God makes the first move. God
always makes the first move.
A movement of creativity, a
movement of love, a movement of grace, a movement of forgiveness, a movement of
reconciliation.
God always makes the first
move.
In the readings for the day,
in the Psalm, in Jeremiah, in 2nd Timothy and in Luke we can trace
evidence of God’s making that first move.
This morning rather than
focus deeply on any one of the passages I am going to share 3 reflections from
3 of these readings.
The liberating news that “if
we are faithless, he remains faithful”.
The invitation ‘to seek the
welfare of the city where I have sent you in exile.”
And, the imperative to “Get
up and go on your way.”
When Paul wrote to Timothy it
was from a context of suffering but a suffering which Paul saw as worthwhile
because sharing the good news of Jesus raised from the dead had come to define
his life. Paul understood that God had
made the first move, the movement of grace to send Jesus into the world to
transform the possibilities of his life and of ours.
He had written of this first
move by God to the Romans saying “Christ died for us whilst we were yet
sinners.” God moves towards us in grace
and it is only then that turning back to God occurs. Far too often I believe we as Christian think
it is our turning back which saves us but Paul clear God moves towards us first
in Jesus. It is Jesus own life of
faithfulness that our lives are deemed as faithful.
We are liberated from the
guilt of our imperfection and released by the words of encouragement “if we are
faithless, he remains faithful”.
I have to admit these words
stood out for me this week as I read an article by Andrew Bolt online which
criticised the Uniting Church for being too green, too liberal, too
socialist. More than Bolt’s article it
was the toxic comments below on the website cloaked with the gift of online
anonymity that were more disturbing.
Some from Christians judging the Uniting Church others from agnostics
and atheists ready to critique religion in general.
Being a part of the church in
our day and age is not easy and the message we share can sometimes be confusing
and our actions as individuals and corporately may exhibit as much
unfaithfulness as faithfulness.
Thanks be to God for Jesus
Christ in whom God makes the first move. “If we are faithless, he remains
faithful”. In the midst of our doubts
and errors, and we all have them, God’s faithfulness reaches out to us.
This is no excuse for being
complacent when we do recognise a failing.
In the newspaper yesterday Catherine Noonan spoke of a Catholic man
saying that things would get better once this Royal commission thing has blown
over.
Such lackadaisical responses
are not good enough when we encounter our errant ways but the journey of faith
is not one of perfection but one which involves correction and transformation.
God has made the first move
in the act creation and in the commitment to recreation in and through Jesus
Christ so we can take heart in the midst of our unfaithfulness that God remains
faithful.
Which brings me to the second
point I would want us to contemplate, the invitation “to seek the welfare of
the city where I have sent you in exile.”
There is a significant back
story to the reading from Jeremiah.
Around 600 BC the Babylonian
King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem and taken members of the royal
family and the skilled labourers and artisans back to Babylon, essentially as
slaves.
For most of us this is beyond
our imaginings and certainly beyond our experience. It was a terrible time for the Israelites who
were trying to understand what it meant to be God’s people in this context.
Now in the previous chapter
of Jeremiah we read that another of Israel’s prophets, the prophet Hananiah had
given the people a message of hope:
2‘Thus
says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king
of Babylon. 3Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels
of the Lord’s house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this
place and carried to Babylon. 4I will also bring back to this place King
Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to
Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’
In other words don’t worry
too much, we can put up with this for a couple of years and then everything
will be OK again.
Jeremiah refuted Hananiah’s
words and declared that within the year Hananiah’s false prophecy would be
exposed and that Hananiah would die. 7
months later Hananiah died and Jeremiah was affirmed in his prophecy.
Jeremiah’s words in chapter
29 are a letter sent to the people in exile to prepare for the long haul and to
live with hope. He says to them:
5Build
houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Take wives
and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters
in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not
decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile,
and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your
welfare.
As people living in exile,
pretty much as slaves, the Israelites were not only to build their own future
but to seek the welfare of the city in which the found themselves, the welfare
of the enemies who had dragged them from their homes and into exile!
As Christians living in an
increasingly hostile environment as we seek to prosper not only ourselves but
those who oppose, who persecute, who even attack us I believe we reflect the
notion that God make the first move.
God makes the first move to
help us, to encourage us, to give us faith, to forgive us, to heal us and so in
our encounters with others if we are to reflect God’s love we are to do the
same. Not because those around us have
in some earned it but because it reflects the faith we have encountered.
As it says in 1 John we love
because God first loved us.
Which brings me to my final
comment which is on the healing recorded in Luke’s gospel.
10 lepers calling out are
healed by Jesus. Go and see the priests
he says. Why? Because only the priests have the power to
readmit the lepers into the community.
As they go all 10 are healed, in fact all are made clean – ready to be
re-admitted to the community.
We know the story that one, a
foreigner, a Samaritan at that, turns back and give thanks to Jesus.
Within Jesus’ words we do
hear a sense of disappointment that only one has turned back, but remember
despite Jesus sense of remorse – all 10 have been made clean. Each one has been visited with grace, dare I
say salvation even.
And Jesus’ words to the
Samaritan man are a little perplexing “Get up and go on your way. Your faith
has made you well.”
The man had already been
clean so how has his faith contributed, has it really done so? Did Jesus anticipate his action and so heal
him? We cannot assume this because 9
others have been healed also.
God made the first move; the
man was already healed, if his faith contributes anything at this point it is
about his witness for others, for us!
Maybe it is as simple as saying that when we realise God is at work we should
turn back and give thanks to God like this man for what we have already received.
I also see Jesus’ word to the
man as a last word, “Get up and go on your way.” These words which encourage him to live again
in community with others in thankfulness of what God has done. For me this correlates to the notion that at
the end of worship each week we are sent out to live our lives: get up and go
on your way, your faith has made you well.
God makes the first move, God
always makes the first move. It is not
our ability to be faithful with evokes God’s decision for us but God’s own love
for us. This is good news and we can
share it with others as we make the first move in love towards others and as we
give thanks to God who in Jesus is not only the first word but also the last.
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