Dr. John Tamilio III
© 2020, Dr. Tamilio
Each week, the Lectionary typically offers four readings: one from the Gospels, one from the New Testament Epistles, one from the Old Testament, and one from the Book of Psalms. Sometimes, there are other options, but, by and large, this is how the Revised Common Lectionary is set-up. Today is the day the fourth day of Advent: the Sunday of love. Today’s reading from Psalm 89 is the only one that includes the word “love.” It uses it three times:
Verse 1
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
Verse 2
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
Verse 24
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him; and in my name his horn shall be exalted.
God’s love (whether we are talking about what the Psalmist says about it in the first two verses, or what God says in verse 24) God’s love is described as steadfast. This adjective means firm, purposeful, faithful, unwavering, resolute, and fixed. It is the perfect word to describe the love of God. It doesn’t change. It will always be there.
Believers have always known this. Scott Maze reminds us that “The Psalms were sung on board of the ship when the Pilgrims set sail in the Mayflower. The Bay Psalm Book was the third book printed in America. Until the end of the eighteenth century, the Psalms were exclusively sung in churches. It was Psalm 127 that Benjamin Franklin quoted in 1787 as he moved in his request for prayer because of the difficult work in framing the United States Constitution.”[1] How many of you turn to the Psalms when things get rough and you need to be reminded of God’s love? “The Lord is my shepherd…” Maybe the question should be how many of us turn to the Psalms to hear an expression of God’s love: God’s steadfast love?
The Psalms express many things. Some of them are laments. Some of them capture history. Some of them are prayers. But, as with all Scripture, at the heart of it all is the love of God.
There is something known in philosophy as the dialectic. That is a twenty-five cent term that basically points to something that appears to be a contradiction, but isn’t — something that can truly be understood by sitting in the tension of opposites. A classic example is that God is present in absence. I came across an article this week by Garry J. Williams in which he pontificates the love of God. The article is called, “10 Things You Should Know about the Love of God.”[2] This title itself is a bit dialectic. There are only 10 things to know about the love of God? Anyway, Williams’ first two points are these:
- God’s love is incomprehensible.
- God’s love can be known.
How’s that for dialectic. Sit with that for a moment. God’s love is incomprehensible. God’s love can be known. I think if we break it down, we can say that God’s love can be known in that we experience it all the time. It is unknown in that we cannot know it completely in this life. We know God’s love because of Jesus.
Christmas is important, because this is when Jesus was born. But this isn’t just any birth: it is God in the flesh; Immanuel; God with us. This love is like none other. It seeks nothing in return, other than faith. God simply wants to love us and to do so to the fullest extent of his ability, he had to come here and be among us. An article by Craig Denison from his website first15.org puts it this way:
God loves you simply because he loves you. You don’t have to work for his affection. You don’t have to set yourself straight before God can pour out his love over you. The father in the prodigal son story ran out to meet his son before anything had ever been set right. He didn’t know his son was there to apologize. He didn’t care. He simply wanted to love his child. Your heavenly Father feels the same way about you. He longs to love you right where you are, as you are. He longs to fill you with love to overflowing. He longs for us to experience this love and oneness just as Jesus did when he walked the earth.[1]
The last line is pertinent: “just as Jesus did when he walked the earth.” Jesus is not just another person. He existed with God at the beginning of time, because he is God. Christmas is about God putting on flesh and coming to earth. Why? Because God so loved the world. John 3:16 is a good summary of it all. This is why the great Reformation theologian Martin Luther called John 3:16 the Gospel in miniature. God loves us so much that he decided to become one of us in Jesus to share that love firsthand and to show us the path to God’s kingdom.
There once was a boy who was obsessed with looking at the ants in his backyard. He would crouch down over the many ant holes in his yard and would look at them through his magnifying class. (Don’t worry: this is not a continuation of my sermon last week when I talked about my brother burning things with a magnifying glass in the backyard.) This boy really watched the ants in his yard. He was fascinated by the way they moved and carried food into their holes. They seemed to have a sense of order and purpose. He began to look at these ants much the same way that people look at their beloved pets.
One day, he heard his parents talking about a huge storm that was coming: torrential rains and blustery winds. He even heard the word hurricane. He became gravely concerned. What about his ants? Sure, Mom and Dad were making preparations to keep the house safe, but what about the ants in the yard. They didn’t even know what a hurricane was, let alone that one was coming. Their holes would be flooded, he thought, and they would drown. He had to do something. He had to warn them. “If only I could become an ant for a little while,” he thought. “Then I could communicate with my insect friends and even show them the way to safety.”
That’s what God thought — and that’s what God did. Not to equate us with ants, but God becoming one of us was the only way that he could fully share his love with us and lead us into all truth. Amen.
[1] “The Depth of God’s Love for Us,” taken from First15.org.
[1] Scott Maze, “A Celebration of God’s Love,” taken from sermonsearch.com.
[2] Garry J. Williams, “10 Things You Should Know about the Love of God,” taken from crossway.org, July 11, 2016.