CAUSE & EFFECT
A man screams out in pain because a hammer has smashes his finger. The hammer is the cause; the scream is the effect. An unexpected gift is given by a husband to his wife. She smiles in appreciation. The gift is the cause; the smile is the effect. A child starts to cry because a bully on the playground calls him a nasty name. The name calling is the cause; the tears are the effect. The concept of “cause and effect” is a basic law of nature in this world. It’s important to understand what each one is in any given situation and it’s just as important not to mix them up.
This is true for the stories of Scripture as well. It’s essential to understand both the cause and the effect of the things that happen so that there is no confusion about what the story means. Because if the cause and effect are not properly identified, the truth will be skewed and false conclusions will be made.
Our third Scripture reading earlier this morning in Luke 7 is a story in which the cause and the effect is misunderstood by many different people. And it’s a pity because it’s such a beautiful story! It’s filled with gospel and forgiveness and faith! But when the cause and the effect of this story are switched around, either through ignorance or blatant denial, the comfort and the peace of this account are completely ripped away and all that is left is a guilt trip and an impossible task that no one can live up to. I ask you to listen or to again read carefully what happens in this story because at the end of it I’m going to ask you about Jesus’ forgiveness and the woman’s love: what one of these options is the cause and what one is the effect. “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Simon, I have something to tell you.’ ‘Tell me, teacher,’ he said. ‘Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.’ ‘You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.’”
Now which one of these actions caused the other: Jesus’ forgiveness or the woman’s love? Jesus’ forgiveness was undoubtedly the cause of the woman’s love. And there can be no dispute about that, first of all because of the parable Jesus’ used to explain his point and secondly, on account of the very last sentence Jesus speaks: “He who has been forgiven little loves little.” The forgiveness comes first: the love is a Christian’s response. But you can see how detrimental it is when that cause and its effect are switched around! There are plenty of church bodies in this world that will take this story and say, “Look! Jesus forgave this woman based on the fact that she loved him so much! He couldn’t possibly withhold his love from her after the perfume and the hair and the tears. Her love prompted Jesus to forgive.”
How sad. How anti-Christian. How blasphemous it is to say that our love could possibly prompt Jesus to action. How damaging it is to God’s plan of salvation to claim that the amount of love we show to him determines the amount of forgiveness we get back. That is sickening. And that’s not only contrary to the clear words of this story but it is also contrary to the clear words of the rest of Scripture. As John says in his first letter, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
But I’m not too concerned about you making that mistake with this story. You know what the Bible says. You understand the relationship between Christ’s love and your love. You believe that you can do nothing to earn or to gain or to prompt God’s forgiveness for you. A misunderstanding of that key concept of Scripture doesn’t worry me about the people in this room. But this does worry me: many of us can better relate to the Pharisee in this story than to the sinful woman. We can see ourselves acting more like Simon the Pharisee than acting like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. Because what he did seems normal and what she did was so outrageous! It was so over-the-top! As Jesus was sitting down to a nice dinner with prominent people, this detested and ostracized member of society invites herself in, falls to the ground, cries unashamedly and uncontrollably at Jesus’ feet in front of the entire room, pitifully wipes his feet with her hair, kisses them with her mouth, and pours an excessive amount of perfume on them without him asking. What an uncomfortable public display of one’s emotions! What a bold thing to do in front of those who did not like her to start with and for a man whom she knew was God himself! I don’t think I’d ever do such a thing. Even if I lived during that time, even if I had the opportunity, even if I had the same reasons to do it as this sinful woman did, I don’t think I would have. I probably would have acted more like the Pharisee: do something nice for Jesus but not overdo it. Show my appreciation for him in a small way but certainly not show my love and overwhelming gratitude to him in front of other people in such an unconventional way. It’d be too much. It’d be too revealing of who I am and what I have done.
