March 21, 2021
EVERLASTING LOVE
We begin this fourth Sunday in Lent with a verse from the prophet Jeremiah: “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’” (Jeremiah 31:3).
The Lord appeared to me! What an incredible announcement! On one side is “me,” a sinner, frequently forgetting my Lord and living as if there were no God, and still he speaks to me. Yet, I am not ignored or neglected by the Lord God Almighty, the God of whom Solomon proclaimed, “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you . . . the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you” (1 Kings 8:23, 27).
This God has appeared to me!
Standing out under a clear, starlit night, the psalmist David said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).
Look again at the object of David’s contemplation: the splendor, harmony, influence of God’s creation. Let’s imagine it is early in the evening as he begins his gaze. There is just one star, now 2, now a half-dozen, now 20 or 30, and as he continues to look, quickly there are more than he can count. And then the moon comes up, bright and full, giving light to the dark earth. Is it any wonder he asks, “What is man?” Small. Insignificant. Completely forgettable and unnoticed in this vast universe. And yet, “You visit him!” Now the expression is not a question, but an exclamation of wonder.
The Hebrew word David used for “visit” means, “give attention to or care for.” Humanity is not merely visited. The Lord God of All This pays attention to and cares for this smallest part of his creation. We pass in review. We pass inspection, and it is not merely to see if all of buttons are in place and our shoes are polished. God examines us to see how he may provide care for us. Are we discouraged? Are we frustrated? Are we weary and worn out? Are we sick? Are we are wandering like sheep gone astray?
To that last question, we must reply a very affirmative, “Yes!” The prophet Isaiah supports our answer: “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6).
But don’t stop there. Isaiah is not finished. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
The Lord has laid on him. Who is this one on whom our iniquity has been laid? Isaiah declares, He is “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (53:3-5).
Now do you understand the wonder of where we began, with Jeremiah’s proclamation that God has loved us with an everlasting love? That love is demonstrated at Calvary. That love is proved on the “old rugged cross, where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
At last we understand why the psalmist marveled, “What is man?” And all we can do is “fall down before him, love and adore him. His name is wonderful, Jesus my Lord.”
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