespread?  Why is the Christian church declining in Western Europe?  Why are there so many unchurched and apathetic Christians here in the USA?

People do not recognize, do not sense their need for God.  They are not hungry for God’s righteousness and goodness.

So the prophet’s call goes out to all who will listen: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near...”

Jesus announces, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer observes in The Cost of Discipleship: “Costly grace is the gospel which must be SOUGHT again and again, the gift which must be ASKED FOR, the door at which a man must KNOCK.

First there must be a reason, some motive to seek the Lord.  If those who are satisfied feel little need for God, then what would make them unsatisfied?

A.    Certainly, a change in circumstances: crisis, hardship, illness, broken relationship

B.    A change in outlook could also make a person unsatisfied with the status quo.  *Feelings of guilt, remorse, anxiety, despair, meaninglessness.

When I was on study leave a few weeks back, I asked theologian Stanley Haverwas what could rouse Christians from their apathy and renew their faith.  His answer was troubling because it sounded true.  He said, “Things are probably going to have to get a lot worse.”

It may take dire circumstances to awaken our need for God.  It’s been said that the church’s mission is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.  The church needs to make the comfortable aware that they, too, need the Lord.  Sometimes we seem to be comforting the comfortable.

A crisis can provide an opening, an opportunity for God, but God doesn’t send disasters to remind us we need him.  God can make use of our dilemmas, but God doesn’t send them.

Jesus didn’t create hardships in order to get people’s attention.  Jesus reached out and cared for people in tough circumstances.

However, Jesus did provoke others by his example, and by his preaching and teaching.  His parables are little, ticking time bombs, designed to explode our illusions—and cause us to see things in a fresh way.  Today’s parable of the fig tree invites us to consider if we are living fruitful, productive lives, and that even God’s patience has its limits.  Jesus provokes our contentment, our self sufficient pride, and causes us to wonder if we truly are satisfied.  The question Isaiah poses has the same effect; it’s meant to get under our skin, to keep us awake at night, to consider what we’re doing and why we’re doing it: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”  (That is: why are you running this rat race, anyway?)

I like the Today’s English Version translation:

“Why spend money on what does not satisfy?”

“Why spend your wages and still be hungry?”

He’s really talking about how we spend our lives.

Isaiah does more than raise provocative questions.  He also lifts up wonderful promises.  He assures us that God offers us real food instead of junk food—a life worth living instead of a life spent killing time, spinning our wheels.  And this life is freely available!  Martin Luther actually thought this might be part of our problem: “This evil is planted in human hearts by nature: If God were willing to sell his grace, we would accept it more quickly and gladly than when he offers it for nothing.”  (Because what God offers is free—it can’t be worth very much!)  Even though it’s free, we tend not to actively seek God’s grace until we sense we need it.

Next week’s gospel brings us the parable which contrasts a prodigal son and his older, more reliable brother.  One brother comes to realize his need for grace and heads for home.  The other can only see his own deserving, and his brother’s total undeserving.

*   *   *

        The confession of sins can serve as a weekly wake-up call:

        “we have sinned in thought, word and deed”

        “we are not worthy to be called your children”

        “turn us from our sinful ways”

        Getting closer to Jesus should also help.  The better we understand Jesus, the more we see our need for grace.

        And his grace is abundantly available. 

In this thirsty world, in these thirsty times, there is Living Water.

In this hungry world, there is bread: the Bread of Life we share around this table.

In this aimless and despairing world, there is a way to go: not the relentless pursuit of happiness, but the way of following Jesus.  That way is not always easy, but it is full of hope.

Amen

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