March 18, 2001
|
|
|
|
March 18.2001 Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church Gospel Luke 13:1-9 At the Alle kvinner Bible Study last week one of the members told about a lady who used to share her testimony with different people she happened to meet with and talk to and suddenly she could interrupt herself and say: "Do you know that God loves you?" smiling. This was not like a kind of routine, it was so natural and spontaneous. What do you think? A very simple saying, very basic, but just great! This is what Christianity is all about. This is the main message. I would like to share it with you right at the beginning this morning, regardless of where you are in your life and what experiences you might have; Open your mind and your heart and receive this very basic and simple message, you are God’s loved one right where you are in your life. You and I are challenged to share God’s love with the world around us. God created us to bear his image and to reveal his love. We might pray this morning and say: "God, you love me with a love I do not deserve. Yet I do not love you with the love you deserve. Teach me O Lord, to love you as you love me. Open my eyes, that I might behold your love of me, not only in my worship but also in my everyday work and share your love with people around me." Do you know for sure that God loves you? Then you are the happiest person in the world this morning! Did the Gospel reading today have any appeal to you? It was something about suffering and sin and repentance. It refers to two terrible disasters we have no further information about. Some Passover Pilgrims from Galilee were murdered when they did the sacrifices in the Temple. Eighteen people were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them. The Jewish historian Josefus has no report of these disasters. It seems like many road accidents nowadays are not the top story on CNN. In addition to this it is told about the unfruitful fig tree. The owner said: "Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?" Do you think this is uplifting and inspiring? Maybe not, but maybe something in this text will do us good, even more than our favorite readings? What really counts is to learn something about God that deepens our faith and to learn what we are asked to do! What counts is a life that makes sense. Deep down we are longing for true relationships with people, with the world around us, with the church and with God. What attracts you to Church? To Mindekirken? I have heard some people say; it is the relationship to other people. A confirmand in Norway said: What really counts to me at the church is who is sitting in the pew next to me. The act of murder and the accident were reported to Jesus to see what his reaction would be. What would be his understanding with regard to God’s role in this suffering? The Jews rigidly connected sin and suffering. Jesus utterly denied it in the case of the individual. And as we all know very well, it is often the finest people who have to suffer most. Jesus’ response in our text today was to contradict the orthodox Jewish view that the greatness of suffering showed the great amount of sins. From Jesus we learn that not these men in particular, but the Jewish nation as a whole was sinful in God’s sight, and its members would all suffer the fate of sinners if they did not repent. If the Jewish nation kept on seeking an earthly kingdom and rejecting the kingdom of God they could come to only one end. God had graciously provided opportunity for repentance and salvation. The situation of the nation resembled that of an unfruitful fig tree. Just as the owner was prepared to feed it and give it a chance, so God was prepared to appoint a further limit for Israel to repent. God is a merciful God! From this we might learn that the nation which chooses the wrong ways will in the end suffer for it. This is why we gather here at church to pray for nations and in particular for America and Norway and the political leaders that they might have wisdom to follow what is good and just and create peace on earth. To make this a better world for all to live in. Do you know that God loves you? Some days ago I had a letter from Norway telling me about painful nerves because of the upcoming spring. But the lady who wrote the letter referred to what is to read in Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Dear congregation, the Kingdom of God and his love has broken into our troubled world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! That is why we are celebrating our worship service this morning! Amen. |
The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |