If It Takes Forever--June 10, 2021

If It Takes Forever--June 10, 2021

"For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt." [Hebrews 6:4-6]

Yes, it is a damn shame to have been given the awesome grace and infinite love of God and to shrug it off with indifference.

And yet at the same time, it is an amazing claim that the God of the universe chooses to be so persistent in loving us as to keep bearing the pain of our rejection, as often as we turn away.

This is the real scandal here, I think: Christians dare to confess that the Almighty, all-knowing, infinite and deathless Creator of the universe not only went to a shameful death on account of love for us once twenty centuries ago, but that this God continues to endure our rejection, even to this very day, when we shrug off the goodness of God like it doesn't matter.  The writer of Hebrews says it is like we are crucifying Christ all over again when we ignore the gift of his love for us.  And yet--and this is the thing that makes the Gospel so scandalous, I think--God willingly bears that kind of heartache for us, being vulnerable and risking that we will spurn God's self-giving love.

The gods of ancient mythologies aren't such gluttons for punishment.  The Greek gods were said to be immortal and lived in perpetual bliss, unable to experience suffering like humans.  The legend of Mithras had a death-and-resurrection thing going on, too, but it was a one-time event.  Even the famous legend of Odin from Norse legends, sacrificing himself to himself on the world-tree Yggdrasil, only lasted nine days--and led to the payoff for the Viking deity of learning the runes to control the world.  But a God who doesn't just die once on an imperial death stake but who permanently chooses to bear the contempt of being rejected by the very ones God chose to die for?  A God who loves recklessly and then takes the risk of us spitting in the face of that love because we think we can do better on our own, or because we think it looks "weak" or like God is a "loser" to love us so?  A God who loves us like children, only to have us take our inheritance and get lost in the far country, who stands on the front step every day with arms open and waiting, knowing that it will hurt to keep looking for us, but doing it anyway?  That kind of love boggles my mind--and yes, it is a terrible shame, once you realize that this is how you have been loved, to keep slamming the door in the face of the One who loves us so persistently.

Maybe that's what we need to take home most here today--that this is indeed how you and I are loved.  And when you have been deemed so precious, but then scorn the one who holds you so dear, well, that is a tragedy.  We don't have to let it be that way, though.  It makes no sense to keep turning away.  Our "No" doesn't have to be the last word.  In fact, it sounds from the Scriptures like the living God is determined that our rejection will not be the last word, but rather that God is committed to bearing the pain of our rejection for as long as it takes.  Like the song from the band OkGo puts it, "If you should be the last autumn leaf hanging from the tree... I'll still be here waiting on the breeze to bring you down to me.  And if it takes forever, forever it will be."

That's how you are loved, dear one--the living God is willing to bear the hurt of our rejection, determined to outlast our stony hearts. 

And if it takes forever... forever it will be.

Lord God, turn our hearts back to you where we are astray, and help us to stop shrugging off the infinite love you hold out for us.