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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Love Has Its Reasons
Deuteronomy 7:7-11; John 3:11-21
It was Father's Day. Appropriately, our scripture readers for the morning were Paul and his 7-year-old daughter Megan. He's a great public reader, with a refined English accent. She's a charmer, super soft-spoken with a sing-song cadence.
Megan predictably had the shorter passage (Deuteronomy 7:7-11). Even so, that text contained several polysllabic words -- to say nothing of a very serious warning for God's chosen people to make sure they memorize and practice all of God's holy commandments.
As pastor and preacher I should have been on top of these little details and their large consequences. But hey, that's what delegation's all about. In the end, though, I think everything worked out for the best.
Hearing that angelic little voice pronounce that warning was a big surprise to our congregation. Even more surprising was the promise, tucked into the warning, that God majors not in judgment but in love. To wit --
Why were the Israelites God's chosen people? Because God had made a promise long ago. Why did God make that promise? Because he wanted to. Why did God want to make and keep that promise? Because he loved his people. Why did God love those people? Because he wanted to.
Let's not repeat ourselves. I think you get the point.
Nothing in Israel, or in Moses, or Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, made God love them or choose them or promise them one single thing. No actual or potential goodness, wisdom, beauty, power, faith, or faithfulness. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.
John 3:16 says it this way: God gave the world his Son simply because God loves the world. God as Divine Lover was gospel truth in Moses' day. In Jesus' day. And today.
Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, philosopher, and devout Christian, thought and thought and thought some more about all this. He finally came up with a maxim of universal appeal -- "Love has its reasons that reason cannot know."
That thought is my watchword for four Sundays' worth of sermons. Check out #1 now...
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
5:14 PM
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