PONDERING WITH THE PADRE: This is a place where I, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, can sow seeds to help each and everyone of us grow as true Christians. I believe God is Lord of all of His creation. All we can do is seek His will for our lives. We cannot please God by our own good works. The fruits of our faith are fruits of repentance, of a new heart!
In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:3-7)
What is our attitude in worship? Is it something we 'must' do as in an obligation? Do we worship out of convenience when it suits our plans? Or do we worship God because we are in love with Him alone and cannot do anything but worship Him who gives us life?
The story of Cain and Abel is about two men from the same family. One labored the ground bearing fruit and the other tended sheep. The text only tells us that God had regard for Abel’s offering and not for Cain’s. It really does not say why. Mosaic law did require grain offerings so we cannot say God does not desire the fruit of the land. (Lev. 2) The clue maybe in the description of the offerings themselves. Abel brought forth the ‘firstborn’ and fat portions whereas Cain brought ‘an offering’ perhaps as an afterthought. And Cain did not take his rejection likely. Jealously ensued, murder and lying followed. In other words, we saw the true heart of Cain. (1 John 3:10) It is our true heart that God sees. (1 Sam. 16:7) Even a warning from God could not keep Cain from killing. So, when we gather for worship, let us ask ourselves, where is my heart in relation to my Maker? Is it centered on me and what I‘m doing, or is it totally centered on God alone and what He has done for me through His Blood upon the Cross?
The heart is the part of man which God chiefly notices in religion. The bowed head, and the bended knee–the grave face and the rigid posture–the ritual response, and the formal amen–all these together do not make up a spiritual worshiper. The eyes of God look further and deeper. He requires the worship of the heart. “My son,” he says to every one of us, “Give me your heart.” ~ J.C. Ryle
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. 15 Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.16 To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work?17 We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17, New Century Version)
Jesus died for us. As St. Paul says, "None is righteous, no, not one...no one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10b, 12b) And so to that penalty, to appease God's wrath, He gave Himself up for us. There's the rub! There is a condition to God's love. In order for God to be just, all the debts of our crimes must be paid. It is true that we did not ask Jesus to die for us. If we had then we would boast in taking the initiative. No we aren't even that good. Only God, perfect in knowledge knows how to pay our debt. He even knows how and when! So what then are we to make of this love that require a man, born of a woman, to die for us?
As I said earlier, if you get the cross, you get Christianity. If you get the cross, your soul will be convicted and by this supernatural grace, (free, unmerited favor) you cannot help but to live a life for Him who died for us. So ask yourself, Are you a Christian because you say so, or because God says so?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed it this way, Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
In the end, we are like one of the two criminals on the cross. One desired Jesus to pull Himself down along with him not acknowedging his guilt. The other knew well his guilt and accepted his penalty only to humbly ask Christ to remember him in paradise. Cheap grace puts us first telling God what to do. Costly grace puts God first as there is no other position to hold!
Forgiveness hurts! It really hurts. Even from the cross, Jesus says, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." He does not call them ignorant bastards. He does not blame anyone for his crap! Spit upon, flogged, punched and nailed naked to a cross, He, Son of God, says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
Forgiveness hurts. I know. I am trying to forgive people who have called me names, accused my of adultery, gossiped unapologetic. And I am having a hard time forgiving those who hear the gossip and do not rebuke the gossiper because they want to be liked!
Forgiveness hurts! It's a command from Jesus that we forgive 70 times 7 those who hurt us. It's not a feeling. It's a bloody command! Jesus proves it on the bloody cross. When we forgive, we let go of any obligation on the part of the one who has hurt us. No one owes us an explanation. No one owes us an apology. So, how do we forgive. The answer lies in the hurt Jesus took on upon Himself on that first Good Friday many years ago! Did I mention Jesus died in the cross...FOR ME! If I know His forgiveness for me, I can then forgive those who have hurt me. And that's the point. I am hurt. I do not try to make people remove the nails from me.
