Tenth Sunday after Trinity

When I teach the faith to adult converts, we always spend some time talking about the fear of God. For many of us this is a foreign concept. Why should we fear God when we know that he is a God of love? I invite you to look at the picture on the front cover of your bulletin, where Jesus is depicted driving out the money-changers, and ask yourself, “Is this my God?” Unbelievers who don’t know the first thing about the Bible often lecture Christians about how Jesus would act and what he would say. “Jesus was gentle and meek. He never said an unkind thing. He would never be angry.” But is that true? Many people have a conception of Jesus that isn’t necessarily compatible with what the Scriptures tell us about him. Even Christians can’t understand why there are literally hundreds of passages in the Bible that talk about the fear of God. If God is love, then why should he be feared?

If you had a good relationship with your dad growing up, then perhaps that relationship can help us understand the fear of God. I did. My father was and still is a godly man. I knew that he loved me. My brothers and I always looked forward to the end of the day when dad got home. Except when we had been misbehaving and mom said, “You just wait until your father gets home.” Then we kept an eye on the driveway with a certain amount of dread. You could call this “fear of dad.” We never doubted that he love us, and yet, when we had been acting out, we feared the consequences.

So it is with the fear of the Lord. Without a doubt he loves us even more that the best earthly father. But when we break his holy Law, we ought to fear the consequences. That’s not a bad thing. A healthy dose of the right kind of fear keeps us out of all sorts of trouble. When Joseph was tempted to commit adultery with his master’s wife, he said to her, “How could I commit this great sin against God?” Joseph feared God.

Some people think that God sits up in heaven and sends angels to zap people when they break his Law. But generally the consequences of sin are built in. If a parent says to a three-year-old, “Don’t touch the hot stove,” and the child does anyway, God doesn’t need to intervene directly to punish disobedience. The consequence is naturally attached to the sin. And while the child is suffering from a burnt finger, he is experiencing the wrath of God. God’s Law says, “Honor and obey your parents.” Disobeying God’s Law always leads to suffering.

But since God is a God of love, shouldn’t he intervene to keep the child’s finger from hurting? People often ask this question: “How can there be suffering if God is all good and all powerful?” God allows us to reap where we have sown out of love. Hopefully, the pain of a burnt finger will instill a healthy fear of crossing the line next time. Hopefully, we learn of the danger of sin while the stakes are relatively small, so that we can avoid the eternal fire that is never quenched.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus weeps as he looks over the city of Jerusalem. Here is the love of God—weeping because his children have turned away from him. God never delights in our suffering, even when it is well-deserved. Every good parent can relate to this. In fact, Jesus had come to earth to suffer our well-deserved punishment. He had come to make peace between man and God, whose Law had been trampled underfoot by sinful men. The passover Lamb, whose blood causes the destroying angel to passover our homes, had come to shed his blood for his people. But God’s own people had lost their fear of God. Rather than heeding the warning signs, rather than saying, “Ouch. My finger hurts. I think I’ll repent from my sin, and return to God,” they hardened their hearts and continued headlong down the path of destruction. Perhaps they said to themselves, “God is a god of love. He will never allow punishment to come upon his people. Jerusalem is the city of God. We are safe and secure in our position as God’s people. No calamity could ever come upon us.”

For centuries God had sent prophets to call his people to repentance. How did they respond? They developed a reputation for murdering God’s messengers. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!” (Lk 13:34). Can the mercy of God expire? In other words, can unrepentant sinners reach the point of no return? Yes, that is possible. The Bible says, “The spirit of God will not strive with man forever” (Gen 6:3). God wants all people to turn from their sin and be saved. That is his will. But he will not force his will upon hardened sinners. On the Final Day, God will say to those who have refused him, “Thy will be done.”

The global Day of Judgment is still in the future, but judgment day often comes to individuals, or even cities and nations, that refuse to hear God’s Word and turn from their sin. That day would soon come for Jerusalem. Jesus looked upon the city in sorrow as he prophiesed its destruction: a day so dark that the world had not seen its like before nor ever will again. You will find Josephus’ account of the destruction in your bulletin, and be warned, it is terrible. This is a preview of what awaits all unrepentent sinners on the Final Day. And it might surprise you to learn that it won’t be God the Father acting as judge. The authority to judge the world has been given to Jesus. He will be the one to execute judgment upon the nations. The cover of your bulletin is a glimpse of Jesus, the great and terrible Judge of all.

So should Christians fear God? Should you fear his wrath and just punishment? Yes, you should. You should fear God so much that you repent of your sins, especially that pet sin that always seems to be so enjoyable. You should turn away from that and flee. But flee where? Where can we find refuge from God’s righteous retribution, since is is all-knowing and ever-present? We flee to our Lord Jesus. You see, even as Jesus looked up Jerusalem and wept, he was nearing the end of his journey to the cross. With the day of judgment looming, Jesus entered Jerusalem to take that judgment upon himself, to bear the full weight of God’s wrath against sin, to suffer in our place.

If you can’t understand how Jesus can be both the God of love and the terrible Judge of all the earth, then look to his cross and see the mercy and justice of God joined together in the broken body of our Lord. Apart from Calvary, we would only ever experience the terror of the impending judgment, knowing that we fully deserved that punishment. The Lord God returns to his temple, dad is coming home, and we have not behaved as we should. But this holy fear causes us cry out for mercy and flee to the place where God’s infinite love and mercy have been revealed for all: to the cross of Jesus. Here and nowhere else is the one thing that makes for peace. Here is forgiveness without measure. Here is the revelation of the tender heart of God toward everyone of his wayward children.

The city of Jerusalem did not know the time of their visitation. God walked among them offering mercy, but unbelief hid him from their eyes. The same could have been true for you, but by a miracle of faith, the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to see and recognize Christ. Today is the day of your visitation. Outside of the church that gathers around the crucified body of our Lord, there can only be fear, wrath, and judgment. But here, where we are gathered in his name, Jesus visits us today as he has promised to do. And everyone who flees to him finds mercy in abundance. Every sinner who approaches his table in faith receives forgivness for all sin. Every trembling and fearful heart finds lasting comfort and true peace. The fear of God drives us to Jesus, where we find forgiveniss, life, and salvation. Amen.