And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to show your appreciation to the Lord in small ways, in quiet ways, in private ways. That’s not it at all. I’m not really talking about the different ways we give thanks; I’m simply referring to the attitudes of our hearts. Why did the woman do what she did? Why did sinful human being make such a public scene of her love for the Lord? So that everyone would see what a dedicated Christian she was? Because she loved the spotlight and wanted attention? Because she liked making people feel uncomfortable and wanted to see the Pharisees squirm? No! She did what she did because she had been forgiven! Her unpayable debt had been paid. Her entire sinful life was wiped clean. Because of what Jesus was about to do on the cross her bill of 500 denarii had been paid in full! And she couldn’t keep it in! She had to let it out! She was compelled to rush to Jesus’ feet and express her thanks to him in the only way she knew how: through tears and humility and an outpouring of love that was unconcerned about what anyone else would think. She loved much because she knew and believed and relied on the fact that she had been forgiven much. There was no doubt in her mind that a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders and so how could she not praise the Lord with ever fiber of her being?
The Pharisee, of course, had a large debt canceled by Christ as well. But judging from the words Jesus spoke to him it doesn’t seem like the Pharisee knew it. He probably thought that he wasn’t quite as sinful as this “sinful” woman, that his faults weren’t so bad, that his debt wasn’t so big. Yeah, he had a few mistakes to be cleaned up, but they weren’t anything major. He had a few problems with keeping the law but they were miniscule. And whether we think of ourselves like that or not, our actions make it seem like we do many times anyway. Instead of pouring out thanks to our God every chance we get, we pray to him only on occasion and only when we have time and only for a about 20 seconds. We have other things to do, after all! Instead of expressing our appreciation to him at a worship service we half-heartedly participate, we go through the motions, we daze in and out of the sermon, we find no joy in the hymns or the liturgies or the prayers. Instead of making a conscious effort to demonstrate our love for our Savior by helping those around us we avoid the situations in which we know we’ll have to exert some effort for someone else, we do as little as possible so that we can have more time for ourselves, we look down on those we don’t agree with instead of looking out for their best interests. Does this sound more like the actions of the sinful woman at Jesus’ feet or Simon the Pharisee at the head of the table? Our actions are the effects of the cause. And although the cause is always there, sometimes the effects are absent.
But I’m not going to tell you exactly what you should do and what you should not do when it comes to your love for the Lord - because Scripture doesn’t get into minute detail. The Bible gives us general principles that we are to apply to the specific situations in our own lives. But I will tell you about the cause of these effects. I will speak to you about the motivation behind your actions. Because the cause is what prompted the sinful woman to fall at Jesus’ feet that day. The Lord didn’t tell her to bring a jar of perfume or wash his feet with tears or wipe them with her hair. The Lord simply forgave her and everything else she did spontaneously flowed from a thankful heart.
And so let me remind you about what your thankful heart already knows: The Lord has forgiven you. And don’t think of that well-known fact as mundane or boring or simple! This is the most important news anyone could ever tell you! The Lord has forgiven you! Do you realize what that means! It means that the Lord has canceled your entire debt! Every stupid thing you’ve said, every revolting thing you’ve done, every disgusting thing you’ve thought, every mistake, every rebellion, every act of selfishness is no longer counted against you. And Jesus canceled this massive debt not just by tearing up the note. You can tear up a bill by the credit card company all you want, but the debt still remains. Nor did Jesus merely take a magical spiritual eraser and rub out the blots and blemishes on your record and call it even. No, the only way to make it “even” was to take the punishment that your sins deserved. He had to payback the “Moneylender” of the parable. He had to come up with the amount you owed. And so he paid your debt with his life. Nothing else would suffice. The Father would accept nothing less. And so Christ gave up his breath on the cross and canceled the debt that had once been yours. You are no longer on the hook for what you’ve done. You are no longer held accountable for all those sins you’ve committed. Jesus was held accountable. Jesus was on the hook. Your debt is gone. And Jesus did it without you asking him to, without demanding reimbursement, without your knowledge. He did it because he loves you.
How will his love affect your love for him? How can you thank him? How can you praise him? How can you show your love for him in this life? What can you do? That should be the question that always runs through your mind when you get up every morning: What can I do? What can I do for the Lord because of what he has done for me? Is there one more thing I can give? Is there one more person I can help? Is there one more way I can show my God that his sacrifice for me was not in vain, but his sacrifice is appreciated and cherished and it is the motivation for everything I do in this life? What can I do, not to earn forgiveness, but because forgiveness is already mine?
