Supplemental Reflections for Lent 2009
(40 Days of Lamentations)

Fourth Sunday of Lent
God’s Awesome Love
 
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”
(John 3:16a)

March 22
2 Chronicles 36:14-23
Psalm 137:1-6
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:14-21

God’s covenant brings tremendous blessings when we obey Him and are faithful to His call. On the other hand, if we disobey and persist in infidelity, then we reap woes and disaster.

This is what happened to Israel. God raised Israel and blessed His people tremendously. However, they disobeyed and were unfaithful, and even became idolatrous. They “added infidelity to infidelity” (2 Chr 36:14).

God was merciful and loving, not wanting to turn away from His covenant. So “often did the Lord, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people” (2 Chr 36:15). “But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets” (2 Chr 36:16a). Since God is a God not only of love but also of justice, He no longer had any choice, as “the anger of the Lord against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy.” (2 Chr 36:16b). Even the very covenant of love demanded punishment. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and burned by the Babylonians. God’s people had lost everything.
 
We too merit God’s wrath because of our sins and infidelities. But God would always prefer to manifest His love rather than His wrath. And so God found a remedy. Since on our own we could never satisfy God’s justice, He sent His very own Son to do so. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16). Rather than condemning the world as it rightly deserved, God send Jesus to save it (Jn 3:17).

What an awesome act God has done!

• “Even when we were dead in our transgressions, (He) brought us to life with Christ” (Eph 2:5a).

• Even as we were so low in the mire, He “raised us up with him” (Eph 2:6a).

• Even as we deserved only condemnation, He “seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6b).

• Even as we had been impoverished by sin, He would “show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7).

 So we see that what God has done for us is pure grace and pure gift (Eph 2:8). We have neither earned nor merited it. It is simply due to His mercy and great love for us (Eph 2:4). “By grace (we) have been saved” (Eph 2:5b). Salvation “is not from (us); it is the gift of God; it is not from works” (Eph 2:8b-9a).
 
How do we appropriate God’s salvation for our lives? We do so “through faith” (Eph 2:8). “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned” (Jn 3:18a).

Now here is the problem. God has extended His great grace and gift to us. But just like the Israelites, many continue to reject the fullness of His saving act. The tragedy is “that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light” (Jn 3:19b). As such, “this is the verdict” (Jn 3:19a): “whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (Jn 3:18b). How truly tragic.
 
For our part, we must see the truth and live accordingly.

We are God’s creation, “we are his handiwork” (Eph 2:10a). We belong to Him. We exist for Him. Further, we are “created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance” (Eph 2:10b).

Though we are saved by faith and not by works, true faith in Jesus must manifest itself in good works. We must not prefer “darkness to light, because (our) works (are) evil” (Jn 3:19c), but rather, we must live the truth and come “to the light, so that (our) works may be clearly seen as done in God.” (Jn 3:21).
 
With covenant, we have become God’s people. And we look forward to dwelling with Him eternally in the New Jerusalem. We are exiles on earth, where we dwell “mourning and weeping” (Ps 137:1) in this valley of tears. We are pilgrims on our way to our true home, which is heaven.

If we miss out on heaven, then we have lost it all. “If I do not exalt Jerusalem beyond all my delights” (Ps 137:6b), then I have not truly experienced the salvation of God.

Let us accept Jesus as our Savior, let us live fully in light and in truth, and let us rejoice in God’s great mercy and love.

*   *   *

The kind of God we have:  A God rich in mercy and full of love.
 
Our covenant response:  Desire God’s salvation with all our heart.
 
Lamentations reflection/action:  In what ways are you doing wicked things and living in darkness? What are the works you do not want to be exposed to the light? Repent of these.
 
Lamentations prayer:  Father, what great love and mercy you have shown me in giving your very own Son to die for me. What pure grace and awesome gift you have extended to me in granting me salvation. I cringe at the thought of my sins and infidelities, when I at times choose darkness instead of light. I know I am then choosing death over life, and will reap condemnation. Please continue to grant me the grace to accept fully what you are offering me. I want to live the truth in your light. I want to live my life in Christ. Amen.
 

(You are encouraged to use the book “Forty Days of Lamentations” during this period of Lent 2009. Most of the scripture readings are the same. In case they are not, a supplemental reflection is provided. Let us continue to learn the lessons of Lamentations.)