“Restoration”
July 3, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and
peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Amen.
Today, on this Sunday of the Fourth
of July weekend, there are doubtless going to be many sermons preached that
will be talking about either how great America is, or what’s wrong with
America. In the latter case, there will probably be a lot of sermons that are
going to try to point out specific sins that, in the preacher’s opinion, are
leading America astray. Such sermons are also going to try to call out specific
people, or groups of people, for bringing judgement on America, or even
outright blame certain people for the problems and struggles we are currently
facing as a society. The problem: first of all, we already have too much
division in our society right now. We already have enough judgment going on,
with people blaming the other side for what the problems we’re facing are right
now. The other problem: in doing so, we set up a situation where there have to
be winners and losers. One group has to be good, the other has to be evil. That
may be how we want to see things, but, as we hear in today’s Bible readings,
that is certainly not how God sees things. As Christians, we want to be able to
see things how God sees them, because that is the true way. And, in order to be
able to speak on God’s behalf, and speak the words He wants us to speak to
everyone else, we have to be able to see things as He sees them.
In today’s Old Testament reading, we
hear the story of what happens to David after he lusts after Bathsheba, and
arranges for her husband, Uriah the Hittite, to be killed, so he can take her
for himself. David is certainly remembered as being the most righteous king of
Israel, but he in no way is perfect. And in this case, he forgets that God has
given him more than he possibly could have expected, including being given King
Saul’s wives. So God sends Nathan the prophet to tell a story about two men,
one a rich man having lots of lambs, but taking the lamb of another, poor man,
to feed a guest. David, still being a king who desires justice, is angered by
the story, and demands that the rich man face justice for what he has done to
hurt the poor man. Nathan then gives an unexpected twist: he tells David, “You
are the man!” In other words, the very thing David is condemning the rich man
for is the very thing he himself has done. However, before we start blaming
David for his foolishness, we have to remember ourselves: very often, there
have been times when we have been responsible for the very thing we have blamed
another person for. We frequently want to blame “the other person” without
taking responsibility for our part in the relationship. We forget that if we
point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at us. This is
especially something our whole country needs to hear: that even though we may
want to blame whoever we think as being “the other side” for our problems, we
are just as responsible for bringing problems on ourselves. There are
consequences for how we treat other people, which is ultimately what sin is. Sinning
against another person means mistreating them, and there are consequences when
we mistreat other people. Relationships especially get damaged, and mistrust between
people happens. God especially points this out to David: David will continually
face violence in his family from this point on because of what he has done to
Uriah. But not everything is completely hopeless: even though David has done
this, he will still not be overthrown. Later on, his sons Absalom and Adonijah
attempt to usurp his throne and put themselves as king in his place, but God
still shows grace and preserves David’s position. He restores David to the
position He has for him. God does this because He has an ultimate plan: He is
going to cause the Savior of the whole world, Jesus Christ, to be born from David’s
royal line and family. So God does not even let one misstep by David get in the
way of what He has planned. Which means that all is not lost for us either: God
is giving us an opportunity to make things right.
In the same way, God has a plan,
and a great destiny for America. He called us into being as a nation a little
over two hundred years ago, to be a place where people could come to experience
freedom from oppression and tyranny, and be free to be themselves. Even though
we certainly have not been perfect, and during our history we have at different
times engaged in slavery, discrimination, and segregation, the purpose on which
we were founded has continued to remain the same. Many people have benefitted
from the freedoms we have offered, have come to this country seeking a better
life, and have been able to find it because of the opportunities we have been
able to give. We have also, as a country, been able to make things better for
people in other parts of the world. But we always have to remember that the
reason we have been able to do so is not because of our abilities or efforts, but
because God has given us the ability to do so. If we, as a nation, keep remembering
God, and asking Him to overcome our divisions, heal the hurts we have done to
each other and have been done to us, and free us from the consequences of all
the ways we have mistreated each other, we will be able to carry out the
purpose He has given us in even greater ways than before. But we also have to
repent, that is, look at the ways we have treated other people badly, ask to be
forgiven, and turn away from whatever has caused us to sin against another person.
That is what Paul encourages in
today’s Second Reading from Galatians. And here we have to make one thing
clear: even though God gives us a lot of freedom, that doesn’t mean He permits
everything. He does want us to live a good life, and He also wants us to help
others live a good life. Anything that keeps us from doing so is something He
doesn’t allow. Also, if we have been freed from a sinful habit, especially one
that has caused us to abuse ourselves, or treat another person badly in any
way, then we are to leave it behind and get rid of it. Simple as it sounds, the
best way to avoid consequences for sinning is to get rid of the sin that is causing
those consequences. And that is true freedom: being free from sins which cause us
to damage and break relationships with ourselves and others. It means letting
God restore us to where we need to be in life. It also means to recognize that forgiveness
of our sins can only come through what Jesus has done on the cross: only by His
sacrifice, all our sins, everything we have done, and everything others have
done to us, have been forgiven. Nothing we do, no following of rules or laws,
can earn us being forgiven – we are already forgiven. We have already been
restored.
And, because we are already forgiven
and restored, we can recognize that God has already forgiven and restored other
people, even those we don’t think deserve to be. In today’s Gospel reading,
Jesus tells a woman, who is probably a prostitute, that her sins are forgiven. He
doesn’t make her go through some sort of long restoration process, and He doesn’t
even demand that she show any kind of change right away. Instead, He just tells
her she is forgiven. This angers many of the people at the meal Jesus is at,
including Simon, His host. Simon is a Pharisee, someone who believes that
strict obedience to the commandments is necessary to be considered a believer. Like
Simon, we say, “If God knew what kind of person this really is…” and insist
that someone doesn’t deserve to be blessed because we disagree with them for
any reason. It’s hard for us to imagine God could love and accept someone just
as much as He does us. We actually say this more than we realize: this is
called envy, or jealousy. We think that someone deserves to be punished for who
they are or what they have done, and we ask God to punish them. We want to exact
vengeance on those whom we believe have done wrong, and on those whom we think
have wronged us. We want to judge. But, as with David, we are to recognize that
not only are we guilty of the same things we blame other people for, but that
others are just as equally loved, forgiven, and accepted by God as we are. We
are to ask for God’s help in overcoming envy and jealousy, and instead see
others as He sees them – the same way He see us, as people He loves equally in
need of His help.
What all this shows is that ultimately,
judgment belongs only to God. It does not belong to us. What God wants us to do
today is not to judge or blame any longer, but to restore what has been broken.
Where we have damaged our own lives, we are to ask for God’s help in removing
the sin that has caused the damage. Where we have mistreated other people, and
have wronged them in any way, whether they are family members, friends, or
neighbors, we are to try to restore broken relationships by recognizing our
part in the relationship being broken, apologizing, asking for forgiveness, and
working to move forward with restoring the relationship. If we want America to
be unified and at peace again, it has to begin with us. We have to be pursuing
relationships again: a relationship with God, and loving relationships with
each other. Instead words of blame, we are to be speaking words of support. Like
Jesus, we are to speak comforting words of forgiveness and acceptance to other
people – true words that come from God. If we are to be one nation under God,
then let us be restored – restored to live in forgiveness and peace with each
other once again.
Now may the peace of God, which passes
all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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