“He who has been forgiven little loves little,” Jesus said. And so is there any reason for us to love little? Is there any reason for us to show our love to the Lord on occasion? Is there any reason for us to demonstrate our love for our God only when we feel like it? Our entire eternal debt has been canceled and in its place we have been given a heavenly eternal inheritance. We have not been forgiven just a little. On the contrary, we have been forgiven more than we will ever know. And so wash your Savior’s feet with your tears. Wipe your Savior’s feet with your hair. Pour the perfume of your praises on your Savior every day you live on this earth. He has done something for you that no one else could. He has done something for you that no one else would. I know, I know you appreciate what he’s done. Don’t be afraid to show your love for the one that has loved you so much.
Amen.
“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen & amen. - Ps. 106:48
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
6/13/10 - Pentecost 3 - 1 Kings 17:17-24
JUST ANOTHER WAY TO DISPLAY HIS LOVE
Death marks the end of a lot of things. Death is the end of a heart beating, lungs breathing, a body moving. Death is the end of consciousness, the end of a unique personality, the end of responsibilities and possibilities and plans for the future. Death, of course, is the end of life. Death puts a stop to of a lot of good things - which makes sense since death is the result of sin. It is a direct effect of the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and it is also inevitably follows the sins we ourselves commit today. Death finalizes a sinful life. It’s proof of imperfection. Death is an unpleasant reminder about who we are and what kind of world we live in.
But from the very beginning death has also been just another way for the Lord to display his love. It’s amazing, really, how the Lord has taken the state of death and has used it in countless circumstances to display his love to his children. Think of that incident in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve sinned and so they were punished with the future consequence of death. But God also used that moment as a way to display his love. He promised them a Savior from their offspring who would rescue them from their sins and crush the serpent’s head. Or consider the first actual death in this sinful world: the sad story of Cain killing his brother Abel. It was a horrible act of hated without a doubt, but it was also an opportunity for the Lord to once again show his love: he talked to Cain, he implored Cain, he warned Cain… the Lord took this murder and turned it into a chance for Cain to repent of his sins and trust in his God once again. The Flood was a world-wide destruction that brought death to millions if not billions of people. But it was also yet another way for the Lord to display his love: this time to Noah and his family. The Red Sea caused thousands of deaths when it crashed back over the Egyptian army, but it was the way in which the Lord saved the Israelites from their enemy. The snakes sent by God himself in the desert brought death to the Israelites they bit, but it was also a way in which the Lord brought them back to repentance through a bronze snake on a pole - which ultimately pointed to Christ on the cross. The stoning of Stephen was a wrongful and horribly anti-Christian death, but even then, the Lord used Stephen’s martyrdom to force the Word of God to be spread throughout the world as Christians were scattered by the subsequent persecution. Death is not nice, death is not something we look forward to, but the Lord will always use it to demonstrate his love.
In 1 Kings 17 we have a singular instance of an unfortunate death that was also just another way for the Lord to display his love. The death itself was heartbreaking at the time - like most deaths are. And this death produced a little bit of anger and confusion - like many deaths still do today. But the Lord did not consider this death as a tragic ending; he saw this death as a way to highlight his grace for those he loved. “Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, ‘What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son,’ Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?’ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!’ The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.’”
It should not be a surprise when even Christians struggle with death. Since we know our Savior and believe in his kindness and compassion, it sometimes puzzles us why the Lord would ever make us unhappy by taking away someone we love. If he is our Father and we are his children, if he is a loving God and wants the best for us in every way, why would he ever let us become miserable in this life? Why would he ever make me cry? Why would he ever make me hurt? Why would he ever take such a treasured blessing away so that my life is harder now than it was before? Death, and especially an untimely death, confuses us. It doesn’t seem to fit God’s pattern of love. It doesn’t look like it will be able to contribute to God’s gracious will in any way.
And aren’t these the kinds of thoughts that the widow in Zarepheth was struggling with? When her son died she immediately went to Elijah and almost scolded him! “Why did you let this happen to me? I thought you were supposed to be a man of God! What did I do wrong? Why am I being punished? Did you come here just to rub my past sins in my face by killing my son? Why did God have to take away the only thing that was important to me, the only thing I had left?” This widow was clearly a little upset. And she couldn’t understand why this was happening to her - especially after all of the God-pleasing things she had done!
