Sermons for the Month
Jesus says, "I Thirst For You!"
DATE: March 7th, 2004
SERVICE: Second Sunday In Lent
TEXT: Luke 13:31-35“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN How we struggle to grasp God's love for us! Perhaps that's because it is just too astounding for us to understand, or because something has happened in our lives that caused us to question God's love. In any case, it is very difficult for us to know how much God loves us. I have often thought that Mother Theresa was one of the few people who truly understood the breath and depth of Divine love. That's why I want to share these words that she wrote as if Jesus is speaking. Who knows, perhaps they are words that she heard from the Lord.
"I know you through and through - I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to me, I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you - even in your wanderings.
I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you - not for what you have or have not done - I love you for you, for the beauty and dignity my Father gave you by creating you in his own image.
I know what is in your heart - I know your loneliness and all your hurts - the rejections, the judgments and the humiliations. I carried it all for you. I know especially your need for love - how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside of you with passing pleasures - with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? 'Come to me all you who thirst.' (John 7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe my love for you: I thirst for you.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this live, there is one thing I want you to remember always, one thing that will never change: I thirst for you."
Could this thirst be what Jesus was feeling when remembered the Holy City, Jerusalem and lamented, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gather her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!" Ah Jerusalem, Jesus mourned, I thirst for you.
In today's Gospel lesson the journey toward Jerusalem, toward his death, begins. Jesus makes it clear that he will not be deterred from his mission. In spite of threats from Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, he is moving on. His thirst for humanity propels him forward. He says, "I'm doing the job God sent me to do. I'm healing people. I'm eradicating evil from their lives. But, most importantly, I'm on my way to Jerusalem where I will finish my work."
It can only be finished in Jerusalem, the place over which God mourns. This is the Holy City that ironically, time and time again, did not recognize God's presence. Jesus assures Jerusalem - which in a broader sense represents Israel - that he longs to give them loving, protective care. He thirsts for them. But, the tragedy is that they have not been, and are not now, willing to receive it.
God wanted to be a brooding hen for them, and the same is true for us. Is that a comfortable or difficult image for you?
I'll admit that it's a bit difficult for me. I grew up around chickens. My grandparents had a farm in southeastern Nebraska and although we lived about four hours west of them I spent weeks on the farm in the summer. Every evening we collected eggs and put them in the cellar.
My impression of chickens was that they were rather silly. They clucked a lot, wandered around aimlessly and ran away with a squawk if anyone came near. They could not have cared less about the eggs we took from them, or so it seemed. (I was never around a hen that actually had a brood of chicks.) God compared to a hen? I'm not so sure about that….
Perhaps we are more inclined to think of God as a rooster, with its strong beak and spurs on its legs to fight off the enemy. But, can we see God as a hen? While we like the image of the hen that gathers the chicks and keeps them safe and warm, somehow that does not seem to be enough when one faces the power of evil in this world.
Could it be that when we picture God's holy wings and the warmth of nestling beneath them, that there is one important thing we forget? I'm told that the hen will put herself between the predator and her chicks. She will sacrifice her life so they can escape. She hopes to satisfy the enemy, so that her children are not eaten. Oh, the hen does indeed provide comfort under her wings, but she is not meek, but bravely protects her young with her own life.
Isn't that the very thing that Jesus does for us chicks? He sacrificed for us, taking our sin on himself, so that we escape its eternal consequences and are free from its power. He puts himself in front of us, and dies to save us.
This week I saw the movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Some of you know that I struggled with the decision to go. I will tell you that if there is anything that movie offers us it is an understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus and of the suffering he endured. In the midst of tremendous pain he remained humble and forgiving.
There were beautiful scenes of the interaction between Jesus and his mother, and flashbacks to his days of ministry. But, I have to tell you that it is a brutal movie. I could not watch much of it. While I had my head down, eyes shielded, I found myself praying. First I prayed for the people around me, for the older couple in front of me who were passing Kleenex back and forth, and for the woman behind me whose head was buried in her husband's shoulder and for a gentleman toward the front who was nervously tapping his cane. Then I prayed for everyone in the theater. Finally, I began to pray for members of our congregation who are suffering during Lent. I thought of each one, and then my prayers were for the entire congregation. I prayed, as the sounds of Jesus' suffering rang in my ears, that we would somehow be able to grasp how great God's love is for us.
Perhaps for you that means going to this move; that's a very personal choice. Or, maybe you will attend mid-week service or Holy Week worship or spend time in prayer at home. Whatever the case, my hope is that we will grasp just a hint of the great love of God for us made clear in the sacrifice of Jesus.
Jesus thirsts for us, says Mother Theresa. Let me finish with her words. "I thirst for you. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at my heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood my cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there - for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: 'I thirst' (John 19:28). All your life I've been looking for your love - I have never stopped seeking to love and be loved by you. I thirst for you."
Let us then rush to our place under God's holy wings. Remember him, begin to grasp Jesus' overwhelming love for you, and quench God's thirst. (Quotes from Mother Theresa taken from, Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, pages 186-189.)
AMEN