Jeremiah 31:31–34
Psalm 51:1–12
Hebrews 5:5–10
John 12:20–33
Year B
That is what the Church is meant to be—the community that accepts and welcomes those who have already been accepted and welcomed by God. It is, as Augustine of Hippo often pointed out, like a hospital that receives the wounded to tend them, so that they might become whole again: even more so, that they might become what Gods wants them to be, rather than what they were forced to be through living in a fallen, broken world. Acceptance and love precede renewal and recovery. Redemption, in its deepest sense, is about being accepted as we are, while being transformed into what we are meant to be.
--Alister McGrath, from “Being Wanted” in Redemption (Fortress Press, Minneapolis © 2006).
I.N.I.
It started on Ash Wednesday, and like a drumbeat has been repeated each Sunday in Lent, Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
And I want to say, how about tomorrow?
I’m not ready for God. I’ve got a lot of housecleaning to do, if you know what I mean, and I don’t just mean my cluttered basement, though time for Spring Cleaning will also be great.
I want to repair some of the broken relationships that I have been a part of, or am still stuck in.
I want to call a “time out” and re-strategize my life’s trajectory.
I want to recommit myself to my primary relationships, with my wife and children.
I want to better model for this faith community a balance of work and prayer, of availability and self-care, of time with God and time to plan.
I want to find time to exercise, to choose a better diet, time to find refreshment.
Can we wait to hear the words, “now” and instead agree on the word “later”?
Oh, no, I hear the drums.
They beat to the words “The days are surely coming, says the Lord.”
They beat to the words “Now my soul is troubled.”
They beat to the words “Those who love their life lose it.”
Have mercy, O God.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I want to see Jesus.
Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
Hey, what if “now” is a good thing?
What if “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” will lift me out of my funk?
What if “Now is the judgment of this world” gives the verdict of forgiven, amnesty, a stricken record?
Maybe I can dream about the law that is written in my heart that God in Jeremiah promises.
Maybe God comes to meet everyone in the middle of their messes, and says you know me, you are forgiven, now live in a new way.
Maybe Jesus lifted up will lift everybody’s heads up to see themselves and the world in a new way.
No shame.
No cliques.
No clutter.
No walls.
No procrastinating, denying, or hurting.
Have mercy, O God.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
I want to see Jesus.
Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
Jesus, draw all to your cross, that we may find in it life. Keep our eyes lifted up toward the promised land, toward the new Jerusalem, toward whatever new people we can be and can invite others to be, wherever, and whenever.
And let it start now. In us. In this community, the new community, the redeemed, the baptized, all those hungry for a change, for good. Let’s hear those drums!
I.N.I.
The Rev. Timothy J. Keyl, Pastor
Christ the King Lutheran Church
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