Epiphany 8A - No one is beyond redemption

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

These are kind words from our Lord in the midst of his difficult Sermon on the Mount. Over the past few Sundays we have been challenged by Jesus to live Godly lives in ways that are radically different from what society tells us to do.

These challenging words have been transitioning us from the joy of the Epiphany to the somberness of Lent.

Some of you may remember that in the old prayer book we officially marked this transition. We went from The Sundays after the Epiphany to the Sundays before Lent, and the Prayer book called this the “Pre-Lenten” Season. According to the old calendar, last Sunday was the transition day, and that hard Gospel sure let you know it! The new Prayer Book no longer calls this season “Pre-Lent,” but the collect, the opening prayer, and the reading reflect this change in dynamic.

These readings from the past few Sunday’s have surely prepared us for a season of asking God for mercy and assistance. Yet into the midst of these preparatory lessons comes these wonderful words from Isaiah: “Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.”

These words come from the Prophet Isaiah in the midst of destruction of ruin. Isaiah is speaking to the Children of Israel as their kingdom and way of life is falling apart. After the success of the reigns of David and Solomon things go downhill pretty fast for them. The kingdom divides into two and the rulers of both halves are lousy to say the least. They begin to look to the rules and morals of the peoples around them. They find it more convenient to adopt the religious practices of their neighbors and pretty soon find themselves worshiping the false gods that surround them while trying to worship the Lord of Hosts at the same time. God is not amused by this and sends them messenger after messenger to say “Stop it!” The Children of Israel choose to kill these prophets rather than listen to them and everything begins to unravel. Their neighbors take up arms and fight them. First conquering one Kingdom then the other, until all of Israel is fallen, the Temple desecrated.

When the Children of Israel find themselves in captivity the enormity of their sin hits them. They stopped listening to God and the ground fell from beneath them. Some understand that if they repent deliverance will come. Some think it is all too late. They look back at all they have done and say “We are beyond redemption. Surely God will never look with favor on us again.” This is what God responds to in this section of Isaiah. He hears his children say “The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me." These are the words of a people who have given up hope. To this, God responds “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?” For many people, the ultimate example of love is that of a mother to her children. The average mother, no matter what her child does, will always love her child. However, there are the few mothers who do reject their children for some reason or another. That is why God adds “Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” God says “I am more loving than any human image of love you can conjure up. My love is eternal!”

This is one of the most central aspects of Christianity. There is no one God forgets. There is no person beyond redemption. The world may write someone off, but God will not. This is not to say that God does not exact judgment, for He does and He will. Yet God is always there waiting to take someone’s hand when they turn to Him, whether is it the first act of their life or the last.

My teacher and mentor, Fr. Ron Conner, shared a story once about all this. A story about a priest who found himself in an uncomfortable situation. There was a young man who was hospitalized in the late stages of a terminal illness. He asked a friend if he knew a priest who might come to see him. A couple days later this priest arrived. Once there, and after brief introductions, this young man said to the priest, “I know my time on this earth is nearly over. I’m not even sure why I have asked for you to visit me.....But this I do know...I’m afraid to die.....I’m way too young.....I’ve lived a fast and sometimes hard life.....I’ve hurt some people along the way —too many.....and even some in my family....I feel terrible and sorry about all of that....I’m feeling afraid, ashamed, and alone......I was never part of the church...I really don’t even know who God is.....can you please tell me what your Christian faith is all about?” The priest stood before this young man in silence, stunned, trying to figure out what to say.

He said to himself: “What do I say?...dear God....what am I to say?” And then, he began with these words from the Bible: “There was a man who had two sons......” and continued to tell the Parable of the Lost Son and the Waiting Father…the Prodigal Son. In that familiar story we hear of a son who is given everything by a rich and generous father. His father teaches him how to live a good life but the son will have none of it. The son demands his inheritance money and proceeds to go off and live a life of Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll. Of course the son’s life falls apart, how could it not with this lifestyle? Finally, poor and with nothing to his name but the rags on his back, he decided to go back to his father and beg to be hired as field worker, not as a son. When he gets to his father, the son doesn’t even finish his statement before he is embraced in love.

This is the story of mankind and God. We, His children, have been given everything by God the Father yet we walk off into the sunset to squander those gifts so often. Even though he told us not to do this, even though He offered help along the way that was ignored, when we hit rock bottom, He is ready to embrace us in love when we turn back to him.

Only when we have this truth about God’s love for us can we begin to understand what Jesus is getting at with His injunctions not to worry. When we understand just how deeply God loves us, it easier for us to understand the notion of providence. We know that Jesus had already conquered death and evil, and all that is remaining is the final reckoning. When Jesus rose victorious over death on the third day, the battle was over, and He won. We simply live in the in-between time, the time between the victory that won the war and the one last battle where it is made clear.

This is freeing knowledge. It is not up to us. Sure, we can put the weight of the world on our shoulders, but it won’t do us any good. Jesus gives us examples of food for the birds and clothing for the grass of the field. Now it is easy to read these examples and to take them too far. If before going to bed tonight you burn all of your food and clothes and wake up the next morning naked and hungry and say God will provide, you have taken the message too far. What Jesus is telling us is that God’s care and love for us and all of his creation is evident all around us. We humans like to think we can understand and master anything and everything, yet when you look at how well the natural world around us works it clear how little we know. This is why Jesus tells us “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.” Jesus is telling us to trust that God does love us no matter what, that he will always be there for us. We humans have been given the gift of intelligence that allows us to plan ahead and make grand plans. Yet in this intelligence we sometimes forget that God is ultimately in charge.

God has given us more gifts than we can imagine. He has taught us and given us help along the way. Yet just like the prodigal son we often take these gifts for granted and think we deserve them and can do with them as we please. We begin to imagine we are in charge. When we strike out into the world with this attitude things eventually then begin to fall apart. When we finally realize the folly in that way of life, we can turn back to God knowing that he is waiting to embrace us in love. And while we are in that loving embrace and begin to pick up the pieces to move on, we can relax knowing that God is the ultimate ruler of all, not us.

When Lent dawns on us in a few weeks, remembering God’s ultimate power over all that is and His never failing (and always offered) love for us, shown clearly in today’s readings, will carry us through those 40 days in the desert just as it carried Jesus.