I have been struggling with forgiving those who have hurt me by their gossip while damaging my reputation. I pray to God to give me a forgiving heart. So how do I know I have forgiven someone? By the fruits of my heart. I hurt! I do not seek retribution. "I don't get mad I get even", is what the world says! Jesus commands us to forgive others as we have been forgiven. And there's the rub. Jesus hurts every time I break God's commands. By His death upon the cross, He took my debt away. Hence, no one owes me anything either! When we forgive someone we are loosening them from any obligation to us. They do not owe us an apology. They do not owe us an explanation. To forgive means to let go of the offender. So how do we know we have forgiven someone? We hurt! Jesus tells us a story of a slave in debt to his king for 10,000 talents. He begs for mercy and his debt is wiped clean. But he goes to a fellow slave who owes just a pittance. Rather than forgive that slave as he has been forgiven by the king, he demands that the debt be paid in full. Once the king hears of this, the first slave is jailed until his original debt is paid off. The moral of the story, "So my heavenly Father will do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from the heart." (Mt. 18:21-35) As Christians we are called to forgive others. It's a calling, not a feeling. So how do we know we haven forgiven someone? We hurt!
Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people. (John 18:14 NIV)
That it would be good if ONE MAN died for all the people. Jesus is one man, perfect, sinless. He died for all the people!
If I have said it once I have said it a thousand time! If you get the cross, you get Christianity. The cross is central to our concept of salvation! Yet, as a priest, I find more and more people who do not get the FULL meaning of the cross! Through these next few posts, I will be sharing some aspect of the cross. No one post will contain the full meaning as that in itself is a lifetime learning!
This week is regarded as the holiest week of the year. Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem denying Himself for the sake of our souls. And so let me offer a pastoral comment:
Do you get it?
The only way to Get the Resurrection is to travel with Jesus to the cross. We cannot ever know the meaning of the empty tomb without experiencing the bloody cross! The repentant thief on Golgotha got it!
The repentant thief did not justify himself when he was on the cross. The unrepentant thief tried to blame Jesus and his powerlessness to pull himself down from the cross in justifying his pain. After all, we cannot be the ones to take responsibility for our pain. I scream profanity when I stub my toe because someone put a rock in my way. I am justified in my cursing because someone put a stone in my way. The fact I was not looking and walking barefooted is not the cause of my pain! We can never justify ourselves. Blame does not take away my carelessness nor does it take away my pain.
When St. Paul uses the word justify in his letters, he is using it as a synonym of acquit as in the accused has been acquitted in a court of law! In other words, to be found 'not guilty'. We are not acquitted because of our innocence. We are acquitted because God took upon Himself our deserved punishment. The blame is still ours to bear. The repentant thief got it! And with the blame comes the pain. The repentant thief got it!
The English word justify means to make right or to make straight. When the printing press came into being, the printer would have to justify the margins of his text. This was done by taking each letter, placing it in a box in its appropriate spot and then taking the palm of his hand and slamming all the letters against one side of the box before the paper was placed on it. Hence, the terms left justified or right justified which should be familiar to us from using word processing programs. Sometimes when things do not go our way, it is because God is taking the palm of his hand and slamming us to make us into the people He wants us to be. He is justifying us, making us right. We cannot do it ourselves. He is giving meaning to our pain. He is the printer, we are the message! Only by knowing our guilt, our deserved punishment and who paid our debt to the Law, can we ever get it! If we tried to absolve ourselves by not accepting the pain, by blaming someone else, even God, we will not see how He is justifying us! This is what St. Paul is trying to tell us when he writes:
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26NLT)
If you can appreciate the work of Jesus on the Cross for you, then you will get it. But more importantly, your soul will reflect it though your thoughts and behavior. So this Holy Week truly test yourself through self-reflection. Do not tell Jesus what you want Him to do for you. This was what the unrepentant thief was asking. But ask Jesus to show you how He is dying for you!
So the next time someone throws up your past to you face, know that the blood of Christ covers your guilt and the accuser is in the wrong. This even works when we punish ourselves for past mistakes. But and this is a big but, let us be the message of God's love and not bring up the past mistakes of others. Let us be forgiving as we are forgiven and remember our sins no more! (Hebrews 10:26-39)
