Wednesday 6 April 2011

4th Sunday of Lent 3 April 2011 Sermon

4th Sunday of Lent 3.4.11 A new covenant

The epistle today points out that with the coming of Christ a new state of things has been established, a new covenant, a big improvement on the previous arrangement.

St Paul likens the difference to being a child as against a slave of the family.

We can now enjoy a greater familiarity with God. The Eucharist, foreshadowed by the miraculous loaves of the Gospel, is an experience of familiarity. The same God who can be so majestic and powerful will make Himself available to us in the form of food, so willing is He for us to receive His love.

He wants us to trust in Him; to approach Him with confidence; to tell Him everything that is in our hearts and minds. This is the advice from saints and spiritual writers.

Be familiar but not irreverent. We are dealing with someone infinitely greater in power and goodness.

Older generations had the fear of hell, being told how wicked they were. This approach has to be modified with encouragement as to the gentle, merciful side of God, whereby we understand He is fierce only with the unrepentant, not with sinners as such.

Once we sincerely repent He is all tenderness and compassion.

Younger generations have been raised with the opposite problem of having not enough fear of God, ‘fear’ being understood not as servile terror but as a healthy reverence.

The correct attitude must be somewhere between the extremes.

We understand that He has great love for us, that He wants to bless us far more than we deserve; that we in return must be grateful for this one-sided love and do whatever we can to return it. We strive to please Him in all things, at the same time understanding that if we fail we can confidently approach Him for forgiveness.

We are to worship Him because He is so far above us, yet our worship is to be as loving children not as frightened slaves.

We worship Him in love, because we want to, not just because it is a duty.

We ask God for many things, as He encourages us to do, but we ask politely, reverently, always deferring to His will.

This politeness is both because of our inferior status and because He has much greater knowledge of what is good for us, so we acknowledge both these factors.

God takes pleasure in giving; it is in His nature.

This is very good for us as we are the main beneficiaries. We are encouraged to approach Him, constantly and confidently. Approach the throne of grace, asking for what we need, which is whatever He wants to give us.

He will give us the wisdom to want the right things. We might start out wanting a new house or new car, but with greater maturity we come to want things like wisdom and humility, even the privilege of suffering with Christ. We see these things in the lives of the saints. Not too many saints died rich, but they had other sources of happiness.

This Sunday is a day of joy. Why are we joyful? Because we have such a state of affairs that we are treated better than we deserve, and far better. It is like getting a job where you have only ten minutes work and paid a million dollars in return.

We manage to find things to complain about but if we really understood how lucky we are we would be dancing in the street. This Sunday is here to remind us of our good fortune.

May we all find our right place with Almighty God, and give Him perfect love in return.

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