Getting Over a God who Hates Me - Fr. Phil

 Lent 4

March 27, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

GETTING OVER A GOD WHO HATES ME

 

 

Have you ever wondered if God loves you?

 

It seems like we all have those moments, when we’re “under the circumstances”, and we get low and we hear that little voice that says, “God really hates you!”  All the negative things that people have said about us or over us in our past come roaring to the front of our minds!

 

Have you ever had that experience?

 

I think its actually pretty common – given the way our world works.  Or doesn’t work … really.

 

We really want to encounter God’s love for us in some way that we can grasp onto – that we can hold close – something that’s not “somewhere, out there…” – the Bette Midler god.  God is watching us!  I want a God who is doing more than just watching from a distance!  Right?  I want a God who is involved with my life – who is paying attention to little details in my “good, bad and ugly!”

 

Our gospel this morning paints a picture of a father and two sons.  Very familiar story – we’ve studied it before in some depth – songs have been written about it:  “When God Ran!”  great song.  Sometimes I call it the Parable of the Loving Father, instead of The Prodigal Son (or Sons!)

The Love of our God for us is on display here, no matter how low we go – nor how dutiful and obedient we are!  The two sons in the story are the opposite poles of our lives!   So often we get off track, lose our way, lose sight of what God wants for our lives – we love to “do our own thing.”

Or we concentrate on doing it all “right” – on being obedient, dutiful, the Good Son or Daughter – in order to “win” God’s affection in some way.

The picture we have of these two boys pales though, when we look at the picture of The Father – The Heart of the Father that we see here!

I imagine the Father standing daily at the window looking down the lane from the house, hoping against hope to see the figure of his lost son.  And one day, finally, after years away, that son comes back – a tiny figure in the distance, but Father sees him and recognizes the walk, the height of this boy, something that sparks that memory of his son…

And he runs out of the house, tossing his cloak aside to gain speed – running down the lane to gather up this broken, filthy, how does the letter of Revelation put it:  “…wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.”  Yet, here God runs to meet us – to gather us in His arms – to restore us to the family with the new clothes and the ring for his finger!  In Revelation, Jesus says He is standing at the door knocking – we are in this state of wretchedness, pitiable, poor, blind and naked – and He wants to eat with us.

 

Do you get it?

 

Look with me for a moment at the passage from 2 Cor 5. 

¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,

Reconciling US -  Reconciling THE WORLD

 

You know the verse:   For God so …  LOVED … the world

What does it take for us to grasp the meaning of that phrase?

 

Paul asks that in the passage we read yesterday at Duane’s memorial service:

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be^[i] against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

 

Paul goes on:

The real fact is this:

³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.^[j] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There’s a lot there!

And when we mix it in with the picture of God we see in our Gospel this morning, it’s a really powerful mix!

 

Does this sound like GOOD NEWS to you?  Do you think you know anyone for whom it might be GOOD NEWS as well?  How about everyone?

God so loved who?  THE WORLD.

And here is the hook!  When you know this, you’re on the hook to TELL THE STORY!

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.^[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

AND THE CAPSTONE:  THE WHOLE STORY IN A SENTENCE…

 ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

Friends,  God loves us hilariously!  No matter how small or how great we feel;  no matter what we’ve done or not done;  no matter the volume of the accusations, the name calling, or the slop we’re into!

God LOVES US – GOD LOVES YOU – PERIOD! 

 

And one small step back in the opposite direction, brings God running to scoop you up in His arms. To welcome you home, to put on a feast – to come in and eat supper with you.

Your place of exile can become your place of acceptance and belonging!

 

And friends, once we’ve experienced this kind of extravagant, hilarious love for us, how can we not share it with everyone we meet?

 

How can we not!  “the love of Christ compels us!”

 

Pray with me:

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace! 

So clothe us with Your Spirit, that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you, to the knowledge and love of you, for the honor of your Name!

 

Amen.