Joel 2:12-19/St Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Butler University
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Remember, O man, that thou are dust, and unto dust shalt thou return. It is not a threat. It is a promise. Threats are the language of the Law. And God’s Law is harsh and condemning, demanding complete and utter perfection in thought, word, and deed. You know the Ten Commandments:
You are to have no other gods. You are not to misuse the name of your God. You are to hallow the day of rest. You are to honor your father and your mother. You are not to kill. You are not to commit adultery. You are not to steal. You are not to give false witness against your neighbor. You are not to covet your neighbor’s money or possessions. The Lord your God is a jealous God. He will punish iniquity. He threatens to punish all who break His commandments.
Repent. This is not a speeding ticket. You cannot talk yourself out of this. The problem is not your speedometer or that you’re not used to driving your friends car. The problem, really, is not even that your thoughts, words, and deeds are infected with sin. Those are symptoms. The problem is deeper. Beauty may only be skin deep, but our ugliness runs to the core. It is our hearts. They are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. And from them come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immortality, theft, slander, gossip. These are what defile us; what make us unclean and unholy.
Thus do you cry out to the Lord for mercy; for unmerited, unearned, undeserved, sheer grace and mercy.
And it comes to you by way of Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. It comes to you by way of the mystery of His incarnation, His nativity, His baptism, fasting and temptation, His agony and bloody sweat, His cross and passion, His death and burial, His resurrection and ascension. These are for you. They are promises. They are Gospel. They are the free gift obtained by faith in Him who desires not your death, O Sinner, but that you turn and live. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love.
He lifts the needy from the ash heap. In Christ Jesus He stoops low, comes down into the dust and dirt and filth of our sin. He covers Himself in our wretchedness, taking upon Himself our misery and death and bearing it to His holy cross. He who knew no sin became Sin for us that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He kept the Law in your place. He took your punishment. He gives you His life. He gives you new hearts; clean hearts.
The smudge upon your forehead reminds you of your mortality, but it is in the shape of a Cross, the most lovely and dear of all symbols, the very emblem of hope. So remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. But it is not a threat. It is a promise. A promise from the One who made you from dust, a promise from the One who stooped into the dust to redeem you, a promise from the One who will raise you from the dust of your grave unto eternal life in Him.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Butler University
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
Remember, O man, that thou are dust, and unto dust shalt thou return. It is not a threat. It is a promise. Threats are the language of the Law. And God’s Law is harsh and condemning, demanding complete and utter perfection in thought, word, and deed. You know the Ten Commandments:
You are to have no other gods. You are not to misuse the name of your God. You are to hallow the day of rest. You are to honor your father and your mother. You are not to kill. You are not to commit adultery. You are not to steal. You are not to give false witness against your neighbor. You are not to covet your neighbor’s money or possessions. The Lord your God is a jealous God. He will punish iniquity. He threatens to punish all who break His commandments.
Repent. This is not a speeding ticket. You cannot talk yourself out of this. The problem is not your speedometer or that you’re not used to driving your friends car. The problem, really, is not even that your thoughts, words, and deeds are infected with sin. Those are symptoms. The problem is deeper. Beauty may only be skin deep, but our ugliness runs to the core. It is our hearts. They are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. And from them come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immortality, theft, slander, gossip. These are what defile us; what make us unclean and unholy.
Thus do you cry out to the Lord for mercy; for unmerited, unearned, undeserved, sheer grace and mercy.
And it comes to you by way of Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. It comes to you by way of the mystery of His incarnation, His nativity, His baptism, fasting and temptation, His agony and bloody sweat, His cross and passion, His death and burial, His resurrection and ascension. These are for you. They are promises. They are Gospel. They are the free gift obtained by faith in Him who desires not your death, O Sinner, but that you turn and live. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love.
He lifts the needy from the ash heap. In Christ Jesus He stoops low, comes down into the dust and dirt and filth of our sin. He covers Himself in our wretchedness, taking upon Himself our misery and death and bearing it to His holy cross. He who knew no sin became Sin for us that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He kept the Law in your place. He took your punishment. He gives you His life. He gives you new hearts; clean hearts.
The smudge upon your forehead reminds you of your mortality, but it is in the shape of a Cross, the most lovely and dear of all symbols, the very emblem of hope. So remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. But it is not a threat. It is a promise. A promise from the One who made you from dust, a promise from the One who stooped into the dust to redeem you, a promise from the One who will raise you from the dust of your grave unto eternal life in Him.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
RSS Feed