Tenth Sunday after Trinity

A while back I was talking to a woman who claims to be a New Age spiritualist. She asked me who would be in heaven. I answered, “Every believer in Christ.” “So what about hell? Do unbelievers go to hell?” Before I could answer, she was already saying, “See, I can’t accept that. I won’t believe in a God who would do that. That’s not my religion. That is not my God!”

She called herself a New Age spiritualist, but it occurred to me that I was speaking with a plain, old-fashioned pagan. What is a pagan? Someone who invents his own god. This idea is especially appealing to us Americans, I think. We like to customize our houses and our new cars: “I want it in black with leather seats and a sunroof.” So why shouldn’t we also be able to customize our god? “I want him to be permissive and jolly, like Santa Klaus, but certainly without wrath or judgment of any kind.” The chief difference between the pagans of old and the new pagans in America is that the old pagans were more committed to their gods. They were actually dedicated enough to get out a hammer and chisel and carve an image out of stone or wood. That’s a lot of hard work! Modern pagans are too lazy for that. Spirituality is all in the mind, and this requires no effort at all.

Today in our gospel reading, we are confronted with the God who does not ask our permission to exist. He is not customizable in our image. No, he tells us that we are created in his image. Whether you like him or not, he is there. Whether you agree with him or not, all his ways are just and true. His name is, I AM THAT I AM, and he makes no apologies for who he is.

Many Christians are troubled by some of the stories in the Old Testament, particularly those that seem to recount what is now called genocide. You and I don’t have the right to take a human life at will, but God does. We don’t have the authority to say to a wicked nation, “Your time is up. The day of judgment and destruction is upon you,” but God can say this and he does. He says it to individuals, to families, to nations, and on the Last Day, he will say it to this whole, sinful world.

In spite of modern efforts to limit God’s power, the way we have limited the power of our earthly rulers, God remains God. There’s a reason the Bible contains hundreds of references to the fear of God. Santa Klaus Jesus is nobody to fear, but the God of Scripture is.

C. S. Lewis wrote a series of books for children, the Chronicles of Narnia, about a land full of talking animals. In his stories God is depicted the great lion, Aslan, the king of beasts. At one point, a group of children are on their way to meet Aslan. They ask their guide, “Is he safe?” “Safe!,” he answers, “Who said anything about safe? Of course he’s not safe. But he’s good.” God is not safe. He is awesome and terrible. His wrath is revealed against all sin and unrighteousness. He will judge the nations with righteousness and justice. And yet, as we heard read today, his heart also overflows with compassion, tenderness, and mercy. When Jesus drew near and saw the city [of Jerusalem], he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Lk 19:41).

Martin Luther wrote that God deals with humanity in two ways. There is his alien work, and there is his proper work. The alien work of God is when he must punish unrepentant sinners with wrath and condemnation. This is called alien because it is foreign to his true desire. God does not want to punish, any more than a parent wants to punish an unruly toddler. God wants to deal with us according to his proper work. He wants to forgive, to bless, to nurture, to showers blessings upon his children. He is more loving than the most tender mother, more gentle and caring than the most loving father. His desire toward us is to bestow compassion and mercy. “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” Every parent can understand the yearning of Jesus’ heart here. Did you ever have a plan to surprise your children with a wonderful gift, but they had such a terrible attitude, you just couldn’t give it? You were forced to be the disciplinarian, acting contrary to your true desire, that is, in an alien manner.

Jesus looked over Jerusalem, the holy city of God, and wept. Never had there been a people more stubborn. The pagan nations were wicked, yes, but they had not been given the Ten Commandments. They had never heard and known the Word of God. They had not witnessed the great miracles by which God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt. They had never been fed bread from heaven, nor experienced the tender, lovingkindness of God that he showered upon his chosen people.

We might say the same thing of the church today. Sometimes believers live lives that are indistinguishable from those of the surrounding culture. The pagans, you might say, don’t know any better, but those who call themselves Christians do. In Old Testament times, the people of God developed a reputation for killing and persecuting the messengers, the prophets of the Lord. From New Testament times until now, not much has changed. I personally know a number of faithful pastors who have been persecuted and ultimately run out of town by their congregations.

Jesus looked upon his faithless people and wept. Why? Because he saw the destruction that awaited those who had rejected their own salvation. God had come in the flesh to visit his people with forgiveness, mercy, and peace, and they cast him out. You can read of the destruction that occurred some forty years after the Crucifixion, but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart.

And having looked upon the city that would reject him, what did Jesus do? He continued on his way to the cross. Why? So that instead of destruction, you might learn to know the things that make for peace. What things that make peace between God and man? Nothing but the crimson blood and broken body of Jesus. Those who stood atop Calvary only a few days later, would see the one thing, or rather the one person, who can secure our peace. And those who know him by faith, find the peace that God longs to give.

Apart from Christ there is only wrath and destruction, the terrible and alien work of God. But those who are in Christ find God as he wants to be found: in mercy, in tender compassion, in forgiveness. This is the proper work of God, and he earnestly desires to treat with every person in this way. Just as our Lord was suspended upon his cross, partway between heaven and earth, so with his body he bridges the chasm between God and man, reconciling us to our Creator, removing our sentence of condemnation, and securing for us a blessed eternity.

Today as you come forward to the table that God sets for his children, you will find there the only things that make for your peace. The blood you receive there is the same blood that was poured out to turn aside the wrath of God. The body you eat is the very body that experienced the alien destruction of God so that you might experience his proper work. Come to the altar and know God as he wants to be known: not in terrible power, but as the giver of every good gift, including peace and salvation. Amen.