Wednesday of Lent 3 Thy Will Be Done
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen! In tonight’s Gospel, Jesus shows us what God’s will is for each of us. Jesus says to you, as well as He says to me, “Unless you repent, you will perish.” Call these Words harsh if you want, but Jesus is speaking to us with pure love and unrivaled devotion when He says to us, “Unless you repent, you will perish.” Dear Christian friends, We call each of the seven parts of the Lord’s Prayer a “petition,” but the word “petition” might not say quite enough. God teaches you much more than “requests” in each petition of His miracle-producing prayer! In addition to a request, each petition of the Lord’s Prayer will also serve you powerfully as • a confession of your sin and failure; • a classroom, in which we hear the Good News concerning our Lord and Christ’s great, all-encompassing love for us; • an expression of thanks and praise to God for all His goodness and benefits; In tonight’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a very good reason to pray with great earnestness that God’s will be done among us. Jesus is showing us in this Gospel that we must pray for God’s will, especially because God’s will stands in such graphic contrast to our own will. You can almost hear the people in tonight’s Gospel grappling with the question, “Why would a loving God allow such terrible things to happen? What is merciful about a God who looks the other way while a tower collapses, killing eighteen people and shattering the lives of who knows how many loved ones? Where was God when Pilate perpetrated murder?” And maybe you have had your own, similar thoughts. “Why did God let my dear loved one die, leaving me here to fend for myself? Where was God when so many people—Christian and unbeliever—died violently in the tsunami, or the hurricane, or the sudden and violent attack? What is loving about a God lets such things happen? • Jesus says to you and to me in tonight’s Gospel, “Unless you repent, you will perish.” With these Words, Jesus might be letting us know that there are some things that we have no business knowing! With these Words, Jesus is letting us know that terrible events happen, not so that we might question God, but so that we might question ourselves and return continually to that ancient declaration from God, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). “Unless you repent, you will perish.” With these Words, Jesus is teaching us to pray, “Thy will be done.” Jesus is teaching us to use the Third Petition as a confession of sin: o Thy will be done, Lord, even when Your will makes no sense to me and stands far beyond my comprehension. o Thy will be done, Lord, because my will is NOT Your will, and because my will resolutely opposes Your will. o Thy will be done, Lord, because my will and my judgment will only end up serving me. • “Unless you repent,” says Jesus, “you will perish.” Can it be that Jesus wants us to view the tragic events of this world as God’s acts of kindness and mercy toward us? God declares to you, concerning many misfortunes that are recorded in His Scriptures, “These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11). By pointing to tragic events—a collapsed tower and a bloody act of violence—Jesus is telling us that current events likewise serve you and me as instruction and example. What is God’s will for us? God’s will is that we repent. Stated another way, God wills for us continually to recognize our sin and weakness in this world, and continually to turn to Jesus in faith and trust. Bad things happen in this life, in part, so that we may keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, whom you know to be “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). This is why the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer should be thought of as a classroom, in which we hear the Good News concerning our Lord and Christ’s great, all-encompassing love for us: God allows tragedy to strike all around, and even at our own doorsteps, in order that we may continually remember His grace and mercy in our own lives, knowing that Jesus is our Immanuel, “our God with us” (Matthew 1:23) through thick and through thin. • When we learn mercy of Christ toward us, how can we not feel deep thanks and hearty praise for all His benefits? That is why the Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer may be used as an expression of thanks and praise to God: Thank You, Lord, that Your will is being done in my life; that You have given me Your gift of repentance (Acts 5:31, 11:18) and the eternal life that comes with that gift! Thank You, that You teach me every day to number my days aright. Even while terrible things happen all around, … Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You (Psalm 39:7). My days are like a lengthened shadow And I wither away like grass. But You, O LORD, abide forever, And Your name to all generations (Psalm 102:11-12) • And the word “petition” still means “prayer” or “request.” Jesus included the petition “Thy will be done” in His Lord’s Prayer because Jesus wants us to say these Words to God our Father! “Unless you repent,” says Jesus, “you will perish.” With these Words, Jesus wants us to ask God for His will and not ours—that we may be truly repentant; that we rely solely upon our Father’s mercy for the sake of His Son Jesus; so that all may end well and we ever perish. “Thy will be done,” dear Father in heaven! Give me Your Holy Spirit, that Your gift of repentance shall always be mine! Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