Do you remember why Elijah was staying at her house in the first place? There had been a great famine in the land of Israel and so God sent Elijah to this widow’s house until the three year drought was over. And this widow had trusted in the Lord enough to bake Elijah a loaf of bread with the only oil and flour she had left instead of making her last meager meal for herself and her son. But, of course, the Lord had kept his promise to her and provided oil and flour for her family in a miraculous way as long as the famine lasted. And on top of that, the widow had put her own life and the life of our son in danger by housing an “enemy of the state” so to speak - a prophet whom the king and queen of Israel were hunting down. This widow had certainly acted commendably! No one would have questioned her dedication and love for the Lord. She was, arguably, a more upright Christian than any other in the entire land of Israel.
But now God had taken away her son anyway! And it didn’t seem fair; it didn’t seem right! Why would the Lord do such a thing to a woman who had proved herself to be loyal to his Name? And so the widow assumed that her son’s death must have been payment for some past sins she was guilty of. “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” As far as the widow could see, her son’s death was either a harsh punishment for things she had done or an unjust act of an inconsiderate God. What other explanation could there be?
But the widow was wrong. All wrong. Her words, her thoughts, her accusations, her assumptions weren’t even close to explaining the Lord’s motives in this matter. And how foolish she must have felt, how guilty she must have looked when the Lord did the miraculous and actually raised her son from the dead through his servant Elijah! What a turn of events! What an incredible act of God’s love! What a lesson to be learned. She had no right to have said what she said, blaming Elijah and even the Lord himself for her misery. She had no right to demand an explanation - especially when the Lord clearly had her best interests in mind all along.
We have no right to ever be disgruntled with the Lord either. We never have any reason to complain, to question, to assume, to criticize, or to object to the Lord’s decisions. Because first of all: we don’t deserve anything good in the first place. Let’s establish that fact right away. We don’t deserve to be blessed; we don’t deserve a chance; we don’t deserve anything more than punishment. And secondly, we have no right to find fault with God’s plans because he always has our best interests in mind anyway. Anything that happens to us is just another way to display his love. So how dare we question the ways in which the Lord shows us his grace! How dare we second guess his decisions! Even in death.
Even in death the Lord finds ways to display his love. For the widow in the town of Zarepheth he showed his love raising her son from the dead and proving to her that he was the true God and Elijah was his prophet. For the widow in the town of Nain during Jesus’ lifetime, it was the same thing on a larger scale: Jesus raised the boy from the dead to show the widow his love but also to show the townspeople his power. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died it was to show his genuine sorrow over a dead friend, to remind Martha and Mary about eternal life, and to demonstrate to everyone there that Jesus himself holds the power over death and makes possible the resurrection. And, of course, we haven’t even mentioned the most amazing death of all: the death of Christ. Jesus’ death was the ultimate display of God’s love. Your forgiveness would not have been completed without that death. Your salvation would not have been won without that death. Your life in heaven would not be secured without that death. Jesus’ disciples and his other faithful followers and Jesus’ own mother certainly were devastated when the Lord died. But he had planned the entire time to use this death to display his love in the most miraculous way possible. You are free from guilt; you are released from punishment; you get to go to heaven. And that was all made possible through the death of the Son of God.
I know that many of you in this room have had to deal with death on a very personal level because someone you loved was taken away from this life. How did the Lord use that death that caused you so much pain and misery and heartbreak? I don’t know. I don’t know. And I’m not going to attempt to guess because it would be just that: a guess. But I do know this: If the death of God himself can be used for the good of his people, then the death of a sinful human being on this earth can certainly be used for the good of his people as well. And it is. Count on it. Every death is used by God to show us love. Because Jesus does not let death win.
He might not raise someone from the dead anymore, he might not visibly demonstrate his power to everyone around by giving life back to someone whom you care for, but there are many other ways the Lord displays his love during those difficult times. Sometimes we are able to see how he uses the ending of a life to our benefit and sometimes we can’t. But we can always be assured that death is just another way he will display his love for us. And when you die, he will use your death in the exact same way. Your death will be for your good! It will not be unfortunate, it will not be untimely. Your death will not be tragic no matter how or when or where you pass away. Because your death will take you home. In fact, your death, besides the time you were brought to faith in your Savior, will probably be the best thing that ever happens to you! What could be better? What could be better than seeing your Savior for the first time or living in a perfect kingdom with tens of thousands of other believers or being free from every pain and sadness and sin for the rest of eternity? Christ has actually made death a good thing for you! He has turned death into a blessing for all believers because in no other way will the Lord show us the full extent of his love.
