February 23, 2025, Meetinghouse Church, Rev. Dr. Kathy Monson Lutes
God’s Amazing Grace, Jonah 3:1-10, Luke 15:11-24
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
What a story Jonah tells us. A storm, a big fish, and as Christian reminded us last week, a city of truly horrible people, all in our bible, our sacred scripture. And we just heard Lisa read, God saw the Ninevites’ efforts to renounce their evil behavior. And God relented, God relented. Well, that sure made Jonah mad. It’s hardly believable, most of us are with Jonah on this one. How could God relent? They were monsters, and monsters have no place in God’s kingdom, right?
Monsters. We have so much trouble with this. How can God relent, and not punish those who are monsters? We see it all the time in our news delivered to our inboxes. Monsters who we want to see punished for what they’ve done, those who gun down innocent people, those who kidnap and torture, those who put people who are “other” into detainment camps. These are people and regimes to be feared, and they should be punished, never to be granted compassion or mercy. Isn’t that what justice is all about?
Or the ones who have lived a life of causing misery for others, the ones who have done unspeakable harm to others, the ones who have never said or been sorry in their entire life, they surely do not deserve forgiveness, or mercy. Or how about the one who just disagrees with us? That person who can’t see it your way?
Again, as Christian reminded us last week, Jonah needs to be reminded who the God of Israel is. We need to be reminded who God is. God doesn’t act like an expected vengeful, punishing God. Instead, this God relents. Again and again the Old Testament witnesses to the fact that God is responsive to God’s creatures. As people change, as history develops, God is responsive to what is happening. God’s will is to save God’s people. God will always act in ways that bring God’s people back to Godself. God’s dream is to bring all creation to Godself, Ninevites, Israel, Jonah, you, me. Even when repentance doesn’t look like what we expect it to look like. This is a story about that God. This is a story about the God of love, the God of wholeness, the God who desires us to be in relationship with God, with creation, with one another.
This is not a story about vengeance or punishment, but instead, God shows forth God’s amazing love and grace.
And then, to make love, and mercy, and grace, even more clear, God takes on our skin, God shows up. God walks, laughs, and even dies among us. God breaks through our lives, our experience, the holy stoops into our lives and meets us in our ordinary places. Jesus takes it all to himself, binding us to God's presence in all times and all places. Jesus bears God's life into our world.
Where does the holy meet you? Around your kitchen table, as you grab one moment for all of you to be together in the midst of your busy and distracted lives. In the hospital room at the birth of a child. Falling in love. A quiet night at home with your beloveds. In the deep grief of the death of one you love. In joy and companionship. The veil between us and the holy is lifted, God takes on our skin, and we, every one of us, monsters included, are part of God’s kindom.
This incarnation is so important Jesus can’t stop talking about it. Consider a shepherd who leaves his sheep to find the one that is lost, and when that sheep is found, he lays it over his shoulders and rejoices. Or a woman who has lost a coin, she lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it. And when she does, she calls together her friends and neighbors to rejoice.
Or the man who has two sons. One of those sons demands his inheritance and runs off with it only to squander it all on debauchery and loose living. This son realizes his folly and returns home. While he is still far off, his father sees him and is filled with compassion. His father orders a party, a celebration, because the son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
Does not God rejoice with the Ninevites, does not God rejoice with you and me, we have been lost, and we are found. We have so much trouble with this grace. Whether we identify with the older or the younger son, we have trouble accepting the grace freely given. It’s the same for the Ninevites as for us. Grace is not earned, but freely given. Grace is forgiving and nourishing.
We often have trouble accepting the intimacy of love no matter what, from this God who is willing to bring those nasty Ninevites back into Godself, or to run out into the field to welcome us home. But we forget that this is a God who freely chooses us. God continually chooses God’s people even when we have apparently wandered far away.
There is nothing we can do that will keep us from God’s embrace, from God’s love, from God’s grace. And yet, we are so good at keeping our gaze away from all of that. Repent means to turn around, so maybe sin is when we turn away from God, sin is when we set our sights on that which is not God, sin is when we fool ourselves into believing that God does not care. God cares, God loves, God embraces, all we have to do is turn around and let the embrace enfold us.
Have you ever felt like that one who is lost? Have you ever wandered, wondered, if you would ever be found again, scooped up in the arms of anyone who loves you? You may know what that embrace feels like. But maybe not, maybe that return and embrace is yet to come. The one who waits, the shepherd, Jesus, anticipates your return.
The joy of the one who welcomes back the lost, and the celebration that ensues, shows us what the Kingdom of God looks like. It includes the outcasts and sinners, it includes the expanse of time and space. It includes the fellowship we have around our kitchen tables, our communion tables, and our soup kitchen tables. It includes even the one who would rather not be included.
I’m reminded of a movie I watched with my kids, over and over. Hook, with Robin Williams, the kingdom table is piled high with all the wild and wonderful things that can be imagined. And the people sitting at that table, are lost boys, battered, bruised, lost, and found.
God’s kingdom table is populated with all those who have turned from God and returned to God. God’s kingdom table is populated with all those younger children who have been reckless, and all those older children who have been loyal. God’s kingdom table is populated with all those who stand on the margins and look in, and those in the center whose gaze is nearsighted. God’s kingdom table is populated with those who wish to be first, and those who are always last. God’s kingdom table is populated with all of us who are scooped up by the joyful, compassionate one, and ride on those shoulders all the way to the celebration.
And what’s so very difficult about it is that most of the time we are pointing in the approximate direction, not the opposite direction, but almost the direction of God. We are full of good intentions. You know what this is like, But the reality is that we are human, and we will continue to make mistakes, we will continue to suffer the consequences of our decisions to turn away from God. We will continue to miss the mark. The Good News is that in the midst of our mess, God never gives up on us, God never gives up on us, God takes us back, even when we give up on ourselves, even when we give up on each other.
God’s love is available to all, even those who don’t look like us, act like us, sing like us, pray like us. Our job as followers of Jesus is to go out and be God’s light and life in the world. Our job as followers of Jesus is to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God’s amazing and abundant love. We must carry into the world God’s love and the reality of God’s forgiveness; we must show that no one is ever outside of God’s embrace.
And, we may invite them to the party. We may invite them to this place where we gather together to celebrate God with us, where we are made into God’s body as we pray together, as we hear the word together, as we turn our sights back toward God, as we stand side by side and receive the gift of bread and wine, the gift of life, and are transformed into the people God creates us to be.
I think these stories from the bible that we hear today, and all that Jesus says and does, asks us to consider what kind of party we throw and who is really welcome at the banquet.
And what kind of people God calls us to be. Not only are we people who are God’s beloveds, we are people who bring our tarnished, messy, forgiven selves into this place of worship. We are called to welcome all
Beloved God,
you love us even when we don’t deserve to be loved;
you extend your grace even when we cannot see clearly enough
to be full of grace ourselves;
you put on our skin so that we may follow you.
Forgive us
when it seems we have done the unforgivable.
Forgive us
when we look with disdain at those who can’t possibly be forgiven.
Help us
turn our eyes, and our hearts to you.
Help us
reach out to your beloveds, those who sit with us in these pews (seats)
and those who are not yet in these pews (seats)
and show forth your love, and mercy, and compassion.
Oh God of grace,
we pray this in your most holy name.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment