God's Shocking Love

"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:5-9)

Our memory of this passage about the impending deluge as a fire-and-brimstone story of God getting fed up and unleashing almost eschatological judgment may keep us from hearing it for what it really is: a shocking love story!

First we have the shock of the omnipotent, omniscient creator regretting the creating He has done. (v. 6) As if the Great Infallible One has, in His own estimation, made a mistake! And needs to get out a very big eraser. But how can God Whose actions are always perfect and Who always get what He wants be "sorry that He made man" and "grieved in his heart"?

Of course the answer is that one can't truly be grieved without love! And His love is as perfect as His sovereignty through which it is expressed. We can't help but feel the tragedy and heartache of an invincible, almighty God Who has been wounded: how His heart must have been broken in uttering the words "I will blot out man [His darling object and the pinnacle of His creation] whom I have created"!

"Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time" (v. 9). Of course, this doesn't mean that Noah was without continual sin; shortly after the flood, he becomes a naked drunkard. Surely his being called righteous is a consequence of the antecedent, "Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." (v. 8) For if we think about it, even between men, finding favor with someone says nothing about the recipient and everything about the giver. And so with the clause that comes after which explains his (only) righteousness: "Noah walked with God." (v. 9b) This latter phrase is especially meaningful in the Hungarian language, in which a boy and girl "walking together" is a synonym for courting and romantic love.

[PV, (c)2008]

Total Obedience

"But when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him [John] on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and on account of all the wicked things which Herod had done, he added this also to them all, that he locked John up in prison."/"And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?' And when the men had come to Him, they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?"' At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.'"/ "Herod said, 'I had John’s head cut off;'" (Luke 3:19-20; 7:19-23; 9:9)

Maybe as modern day Christians, we are too expectant of a happy ending, a Hollywood finish to every story. And as heirs of the New Testament church, maybe we subtly think that everything will come out all right. That we are with Jesus and He will win in the end.

There is truth in this. Yet maybe in emphasizing all that He has done, all that He will do, we ignore what He may ask from us. After all, Jesus was right there when John was in jail, yet Herod still cut off John's head. John sends word to his cousin from his cell asking, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?" And Jesus replies by quoting from Isaiah 35 and 61, "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them." But the quote from Isaiah 61 is truncated. It goes on to say, "He has sent me ... to announce release to captives and freedom to those in prison."

Surely this was partly what John had in mind when he sent to Jesus asking, "Are you the one? Are you the one who will release prisoners? Because I happen to be a prisoner right now on account of you." And Jesus sends back word (he doesn’t even go to see him), "Yes, that’s me. That’s who I am." And Herod cuts off John the Baptist’s head.

My mother found this very difficult, that God would ask so much from His people. Wasn’t it enough that her husband has been taken away by the communist authorities and she didn’t even know if he was alive or dead? Wasn’t it enough that then she and all her children were imprisoned? What more could God ask? Would God really take one of her children in death as well?

She writes, "How difficult it is for me to give total obedience, when Jesus' total obedience led Him to a death on the Cross, yet He gave it."

God doesn’t promise us a Hollywood happy ending. But He promises Himself.

[AV, (c)2006]

Unbearably Great

"...how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (Heb. 2:3)

Great is this salvation. It is not the saved who are great. It is not we but salvation which is great. Christ is great. Nowadays, the affliction of the churches and congregations is that we lay emphasis on ourselves, the saved, and not on God. This is not how it should be. If we realize how great salvation is, we will realize also how small we are. But if the saved consider themselves great, then salvation becomes small.

Great is this salvation. Peter says that the angels long to examine this mystery. A poor woman once sent the following message to us: "Come now and bring the Word with you! I can't see well, I can't read, I'm disabled -- why aren't you coming? My mouth waters for the Word." Salvation was considered so great among the first Christians that even the mouths of the angels watered for it!

Great is this salvation. It is unbearably great. But as long as we are able to bear it, this salvation is not so great. And it is not interesting at all. But it will become grievous for the world when we can bear it no longer. Woe unto us! For we are bearing salvation, rather than salvation bearing us. Paul had much to bear: his brethren slandered and denied and forsook him. But salvation was so great to him that he didn't break down. However, he said: "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." Why do I consider my salvation so cheaply when Jesus had to die and bear damnation for it?

Great is this salvation. Francis Assisi, our beloved brother, left his splendid palace and great inheritance to become a monk. His mother, a believing woman, said to him, "Son, don't do this. Do not leave everything." But Francis said, "Mother, I would like to stay but the ocean is calling me." The ocean of love is calling us. Awakening happens when people cannot withstand the calling of the ocean and cannot bear so great a salvation.

It is not the burden of the world that God's people cannot bear. It is the mercy of God. We do not break because we are slandered and vilified and cast out for the sake of His name. Our hearts shouldn't break because of these things. If they do, our salvation is worth little. Our hearts should break because our salvation is so great that we can't bear it and must share it with others.

[FV, HFTR, (c)2003]

Yes and No

from a sermon on Matthew 21:23-32

The elders, the leaders were challenging the mission of Jesus, His power, His authority. So they asked Him, who gave you this power, where does this force come from? And it quickly comes to the point of this heavy statement of Jesus: "I'm not going to tell you."

So the argument between Jesus and the church elders gets to this turning point, and comes to this parable. It's short but very thoughtful. The father has two sons and he goes to one of them and asks him to go and work in the vineyard, and the answer of the son is no, he just says "no". But later he changes his mind and goes anyway. And then he goes to the second son and asks the same thing, and the second son's answer is "yes, Lord, I will go and work", but he never goes. And Jesus explains the parable with a statement that is not very polite to say to a priest or an elder: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."

Then Jesus reminds them and us of a sermon that was preached by John the Baptist. It was about the kingdom of God being among us, but it too became tough; because among the sinners there were people who were absolutely certain that they were sons of Abraham. So they were listening to the word of God as sons of Abraham. Sons whose answer to the word was "yes, Lord", and they were very pleased by their yes, even proud of their yes. Of all the nations they were the first one whose answer to God was yes, and they received the Law. And we should not think that this is enough, because the yes that has been said and the yes that has been lived are very different. There is a very big gap between these two.

In similar argument on another occasion, Jesus Christ was saying to other people who were saying "our father is Abraham", "If you are the sons of Abraham you would do the things of Abraham." So if you said "yes" to the calling of God, then this has to show in your actions. A son of Abraham: of course all of us would like to be that, to be part of a tradition like that of this title. But this is not a simple thing. Do we want to go on the path of Abraham, a lot of obedience, and where did it bring him? To the altar, to Mount Moria. And this way cannot lead anywhere else. As sons of Abraham, this is the only way.

This is the way of sacrifice, obedience 'til the end. He who is a son of Abraham cannot avoid the altar -- you have to put yourself on the altar, because Abraham in his son put himself on the altar and could not avoid this. It's good to be a son of God as long as we can take the blessings coming from being chosen. It's good to be children of God as long as this will distinguish us from others in a flattering way, and it's not a problem to be a Christian. But when this also means I have to repent in spite of my "yes", that my theory has to sacrificed on the altar; we don't like this, it is very far away from us.

It's good to listen in peace and quiet to the sermon, but this question of God is very disturbing. What do you think about all this? What is your opinion about the fact that those who are not at this church service this morning, and don't want to come, may be ahead of us? They can overtake us. So what do you think about this? Those who said "no" to the calling of God can overtake those who said "yes". Those who had no chance to say "yes", no chance against those who said "yes", who don't have any titles, who don't possess the tradition.

God created us in such a way that we can say "no". It seems like we can say "yes" as well. But regardless of which you say, you cannot avoid one thing: the son who first said "no" changed his mind. What does this mean? This means that this person started to think differently. The parable doesn't say anything about how his mind changed, but it's a fact that he changed his mind.

Matthew who wrote down this story, what was in his mind when he said that the tax-collectors are ahead of us? What was in his heart? When he wrote "the tax-collectors", he wrote his name down here. This man's original answer was "no". This is how we all are born, with a "no" -- or if we say "yes", this also turns into a "no". This is how we are born, this is who we are. So this is very shocking, very disturbing. The life of Matthew was a very deliberate "no"; he stole, deceived, was corrupt, didn't care about the Sabbath day.

So what is present in our thoughts and actions? I started this sermon saying that it is very important to know from where the power of Jesus Christ is. And where do you see this power? When somebody starts to think differently. And this is the power of God. And this is this power that makes you re-think and re-examine all of your attitudes towards everything. And this could be the "yes" or the "no": you can say a very pious "yes" and that still hides the "no". Matthew changed his mind.

So Jesus came to turn rocks into sons of Abraham. Someone who had to rethink his life which began with the answer "yes" is the Apostle Paul -- he was circumcised, coming from a people with no shortcomings according to the Law. They were eager. This is all "yes", "yes, Lord, yes". But all these things that meant gain for me, I have to declare rubbish. They're garbage, so this man had to rethink his "yes". And this is what Jesus talks about, "yes, yes, Lord, Lord" and doing nothing, not going on this road, but forever saying "yes, yes". You can spend your entire Christian life like this: "yes, yes, Lord". And you have nothing to do with His kingdom.

We urgently need to think differently, especially when we say "yes". We should re-think our "yes", re-examine it. We need to be filled with the one real "yes" who is Jesus Christ. This is the one who was faithful until the end. So our answer "no", "yes", whatever, is penetrated with this force, this power, and we can think differently and turn to Him.

[PV]

No. Amen.

[AV, closing words of the stage play Long Friday]

Prison Sabbath

Things seem to be getting worse and worse. It is a Sabbath day. This time I am not only in a strait-jacket and gagged but I have heavy chains at my feet which prevent me from walking. A Sabbath day. The fullest Sabbath I have ever enjoyed in my life. I cannot disturb my rest even by a movement of my hands, feet or lips.

At first I felt an impulse to ask God, as St. Theresa asked him: "Why do you treat us so? I don't wonder that you have not many friends." I wanted to tell God: "You may do everything in your power to destroy my trust and my love towards you, but you will not succeed." But then I decided to give him a rest. Let him also enjoy a full Sabbath, undisturbed by any reproaches of mine.

I will once again speak only to you, my soul, my only treasure. I hope this is not blasphemy, because I believe you to be one with Christ -- with Christ who has humbled himself again, to be sin and man full of frailties within me. You are he, and therefore you are the jewel. In any case, I have no bishop, no theologians, no church elders to censor what I think. So I call you just what I like, my only treasure.

Enter into Sabbath, my soul. Overcome your anxieties and doubts. Your sins are forgiven. Not only the past sins but the future ones, too. If you don't believe me, believe Spurgeon. He also put it exactly like this. Although I wonder why you should believe Spurgeon more than me. Enter into Sabbath, my soul. You are saved from the fear of judgment. You don't even have to judge yourself.

I do not ask you, my soul, to judge and condemn yourself but rather to strive to love and worship with all your heart, with all your soul. But, having in my heart both good and bad inclinations, how can I love God with all my heart? The answer of the Kabbala, the ancient mystic teaching of the Jewish people, is: "Serve God also with your bad impulses, then you will serve him whole-heartedly." If you understand, you understand. If you don't, no explanation will help....

I don't judge you, nor condemn you, my soul, but I lay before you this noble task: be wholeheartedly Christian. How? I really don't know. You can easily recognise false teachers by the fact that they know the answers to all the questions.

But perhaps my actual state could be an indication for you: enter into full Sabbath. Don't move at all, as I do not move. Lao Tse recommended inaction as the highest type of action.

Simply trust, knowing that Jesus holds in his hands the bridle of the ass.... Just leave the bridle in the hands of Jesus. He has made saints out of murderers and thieves. He can make you a saint, also, provided you leave him alone. It is the Sabbath.... be like I am, gagged, only speaking out when it is for the honour of the Lord and for the good of His work.

It is the fullest Sabbath imaginable. Don't even be afraid of error. You are a pawn in the hands of a master chess-player. He will not lose the game.

Leave your remorse, the terrible "ifs": "If only I had acted otherwise." You could not have done otherwise. There is no free will. You are what heredity, education, social environment and the influences of good and bad angels have made you. In the last analysis, this means that at every stage of your development you are exactly what God meant you to be at that moment.

Leave your doubts. Life is incalculable. We don't know even one atom of the five octillions of atoms which make up our body. We don't know our genes. We don't know the complexities of our souls, nor what happens in our subconscious. You can remain in Sabbath only by trusting that your life has been calculated by the one who knows every drop of rain and every hair on my head. Every step of our pilgrim life is counted.

Trust in Him, even if He slays me. This is the only advice I can give you. Amen.

[RW, SISC, (c)1969]