Amen.
“You turned our wailing into dancing; you removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that our hearts may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord our God, we will give you thanks forever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
Death marks the end of a lot of things. Death is the end of a heart beating, lungs breathing, a body moving. Death is the end of consciousness, the end of a unique personality, the end of responsibilities and possibilities and plans for the future. Death, of course, is the end of life. Death puts a stop to of a lot of good things - which makes sense since death is the result of sin. It is a direct effect of the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and it is also inevitably follows the sins we ourselves commit today. Death finalizes a sinful life. It’s proof of imperfection. Death is an unpleasant reminder about who we are and what kind of world we live in.
But from the very beginning death has also been just another way for the Lord to display his love. It’s amazing, really, how the Lord has taken the state of death and has used it in countless circumstances to display his love to his children. Think of that incident in the Garden of Eden: Adam and Eve sinned and so they were punished with the future consequence of death. But God also used that moment as a way to display his love. He promised them a Savior from their offspring who would rescue them from their sins and crush the serpent’s head. Or consider the first actual death in this sinful world: the sad story of Cain killing his brother Abel. It was a horrible act of hated without a doubt, but it was also an opportunity for the Lord to once again show his love: he talked to Cain, he implored Cain, he warned Cain… the Lord took this murder and turned it into a chance for Cain to repent of his sins and trust in his God once again. The Flood was a world-wide destruction that brought death to millions if not billions of people. But it was also yet another way for the Lord to display his love: this time to Noah and his family. The Red Sea caused thousands of deaths when it crashed back over the Egyptian army, but it was the way in which the Lord saved the Israelites from their enemy. The snakes sent by God himself in the desert brought death to the Israelites they bit, but it was also a way in which the Lord brought them back to repentance through a bronze snake on a pole - which ultimately pointed to Christ on the cross. The stoning of Stephen was a wrongful and horribly anti-Christian death, but even then, the Lord used Stephen’s martyrdom to force the Word of God to be spread throughout the world as Christians were scattered by the subsequent persecution. Death is not nice, death is not something we look forward to, but the Lord will always use it to demonstrate his love.
In 1 Kings 17 we have a singular instance of an unfortunate death that was also just another way for the Lord to display his love. The death itself was heartbreaking at the time - like most deaths are. And this death produced a little bit of anger and confusion - like many deaths still do today. But the Lord did not consider this death as a tragic ending; he saw this death as a way to highlight his grace for those he loved. “Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, ‘What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’ ‘Give me your son,’ Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?’ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, ‘O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!’ The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, ‘Look, your son is alive!’ Then the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.’”
It should not be a surprise when even Christians struggle with death. Since we know our Savior and believe in his kindness and compassion, it sometimes puzzles us why the Lord would ever make us unhappy by taking away someone we love. If he is our Father and we are his children, if he is a loving God and wants the best for us in every way, why would he ever let us become miserable in this life? Why would he ever make me cry? Why would he ever make me hurt? Why would he ever take such a treasured blessing away so that my life is harder now than it was before? Death, and especially an untimely death, confuses us. It doesn’t seem to fit God’s pattern of love. It doesn’t look like it will be able to contribute to God’s gracious will in any way.
And aren’t these the kinds of thoughts that the widow in Zarepheth was struggling with? When her son died she immediately went to Elijah and almost scolded him! “Why did you let this happen to me? I thought you were supposed to be a man of God! What did I do wrong? Why am I being punished? Did you come here just to rub my past sins in my face by killing my son? Why did God have to take away the only thing that was important to me, the only thing I had left?” This widow was clearly a little upset. And she couldn’t understand why this was happening to her - especially after all of the God-pleasing things she had done!
Do you remember why Elijah was staying at her house in the first place? There had been a great famine in the land of Israel and so God sent Elijah to this widow’s house until the three year drought was over. And this widow had trusted in the Lord enough to bake Elijah a loaf of bread with the only oil and flour she had left instead of making her last meager meal for herself and her son. But, of course, the Lord had kept his promise to her and provided oil and flour for her family in a miraculous way as long as the famine lasted. And on top of that, the widow had put her own life and the life of our son in danger by housing an “enemy of the state” so to speak - a prophet whom the king and queen of Israel were hunting down. This widow had certainly acted commendably! No one would have questioned her dedication and love for the Lord. She was, arguably, a more upright Christian than any other in the entire land of Israel.
