4th Sunday after Easter 2.5.21 Clarity
The Holy Spirit will make it plain – on a range of issues - once Our Lord has ascended back to Heaven.
There are mysteries about God that we do not understand, at least not yet.
There are, however, many things about Him that He does want us to know, and these things He has revealed, either directly, or in such a way that we can discover them.
What do we know? He is eternal, with no beginning or end.
He creates us from nothing, to share His life and happiness.
He forgives us even when we have defied Him so many times and for so long.
He will hear our prayer and answer them according to what is best for us, and is most likely to advance our salvation.
He encourages us to bring everything we need to Him. He knows it anyway but wants us to say it, by way of affirming our trust in Him.
We do not know precisely what He will do most of the time but we do know He will always act in our best interests.
We see that He deals plainly with us, certainly fairly.
He tells us plainly, that if we obey Him in all things, we will receive many blessings (eg Deut 28,1-2) If we disobey Him we will have much to suffer (Deut 28,15ff).
That is so clear that we wonder why we do not take Him at His word. But we make hard work of something that should be so easy.
Imagine a prison where suddenly the walls fall down and the prisoners are free to leave.
All they have to do is walk through the spaces but somehow they cannot do it.
Israel was like that coming out of Egypt. They made a very simple command into a huge trial.
The human race has an even better offer. Accept Jesus Christ as Lord and you will have peace in this life and eternal happiness in the next.
What do we do with that offer? Every kind of stalling, dispute, misunderstanding comes in response.
We make heavy weather of what is put in front of us, in plain sight.
But there is another offer, even after that. we can always simply repent and then it is as though for the first time all these things are still on offer.
We need to retain this sense of simplicity. It will enable us to take the obvious remedies and avoid further entanglement.
We go back to God Himself and His nature. He does not want to make us suffer; He comes to free us from the suffering our sins have caused.
Take away the sin and with it goes all the disorder that comes with sin.
The kingdom of God would truly be in our midst. It is up to us how much freedom we want.
There will be some fallout, which we must expect, but even that can be reduced.
Being good can mean more suffering not less, but it is a purer kind of suffering, directly sharing in the Cross of Christ. It happens because we love Him, unlike the suffering which follows from not loving Him.
Israel did get to the promised land despite so many wrong turnings. The human race can do the same, certainly at least the Church and all faithful disciples.
Our Lord is renewing His offer in this season when we consolidate our belief in His resurrection and prepare for the deeper commitment of Pentecost.
Be plain with Him, leaving Him the licence to know how and when to help us.
The plainer we deal with Him certainly the more freely He will bless us.
Let us carry that simple message with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment