19 April 2014 - live with him

19 April 2014 - live with him

God blessed them, saying:
“Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth.”

We are unique amongst the whole creation in that we are made for our own sakes.  Creation is good and we must guard it precisely as the gift to us that it is.  Only after the sixth day when we are made is the creation not just good but very good.

Yet we treat created things as our masters.  Rather than beholding the fruit which we aren't meant to eat we allow ourselves to be coerced to wickedly reach out and take it.  This is the pattern for all sin.  Lesser things begin to dominate the higher.  Rational beings are subservient "according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ."

When we relinquish our role as steward-rulers of creation the connection of the world to God, the connection which we are meant to mediate, is lost.  This is how "creation was made subject to futility".  This is the source of all disease, sickness, and sorrow.  But the structure of creation is such that all of these unfortunate consequences can point the way back to God.  They are waiting in hope to be transformed.  They are waiting for the Lord to send out his Spirit to renew the face of the earth.

In order for this to work we can't rely on ourselves.  Our hearts are enslaved to things which are not only not God but which are not even persons.  They are enslaved to drives and pulls of irrational matter.  In Eden we walk so closely with God that we can use all of these things as he intends.  We have the freedom to name them.  But sin creates distance from God.  With that distance between us we are unable to understand the meaning that these things are supposed to have.  We abuse them and are abused by them.

We are called to lay down this selfish and prideful part of our lives.  We are called to lay down our own plans, our own understanding, and even our right to our own inheritance, just as Abraham is called.  God has promised us all an Isaac in whom the blessing of creation can be restored.  But we need to be willing to surrender this blessing into God's hands.  Left to our own we pervert the blessings he wants to give.  Left to our own such gifts will never quite bear the fruit which he intends for them to bear.  But it isn't sufficient to lay them down.  God must act.  Hence Isaac is spared and the ram is offered.

“Do not do the least thing to him.
I know now how devoted you are to God,
since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”
As Abraham looked about,
he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.
So he went and took the ram
and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

His blessings take many forms but if we do not understand that he himself is our "inheritance" we will not fully know "the path of life, the fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever." 

We find ourselves enslaved in Egypt.  We try to run but the immovable waters of the sea are before us.  God is not content to leave us in our sins.  He says to us now, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again" (cf. Exo. 14:13).   "The LORD is a warrior" and his arm is strong enough to save us.

The consequences of our sin sometimes make us doubt that God loves us.  But it is because he loves us that he doesn't let us abide in the wretchedness and misery of sin.

Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
my love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

He is preparing today to take pity on us "with enduring love".  We realize that "his anger lasts but a moment" when compared to amazing love he shows us.  We may weep on Good Friday.  We may weep on the morning of Holy Saturday.  But this coming dawn, more than any other, brings rejoicing.  And we do nothing to earn it, can do nothing to earn it.  The water of life that flows from the side of Christ is given freely.  This water, the Holy Spirit hovers over the tomb of Christ waiting impatiently to fill him with life.  He hovers over the dead parts of our own lives ready to give us life.

All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!

Let us raise our hopes to him because he tells us that we "will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation."

Finally when we drink from this water we have the wisdom that we are meant to have.  We are finally able to please God.  Our existence, ordered by this wisdom of the Spirit, becomes like that of the "stars at their posts" who "shine and rejoice" before God.  And where is this wisdom?  Where is this water of life?  This Spirit of God?

Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

Let us heed his words as they call us to drink deeply of the Holy Spirit.  In particular at Easter we are called to drink deeply of the sacramental grace of the Church.

For I will take you away from among the nations,
gather you from all the foreign lands,
and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

We are called to long for this "Like a deer that longs for running streams".  Let us raise up our hope.  We settle for too little in the face of the kingdom God wants to give us.  He wants to impress the truth of this hope on us tonight.

If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.

Tonight he wants us to know life like we have never known it before.

I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD.

As the stone begins to roll away from the tomb may our hearts run and soar to meet the risen King of kings in praise and hope and adoration.