But now God had taken away her son anyway! And it didn’t seem fair; it didn’t seem right! Why would the Lord do such a thing to a woman who had proved herself to be loyal to his Name? And so the widow assumed that her son’s death must have been payment for some past sins she was guilty of. “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” As far as the widow could see, her son’s death was either a harsh punishment for things she had done or an unjust act of an inconsiderate God. What other explanation could there be?
But the widow was wrong. All wrong. Her words, her thoughts, her accusations, her assumptions weren’t even close to explaining the Lord’s motives in this matter. And how foolish she must have felt, how guilty she must have looked when the Lord did the miraculous and actually raised her son from the dead through his servant Elijah! What a turn of events! What an incredible act of God’s love! What a lesson to be learned. She had no right to have said what she said, blaming Elijah and even the Lord himself for her misery. She had no right to demand an explanation - especially when the Lord clearly had her best interests in mind all along.
We have no right to ever be disgruntled with the Lord either. We never have any reason to complain, to question, to assume, to criticize, or to object to the Lord’s decisions. Because first of all: we don’t deserve anything good in the first place. Let’s establish that fact right away. We don’t deserve to be blessed; we don’t deserve a chance; we don’t deserve anything more than punishment. And secondly, we have no right to find fault with God’s plans because he always has our best interests in mind anyway. Anything that happens to us is just another way to display his love. So how dare we question the ways in which the Lord shows us his grace! How dare we second guess his decisions! Even in death.
Even in death the Lord finds ways to display his love. For the widow in the town of Zarepheth he showed his love raising her son from the dead and proving to her that he was the true God and Elijah was his prophet. For the widow in the town of Nain during Jesus’ lifetime, it was the same thing on a larger scale: Jesus raised the boy from the dead to show the widow his love but also to show the townspeople his power. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died it was to show his genuine sorrow over a dead friend, to remind Martha and Mary about eternal life, and to demonstrate to everyone there that Jesus himself holds the power over death and makes possible the resurrection. And, of course, we haven’t even mentioned the most amazing death of all: the death of Christ. Jesus’ death was the ultimate display of God’s love. Your forgiveness would not have been completed without that death. Your salvation would not have been won without that death. Your life in heaven would not be secured without that death. Jesus’ disciples and his other faithful followers and Jesus’ own mother certainly were devastated when the Lord died. But he had planned the entire time to use this death to display his love in the most miraculous way possible. You are free from guilt; you are released from punishment; you get to go to heaven. And that was all made possible through the death of the Son of God.
I know that many of you in this room have had to deal with death on a very personal level because someone you loved was taken away from this life. How did the Lord use that death that caused you so much pain and misery and heartbreak? I don’t know. I don’t know. And I’m not going to attempt to guess because it would be just that: a guess. But I do know this: If the death of God himself can be used for the good of his people, then the death of a sinful human being on this earth can certainly be used for the good of his people as well. And it is. Count on it. Every death is used by God to show us love. Because Jesus does not let death win.
He might not raise someone from the dead anymore, he might not visibly demonstrate his power to everyone around by giving life back to someone whom you care for, but there are many other ways the Lord displays his love during those difficult times. Sometimes we are able to see how he uses the ending of a life to our benefit and sometimes we can’t. But we can always be assured that death is just another way he will display his love for us. And when you die, he will use your death in the exact same way. Your death will be for your good! It will not be unfortunate, it will not be untimely. Your death will not be tragic no matter how or when or where you pass away. Because your death will take you home. In fact, your death, besides the time you were brought to faith in your Savior, will probably be the best thing that ever happens to you! What could be better? What could be better than seeing your Savior for the first time or living in a perfect kingdom with tens of thousands of other believers or being free from every pain and sadness and sin for the rest of eternity? Christ has actually made death a good thing for you! He has turned death into a blessing for all believers because in no other way will the Lord show us the full extent of his love.
Amen.
“You turned our wailing into dancing; you removed our sackcloth and clothed us with joy, that our hearts may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord our God, we will give you thanks forever.” - Psalm 30:11-12
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