It’s Mother’s Day this weekend. The secular holy day that causes most pastors to quake in their preaching boots. Not that we’re afraid of mothers, that’s not what I mean. But that honoring them can be difficult. It’s really one of those no win situations. If you go all out and celebrate mothers with flowers and songs and special presentations then there are those who have struggled to be a mother who feel left out, or those who had a bad experience with mothers are reminded of their pain. Or those like me who have lost their mothers now find it a time of sadness. On the other hand, if you give it a miss, or only slight attention, then there are many who feel like you aren’t properly respectful of the ones who nurtured your life, and won’t hesitate to let you know. Like I said, you can’t win.
Some argue I’m making too much of it. Just tell those who struggle that we’re not trying to make them feel bad, or feel left out. Just go with us for now. Just pretend you don’t really hurt, you aren’t really struggling. It’s just one day. Most people, you understand, loved their mothers and would feel bad not giving them honor.
That seems the usual approach. The one that makes the majority happy. It’s just a few who are put out by this. Just a few who’s experience isn’t the norm. Just a few who are too broken, too wounded to share the joy of the day. Just a few. The very few whom Jesus came to save.
We’re in the midst of our series titled “A Disciple’s Heart,” and it is my good fortune to present to the congregation a conversation about salvation. Salvation is one of those words we use a lot within the faith. But I sometimes wonder if we really grasp what it means. Or all that it means. We talk of salvation as if it were a moment. I was saved on ... That may be partially true. But salvation is a journey. I may have a clear beginning, but it is a process, it is a way in which we walk. James Harnish, who wrote the text we are using for our Disciple’s Heart study, says salvation has a past and a present and a future. There is a what we were before, there is a what we are now and there is a what we will be. All because of salvation which is at work within us.
Paul says this about salvation in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 5:6-17 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned – 13 sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. 14 Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man's trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Well, that clears that up. Right? OK, there are commentators who call these verses the most theologically dense passage in the whole Bible. I’m not going pass judgment on that statement, except to acknowledge that there is a lot going on in these eleven verses. More than I can deal with in this space or in a sermon this weekend. So, let’s see if we can get some glimpse of something that’s in here.
Paul falls all over himself telling us about the free gift. The gift of grace that makes salvation possible. That makes hope possible. And it came to us through one man, Jesus the Christ. Paul uses the figure of Adam (which in Hebrew translates as human being) to introduce the before reality, so that he can then turn to Jesus to represent the present and the future reality.
Before we were sinners. Before we were without hope. Before ... There is always a before, whether we can remember it or not. There was always a time before we claimed faith for ourselves. When we lived by our own will and our own understanding. While we were still sinners, Paul says. While we were still weak. Let’s be clear, he isn’t implying that everything anyone does is a bad thing. It is possible to do good things without Jesus, without faith. People do it all the time. It isn’t about good and bad, unfortunately. That would be so much easier.
One way to think about it would be to realize that there aren’t two kingdoms - the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. That’s normally how we understand the shift from one reality to another. The problem with this duality is that we then see the world around us, the world that God so loved, as a bad place that we want to get out of. So instead let’s think of three kingdoms. The first that Paul describes is the kingdom of sin, or of death. It is life without God, life without hope, without the ability to see beyond our own experience into something greater, something all encompassing, something like love.
Now, however, there is something else, something more. Now there is the kingdom of grace. The present reality of those being saved is the kingdom of grace. Sin still happens, mistakes are still made, brokenness is still an all too frequent part of our reality. But this sinfulness has been forgiven. We aren’t former sinners in the kingdom of grace, we are forgiven sinners. We are the redeemed. Reconciled, says Paul, brought back into right relationship with God. Still in this world, but learning to lean into all that God has in store for us. Learning to long for and live for the kingdom of glory.
This is the free gift that Christ has given us, a taste for glory. Not our glory, not the transient glory of this life. But the glory of the very presence of God always. And grace allows us the space to learn to live in glory. Grace gives us the encouragement to practice living in glory. Paul says “those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life...” Exercise dominion in life. We are called to practice our living in glory. That is what we call the spiritual disciplines, the exercise of dominion in life. We are trying to live as Christ invites us and equips us to live in glory. Wesley, and others, called that sanctification. We’re being made holy. We are walking in the way of salvation. Not complete, not resident in glory yet, but walking in the way.
But here’s the thing for Paul. He’s not only excited about the free gift. He’s excited about the giver. And the lengths the giver will go to bring us this gift. While we were still sinners. While we were still weak. That’s what makes it gift. We don’t earn it. We receive it. God comes to us, in our brokenness, in our suffering, in our sinfulness and our shame and loves us into grace. Which means what else should we do but stand with the hurting, support the broken, love the refugee and outcast. Even on Mother’s Day.
Shalom,
Derek
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