010820 – Luke 13. 31-35
“How often I had desired…and YOU were NOT willing.”
Unfortunately, it is an “old-old story…”
And, it is a well-known story…
Some would argue it is “as old” – as the story of the “GARDEN OF EDEN…going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.
I love it when teaching the confirmands, we read the people of Israel saying-over and over again, “All that the Lord has said, WE WILL DO…”
And of course, THEY DO NOT. THEY seldom DO!
Repeat…repeat…repeat…
It is the reason for the law.
It is the reason for the prophets, both major and minor.
It is the reason that Jesus came…
It is the reason for the Scriptures in written format.
But hold your horses, it is not just Israel…is it…?
This is “a human thing…” It is OUR THING!
It is the whole story of God’s relationship WITH US, isn’t it?
From the days of Adam and Eve…to the days leading up to the “GREAT FLOOD”…to the days in the wilderness WANDERINGS…to the days of the great PROPHETS of old…to the days of Jesus of Nazareth…right up to our OWN DAY and time…
Right up to Wednesday, January 8th, 2020. THIS DAY. This MOMENT. This TIME.
HOW OFTEN…God desires ONE THING for us…and yet…HOW OFTEN we are UNWILLING to accept IT, to DO it, over and over and over again! Some of us, like to do our own thing!!!!
Talk about REPETITIVE.
This is the VERY “heart of sin.” RECOILING from the desires of OUR God, TURNING our backs on HIM and going “in our OWN direction…going our OWN WAY.” (And usually without him!)
Failing to be OBEDIENT.
Failing to LISTEN.
Rejecting GOD.
Rejecting his WORD.
Rejecting his SON.
Turning our BACKS on HIM.
I tell you – it is an old-old story. It IS NOT ONLY KIDS that rebel! Older folks go their own way as well. Some of US are GUILTY as well…
When we think of SIN, we usually think of something completely GROSS…something that “OTHER PEOPLE DO…” But SIN is so much BROADER, so much bigger than that…
We think of DARK ALLEY-WAYS and in BACK ROOMS and under the CLOAK of darkness…BUT it also happens when we WALK AWAY from WHAT God desires for US…in BROAD DAY LIGHT…
SOME FOLKS just think…that they KNOW better…they are SMART enough…WORLDLY enough…that they can DO BETTER on their own…that they do NOT need anyone else…or NEED to LISTEN to anyone ELSE…including GOD. They tell themselves over and over that they are “good people.” They harm NO ONE. They ARE GOOD they tell themselves, especially when they COMPARE THEMSELVES to others…
It is that old FREE WILL and REASON thing…
We can DO what we want, WHEN we want and NO ONE is going to tell us OTHERWISE! We can be a stubborn lot!
Jesus looked over the Holy City of Jerusalem and he wept.
I am sure he looks over Washington DC and he weeps. He looks out over Teheran and he weeps. He looks over Australia and he weeps. He looks over Milwaukee, Chicago, Franklin, Oak Creek, Cudahy, Caledonia and he weeps.
He looks over our homes and over our relationships with others…and HE WEEPS!
He sees WHAT we are doing and HOW we are treating one another and HOW we are getting further and further away from HIM and from HIS TEACHINGS.
We turn our backs, we walk away, some of us even RUN. And Jesus weeps!
SOME OF US know our NEED for repentance.
We feel that we are “slip sliding away,” SOME CARE…others could care LESS.
But NEVER point YOUR finger at OTHERS because we all have work to do, we ALL fall short…we ALL miss the MARK.
Thanks be to God, who sent his SON for us and for OUR SALVATION. Thank God for Confession and Forgiveness. Thank God for the SACRAMENT AT THE ALTAR…and thank God for our BAPTISMS. Thank God that Jesus was willing to endure the cross for the likes of us! YOU KNOW—Try as we might, we will never be PERFECT, but WE definitely CAN BE BETTER and WE can DO BETTER.
And thank God tomorrow is a NEW DAY. Amen.