Year C Proper 10 WED 2022 God's Love

 Year C Proper 10 WEDNESDAY, 13 July 2022

St. James the Less, Ashland, VA 

“God's Love”

Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Romans 11:25-36

So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters,* I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,

‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;

   he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’

‘And this is my covenant with them,

   when I take away their sins.’

As regards the gospel they are enemies of God* for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now* receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?

   Or who has been his counsellor?’

‘Or who has given a gift to him,

   to receive a gift in return?’

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.

Matthew 25:31-46

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Just a few quick thoughts this morning. God is God. We are not. Duh! It is obvious, but in the Romans reading and in the Gospel from Matthew, we are told who is on the Lord’s side, and who is not.

Romans speaks to how God will welcome and redeem all of Israel, even though the hearts of many were hardened.

Then in the Gospel, we are shown how the ones who are gracious and giving, showing mercy, are the redeemed and those, even the ones claiming the Son of Man, that did nothing did not know him and are sent away. It was the claiming without transformation that I see as the problem here.

Tucked into our Romans reading was this little phrase about the love of God: “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

The Gifts and Calling of God are irrevocable. What God has done is done. And God’s Love cannot, will not, be taken away.

I so love that.

I have sat with people in their final days and hours who have fretted that they were not good with God. So much of my theology, which has shifted dramatically over the decades by the way, comes back to this. 

• God’s love is here. We are beloved of God. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

• God’s love is irrevocable. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

• God’s love is eternal. “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 136:1

There are times and places that I am not feeling that. It happens to all of us. But when I get still and quiet, that calm voice reminds me of these things. God’s love is here. God’s love is irrevocable. God’s love never ends. If I say any more I will mess it up. Amen.