Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Exodus 32:14
Theme: God’s Forbearance

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

God is patient. He is patient with His people. The reason why is important. God is patient, not because He is tolerant (according to our popular usage of the term), or apathetic, or ignorant. God is patient because He is merciful. Therefore, when Peter says that God, “Is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”1 he is not thereby saying that God is hesitant, indecisive, or wavering about sin and its consequences for sinners. His forbearance relates directly to the sending of Christ and His incurring the punishment for our sins. All history moves towards and flows from that event.

It is surely one of the great ironies of the entire biblical narrative that while Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the will of God the people down below turned to idolatry. They abandoned the God who had delivered them. Aaron bowed to their pressure and became complicit with their demands. He forged a golden calf. The golden calf is still the historical reference for any and every form of idolatry. However, as knowledge of the Scriptures wanes in our day, the ancient truths will need to be taught again to a new generation.

Now God’s forbearance is put to the test. The ungratefulness, unrighteousness, and unbelief of the people seemed to know no limits. God had once started over with Noah and his family when He destroyed the world with a flood. He didn’t do it on a whim. The wickedness of humanity had become intolerable. Now history was repeating itself. God told Moses He had similar intentions at this point in time. “Let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”2 God could build a nation through Moses, just as He had done with Noah and Abraham.

But Moses pleads with God to remember His promise, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to who you swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring…”3 The intercession of Moses was powerful. The people were still punished, but God’s condemnation was tempered. Dear friends, we celebrate the forbearance of God, but we don’t take liberties with it. From the perspective of the redeeming work of Christ- His death and resurrection- the forbearance of God is infinite. But repentance is always contemporaneous. Never do we arrogantly test the patience of God.

At the time of Moses, the Israelite community was unique. They were governed directly by God through the prophetic office, held, in this case by Moses. Later, they would elect a king(Saul), like other nations. But, in so far as they we God’s people, they were a community held together by their convictions. They were a covenant people. Their most important meals together involved a participation in the blessings of a God who shed other blood so that their blood could be spared. Does that sound familiar? Our most important meal together is a participation in God Himself, who give Himself to us through His Son in Holy Communion. If you’re wanting to meet with God, this is the place.

So, the essence of Christianity is also realized in community. Christ redeems sinners through His blood. This puts them into community with the triune God. The Holy Spirit gathers people into the family of believers through baptism and the word. This puts them into community with one another. The Christian community gathers to worship around word and sacrament. Forgiven, comforted and instructed by Christ, the Head, believers live their lives in faithful service to one another and as living sacrifices in the world.

Community is characterized by dynamic, tangible and reciprocal relationships. To say in any real sense that we have fellowship with God, that we are in community with Him, is to understand a living relationship. A mental image of an independent deity is not community. A theoretical conceptualization of a transcendent God is not community. Fellowship with God is constituted by the concrete actions of the Son’s incarnation and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. In other words, God establishes fellowship, or community with us, by removing the barriers that prevent us from having a relationship with Him.

Those barriers are the result of a pathological condition of far-reaching extent the Bible summarizes with words such as sin and transgression. The short of it is: We are not born with a desire to have a relationship with God. We are not born with the ability or inclination to want to understand or accept His will. Nor does such desire develop naturally within us. We have our own plans and agendas. We don’t instinctively understand that we are on the path to failure. The only community we desire is that of like-minded people or those we can control. God doesn’t fit the bill. We can’t understand through human reason that apart from fellowship with God, we are condemned to a community of discord, strife and eternal death.

Christian communities are unlike any other. They are not based on societal status, professional vocation or academic interest. The Christian community is characterized by willingness to be reconciled. We know the difficulties of mending hurt feelings, restoring broken trusts, rebuilding damaged relationships. These can only be accomplished through genuine humility, steadfast patience and a generous measure of forgiveness. And they cannot be accomplished by us, but solely by trust in the grace and mercy of Christ.

Your sins are forgiven. You are restored to the Father’s favour, through the Son’s love. When you hear the pastor say, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” you are receiving the declaration of pardon secured on Calvary. When you are given His body and blood, you are receiving the life of Him who is the Living One, whom you will be in heaven with forevermore. The forgiving Father graciously welcomes back all the prodigal sons.

It’s no wonder the apostle could say today, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”4 And David writes, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”5 Moses still had a long road ahead of him. The Jordan wasn’t ready to be crossed. God would bear with the people, but there were lessons to be learned. Still, the passion of God includes at its core His willingness to go the distance to redeem sinners. In His time God opened the way to the Promised Land and the people crossed over on dry ground6. It was a preview of Jesus’ work of opening the way to the promised land of heaven. He safely carries us across. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
15 October 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 2 Peter 3:8 2 Exodus 32:10
3 Exodus 32:13 4 Philippians 4:6-7
5 Psalm 145:8 6 See Joshua 3:17